Image via The 66th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Presentation Ceremonies
© The Ramon Magsaysay Awards
The world-renowned anime company Studio Ghibli announced on Thursday that its president and representative director of its board, Hiroyuki Fukuda, will step down at the end of its shareholders’ meeting slated for June 22. The studio plans to appoint one of its current board directors, Kenichi Yoda (pictured right), as Fukuda’s successor in those roles.
Fukuda has also served as the representative director, president, and chief operating officer of Nippon Television Holdings since January 2025. NTV has been the largest shareholder of Ghibli, thus making the studio its subsidiary, since 2023.
Yoda has been dealing with event management (such as for concerts, exhibitions, and stage productions) at NTV, and he has already been serving as NTV’s point person for Ghibli.
Ghibli added that Fukuda will continue serving as one of its board directors, and that there are no other planned changes to its hierarchy. As of June 22, Ghibli’s board of directors will include co-founder and producer Toshio Suzuki as its chair, Yoda as its president, Ghibli Park vice-president Kiyofumi Nakajima as its vice-president, co-founder and anime director Hayao Miyazaki as its chair emeritus, anime director and Ghibli Park director (and Miyazaki’s son) Goro Miyazaki, Nippon Television Holdings chair Yoshikuni Sugiyama, Fukuda, lawyer Takuo Murase, and Nippon Television Holdings associate managing director Yūsuke Yoshie.
Yoda was born on August 14, 1974. He joined the Tokyo headquarters of The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in April 1999, and then joined Nippon Television Network Corporation in December 2014. Ghibli installed him as one of its board directors in October 2023. NTV then appointed him as the general specialist at its content strategy division in June 2024.
Source: Studio Ghibli
