General Assembly elects Masaki Ogata as President of UITP

Masaki Ogata has been elected President of UITP, the international organisation for public transport authorities and operators.

Masaki Ogata, President of UITP

The International Association of Public Transport (UITP) announced the selection on the 5 June 2015. The appointment of Mr Ogata follows Sir Peter Hendy two-year tenure as President. Current Executive Vice Chairman of Japanese operator JR East, Mr. Ogata’s election followed a unanimous vote by UITP members at the General Assembly in Milan ahead of today’s opening of the UITP 2015 exhibition.

“It’s no exaggeration that public transport holds the key to many of the world’s major problems,” said Mr. Ogata, as he praised his predecessor for “all he has done for UITP.” He said he was “extremely grateful” to have been voted for by a large majority of Association members.

Masaki Ogata was born in 1952 and joined Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1974. When JNR was privatised in 1987, it was split into a number of parts and he was assigned to the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). He has held a number of different positions JR East, and in 2002 joined the Board of Directors as Director of Transport and Rolling Stock. From 2008 to 2011, he was Executive Vice President and Head of Railway Operations Headquarters, and was responsible for operating the entire railway network. As Vice Chairman of JR East since June 2011, he has been driving open technological innovation and open globalisation onward to enhance quality and variety of the overall business domain of JR East.

Mr Ogata was endorsed as candidate by the Policy Board in early 2015. His tenure will run from 2015 until the next Congress in Montreal in 2017. He’s taking over from Sir Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport for London, who has served as UITP president since 2013.