Tak Niinami
Takeshi Niinami
Tak Niinami is the Chief Executive Officer of Suntory Holdings, one of the world’s leading consumer products companies with operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Tak spent the first 20 years of his career at Mitsubishi Corporation, where he held a number of management positions and founded Sodex Corporation (now LEOC Co.), a hospital food service joint venture between Mitsubishi and Sodexo of France, ultimately taking the company public in 1999. Prior to joining Suntory in 2014, Tak was CEO of Lawson, Inc., which he grew into one of Asia’s major convenience store operators, posting profit growth for 12 consecutive years and quadrupling its market capitalization during his tenure.
Outside of Suntory, Tak has served on the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy as senior economic advisor to the Prime Minister since 2014, the longest serving business leader in Japan. He has served for former Prime Ministers Abe and Suga, and the incumbent Prime Minister Kishida. He is also Chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.
Tak is also Asia Pacific Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, Chair of the Asia Business Council, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundation and The Business Council in the US.
Tak received his MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
