Colt Technology appoints Yasutaka Mizutani as APAC president

Colt Technology Services has unveiled Yasutaka Mizutani as President, APAC, increasing his involvement in the company's business operations and development in Asia. Despite retaining his base in the UK, his role will be more hands-on in the company's Asian business compared to his preceding role.

Yasutaka Mizutani, formerly Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Colt's UK Headquarters since 1st October 2019, took on his new role as President, APAC as of 1st January 2024. Although he continues his office in the UK, his remit will now expansively cover the company's Asian business dealings along with monitoring its overall business functions and growth in Japan and Asia.

The appointment aligns with the completed acquisition of Lumen Technologies EMEA businesses, announced on 1st November last year. Following the acquisition, over 1,000 Lumen employees joined Colt. Among them was Ms. Annette Murphy, Colt's Chief Commercial Officer and previously President, EMEA and Asia Pacific at Lumen. Her executive leadership expertise is now part of Colt, and Mizutani will report directly to her.

Speaking of Mizutani's appointment, Ms. Murphy highlighted his valuable role as CMO in fostering Colt's corporate growth and his aptitude in fulfilling the objectives of their global marketing strategy. "Mizu has played a crucial part in driving Colt's corporate development and achieving our global marketing strategy, engaging more deeply with our customers with innovations such as AI," stated Ms. Murphy. "He was singled out as one of the 50 Most Influential Marketers in the World by Data Economy magazine."

She also emphasised the market potential the Asia and Japan hold for Colt, stating that the areas were "crucial to our growth". She added, "Mizu's comprehensive understanding of the Japan and Asia markets, customers and culture proves he is distinctly suited for success within this important role."

Delighted with his new role, Mizutani shared his satisfaction returning to the APAC region. "I'm very pleased to get back to the area as President, APAC. I embarked on my career in Japan as a Technology Support Engineer and joined KVH Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Colt, in October 2007, also as a Technology Support Engineer. I resided in Singapore as Regional/Product Marketing Manager from January 2015 to July 2016, before shifting to the UK," said Mizutani.

Citing a 2023 Gartner survey, Mizutani indicated his aim to replicate the growth trends in the corporate Fixed Data Network market at Colt APAC. The survey noted a global CAGR of 2.4% between 2022 and 2027, compared to 3.9% in Asia and 5.4% in Japan alone, projecting higher growth rates in the APAC region. "I aspire to attain similar growth at Colt APAC in conjunction with our employees across the region," Mizutani expressed.