Chief Strategist of Data Storage

As Chief Strategist of Data Storage for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Masaya Watanabe is responsible for leveraging the Hitachi, Ltd. storage portfolio across multiple market segments. He is based at the company’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif.

Mr. Watanabe previously served for two years as Division President of the Hitachi Enterprise Server Division. There, his extensive background in engineering and in business enabled his management of the entire Hitachi server business, including the blade server (BladeSymphony), mainframe, supercomputer, UNIX and Xeon-based servers.

Initially joining Hitachi in 1982, Mr. Watanabe advanced through multiple engineering and development positions in the General Purpose Computer Division. In June 2000, he was named General Manager of Mainframe Operations at the Enterprise Server Division. From 2001 to 2004, he was General Manager in charge of Financial Business Solutions in the Hitachi Financial Systems Division. He returned to the Enterprise Server Division in 2004.

Masaya Watanabe holds a ME degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tokyo as well as a MS in Management of Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.