Harold George Meij (born 4 December 1963) is a Dutch businessman, he was the president of

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV ...

(NJPW) from May 2018 until October 2020.

Early life

He came to Japan as a young child due to his father's work not speaking any English or Japanese, but eventually learned both. Born 1963 in the Netherlands, Meij came to Japan in his childhood, and has lived in Japan, Indonesia and the US in his youth. He graduated from

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

and later attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Career

In 1987 he joined Heineken Japan, then moved to Unilever Japan, Sunstar, and in 2006 was Senior Vice President of Coca-Cola Japan until joining

Tomy is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Ta ...

in 2014, where he became the Chief Operating Officer, and in 2015 he became the President and CEO, thereby becoming one of the first foreign nationals to lead
first-section listed
Japanese company. Meij successfully turned the loss making company around, and its latest financial results is showing greatly improved profitability (year ending March 2017), and their stock has more than quadrupled. He introduced innovative new ideas such as placing “

Gacha Gacha may refer to: * Gashapon, a kind of toy that originated in Japan which is sold inside a plastic capsule. Commonly sold in vending machines ** Gacha game, video games that are monetized via a concept that is similar to gashapon. Comparable to ...

” toy capsule machines at airports, initiated numerous collaboration and licensing projects with other companies, introduced numerous toy lines based on original animation, comic and film content, and worked on improving brand strength. Known for his marketing and promotional savviness, Meij has used his marketing and management base built over time working at multinational companies such as

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

with success to a Japanese company. Known to be fluent in Japanese, the Nikkei even went so far as to say he had the “Steve Jobs Effect” implementing over "100 innovations", and is known to be very approachable even dressing up at Halloween events. He is a Japanese history buff and loves

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. In 2014 he was a key speaker at the Yomiuri International Forum to discuss "the world economy and Japan's ability to earn"　 In May 2018 it was announced that

(NJPW) appointed Meij as their new President of the company, becoming the first non-Japanese president of NJPW. Meij is fluent in English, Dutch, and Japanese, among others, and in December 2019 published hi
first book in Japanese
In 2020 he was featured in NHK's "The Human" and NHK's Japanology Plus. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government also used him is their "Tokyo, My City" campaign. In December 2019 he was awarded the "45th Global Award" by the Japanese Economic Foru

, and in September 2020 won the Forbes Japan 2020 Sports Awar

On September 29, 2020, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that Meij was stepping down from his role as CEO/President on October 23 after having attained its highest sales and profit level in the company's history. After leaving New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Meij became a director at Earth Pharmaceuticals, COLOPL, Alinamin Pharmaceuticals, and Panasonic. He is also an advisor at

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold ...

, and Kewpie.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meij, Harold 1963 births Living people Dutch chief executives Dutch emigrants to Japan Chief operating officers Bucknell University alumni New York University alumni Bushiroad Coca-Cola people Unilever people Heineken people New Japan Pro-Wrestling Professional wrestling executives