Michio Naruto

Former Chairman of ICL and Vice-Chairman of Fujitsu. Passed away on July 14th 2009.

Michio Naruto was born March 19th 1935, in Shizuoka, Japan. He read Law at the University of Tokyo, before he joined the Corporate Planning Department, Fujitsu Limited in 1962.

Mr. Naruto served as an Executive Vice President in charge of Fujitsu's Legal and Industry Relations, External Affairs, and Export Control Groups for more than 15 years. Under his leadership, Fujitsu successfully negotiated the agreement with IBM, to use the IBM mainframe software Intellectual property rights, on Fujitsu designed and built Mainframe Systems.

Mr. Naruto was appointed to the Board of Fujitsu Limited in 1985, in charge of International Operations. In this capacity, he attended various international conferences as special representative of Fujitsu and also took on the role as the Chairman of Fujitsu Research Institute. He was actively involved in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry. He also was active in a number of national and international industry associations. such as the chairman of the Sub-Committee of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (KEIDANREN).

From early 1980’s, Naruto san was involved in the mainframe technology collaboration project between Fujitsu and ICL. This eventually led to both companies successfully merging in 1991.

He became Chairman of the Board of the main ICL company (ICL PLC which subsequently became Fujitsu Services Holdings Ltd) in 1996, a position he held until 2002. During his days in ICL, he was active in supporting ICL businesses, not only in the UK but also across the EMEA countries, such as Finland, Egypt, South Africa and Russia.

He was appointed Vice Chairman of Fujitsu from 1998 until April 2000. From June 2000 till July 2004 he was a special representative of Fujitsu then he held the position as the advisor till June 2005. In 2001 Mr. Naruto was appointed Chairman of the Toyota Info Technology Center, a position he held until his untimely death.

As the special representative of Fujitsu, he participated in various ICL activities that contributed to the success of the collaboration, and personally arranged to make the ICL engineers welcome when visiting Tokyo. He hosted a Mainframe Engineering Achievement Dinner in Manchester, for which he both designed and presented the medals. He also arranged many other collaboration events, in Japan and the UK.

In 1997, he received an award from Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan for his work in promoting an information-oriented society. In June 2001 he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. In 2004, he received an award from Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications in Japan for contribution to promoting IT business.

A further note from Tom Hinchliffe

I first met Naruto-san in 1981 and he was a huge help with ICL/Fujitsu technology collaborations. He recognised that Manchester was the birthplace of the electronic computer and in June1998, he made a one-day round-trip from Tokyo to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the ‘Baby’ (the world’s first stored programme computer). He respected the ICL West Gorton engineering pioneers and in November 1998 he hosted a special Mainframe Achievement dinner in Manchester and personally designed and presented the medals and certificates. He also hosted many dinners over the years in Japan, to make the ICL engineers visiting Tokyo feel welcome.

But his greatest contribution was behind the scenes where he was a really worthwhile friend of ICL inside both Fujitsu and ICL. Michio-san was the main Fujitsu driving force behind the overall collaboration, and this eventually resulted in Fujitsu acquiring ICL from STC in 1991. He soon became Chairman of the Board of Fujitsu Services Holdings (formerly ICL PLC), and was a stabilising influence in times of business change.

Michio Naruto enjoyed an outstanding career both in Japan and Internationally. He was a truly remarkable leader, totally clear in his objectives, tough in negotiation but always constructive and completely fair. He was a good man and a very good personal friend.