Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems ups Stephanie Roberts to chief communications officer

TOKYO: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems has promoted Stephanie Roberts to the newly created role of chief communications officer, effective April 1. 

Roberts was elevated to the newly created position because Japan-based Hitachi plans to “globalize” the company’s operations, she explained. 

“Half of our business is in Japan, half outside Japan, but we’re really trying to grow that outside of Japan, and North America is our primary target,” Roberts said. “As we globalize our operations, things like [communications] are becoming more important.”

Roberts retains her previous title of head of global communications and those responsibilities. She continues to report to Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems CEO John Randall and oversees 24 staffers. 

Hitachi created the chief communications officer role to encompass marketing communications duties as well as Robert’s prior responsibilities overseeing “true communications functions,” she added. 

“[Core] communications functions have been with me all along, but what has changed is now I am getting more of the marketing communications responsibilities as well, on top of the true comms work,” said Roberts. “In addition, certain regions like Europe now report directly to me vs reporting to their local market leader, as we aim to develop more centralized and real global functions.”

Roberts’ comms responsibilities include oversight of internal, external, executive and crisis communications. Roberts also oversees global branding, digital communications, the corporate website and social media. 

“This is really unique in Japan, [where] there are not many chief communications officers for Japanese companies,” Roberts said. 

Roberts started to report to Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems CEO Yasuhiro Takeuchi in October. Randall succeeded Takeuchi in that role on April 1 and Takeuchi now serves as president and CEO of Hitachi Americas and VP and executive officer of Hitachi Ltd. 

Roberts joined Hitachi as a senior communications manager in 2018. Before that, she was a communications manager at Colliers; and a marketing communications manager at Sullair. 

Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems is a manufacturer of industrial equipment for factories and a subsidiary of multinational conglomerate Hitachi. 

The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and has offices in 15 countries.