Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced that Mitsuko Tottori, the current Chief Customer Officer of the company, will become the president of JAL, effective April 1, 2024. Tottori's appointment marks a significant milestone as she will be the first female president of JAL and the first president with a background as a cabin attendant (CA) [559711b2]. The current president, Yuji Akasaka, will assume the role of chairman with representative authority [559711b2]. The announcement comes as JAL aims to navigate the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and chart a path towards future growth. The company is undergoing a management restructuring and implementing a growth strategy. The current chairman, Yoshiharu Ueki, will retire as chairman on April 1 and step down from the board of directors in June [c40b36bb]. JAL's appointment of a female president and the restructuring of its management team reflect the company's commitment to promoting diversity and accelerating its growth strategy [3026c279].
In other news, the Japanese Communist Party has elected Tomoko Tamura as its first female leader, replacing Kazuo Shii. The choice of a woman as chairperson is a nod to the party's push for gender equality. The party hopes to shake its image of being out of sync with the times, but faces challenges such as declining membership and a changing geopolitical landscape. Shii will become the Central Committee chairman [76f1e8b2].
Meanwhile, Stephanie Urchick, a member of the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania, has been elected as the second female president of Rotary International. She will take office on July 1, following in the footsteps of Jennifer Jones, who served as the first female president of Rotary International. During her one-year term, Urchick will lead the 119-year-old membership service organization in adapting for future success as Rotary's 1.4 million members around the world develop and implement sustainable, community-driven projects. Urchick is urging clubs to assess their strengths and areas for improvement and to embrace different meeting formats and membership styles. As president, Urchick will also oversee Rotary's top goal of eradicating polio. Rotary has achieved a 99.9% reduction in polio cases and contributed more than $2.7 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect 3 billion children from the disease. Urchick will host a peace conference at the launch of Rotary's newest Peace Center in partnership with Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey in February 2025 [147a5b21].