HIROSHIMA, JAPAN — Satake announced leadership appointments at its European and Thailand operations. Kaoru Kawate was named managing director of Satake Europe and Koji Yamamoto was named company president of Satake Thailand.

Kawate will lead the entire European operation, which includes the Middle East, Africa and Russia. He joined Satake in 1996 and has more than 24 years of experience in international business and corporate management.

“Together with my experienced team, customer-oriented services, and Satake’s quality products, we will further develop sales networks in regions where we can make an impact with our unique food processing technology,” he said.

Kawate has a bachelor’s of science degree in business administration from the University of Evansville.

Yamamoto will be leading one of Satake’s main manufacturing facilities. He started his career with Satake in 1992 and has spent 22 years working in rice milling engineering. He spent two years in the UK and seven years in Thailand as a rice milling specialist. Since 2017, he has supported Satake’s oversea group companies as head of the International Management Office.

“Quality is the top priority to Satake’s products,” he said. “My mission is to pursue efficiency of manufacturing processes while ensuring our equipment maintains a standard which exceeds customer expectations.”

Yamamoto has a master’s degree in industrial chemistry from Hiroshima University.