Shigenobu Nagamori

Shigenobu Nagamori
Nagamori with Abhisit Vejjajiva in 2010
Born (1944-08-28) 28 August 1944 (age 80)
Kyoto, Japan
NationalityJapanese
EducationPolytechnic University
OccupationFounder & CEO of Nidec
Children2
Website[1]

Shigenobu Nagamori (born 1944) is a Japanese billionaire businessman, and the chairman and CEO of Nidec, the world's largest manufacturer of micromotors for hard disks and optical drives.

Early life

Shigenobu Nagamori was raised in a farming family in Kyoto. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic University near Tokyo and worked for two engineering firms before founding Nidec in 1973.[1]

Career

Nagamori owns a 12% stake in Nidec directly and via his personal asset firm, SN Kosan.[1]

He is a non-executive director at SoftBank,[2] the Japanese mobile communications company that owns several other tech companies.

In 2018, he announced that though he would remain as CEO, and that vice president Hiroyuki Yoshimoto would take over as president.[3]

He has stated publicly that his goal is for Nidec to hit ¥10 trillion ($91 billion) in revenue by 2030 by focusing on the manufacture of motors for electric vehicles.[4]

Philanthropy

Nagamori founded the Nagamori Foundation to support and recognize achievements that contribute to scientific and industrial development in research and technology.[5] The foundation encourages research in various aspects of power generation and promotes solutions that lower the barrier to affluence and conserve the environment.

In July 2014, he inaugurated the "Nagamori Awards", for up and coming R&D engineers in the field of motor-related technologies.[6] Each year the Nagamori Awards are given to about six people with the Grand Nagamori Award winner receiving around 5 million yen and each of the awardees receiving around 2 million yen.[7]

Nagamori award winners include Bulent Sarlioglu from the University of Wisconsin-Madison,[8] Bin Yao, professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University,[9] Jose Antonino-Daviu from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia[10] and Elena Lomonova from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e).[11]

In 2017, Nagamori announced that he would donate $90 million to set up an engineering research project at Kyoto Gakuen University. The program will start in 2020 with 200 undergraduate and 100 graduate students.[12]

Personal life

Nagamori is married, with two children, and lives in Kyoto.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Shigenobu Nagamori". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Biography: Shigenobu Nagamori | Board of Directors | Company Info | About Us | SoftBank Group". Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Japanese motor tycoon Nagamori yields presidency of Nidec". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Shigenobu Nagamori". Forbes. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  5. ^ Corporation, Nidec. "Nagamori Foundation Commences as Administrator of "Nagamori Award", Nidec's Motor-Related Technology Commendation Program". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Forbes profile: Shigenobu Nagamori". forbes.com. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Nagamori Foundation". Nagamori Foundation (in Japanese). Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Sarlioglu Receives Nagamori Award". University of Wisconsin. 17 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Bin Yao Receives Nagamori Award". Ray W. Herrick Laboratories – Purdue University. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Noticia UPV: José Alfonso Antonino (UPV), galardonado por la Fundación Nagamori por sus". www.upv.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Nagamori Award — Eindhoven University of Technology research portal". research.tue.nl. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  12. ^ Communications, Forbes Corporate. "Forbes Asia's Annual Heroes Of Philanthropy List". Forbes. Retrieved 30 August 2018.