Fujio Mitarai

Chairman of the Board and CEO of Japanese consumer-electronics company Canon. Born in 1935 in Japan, Mitarai joined Canon in 1961 as an accountant, became president and CEO of Canon U.S.A. in 1979, and returned to Canon in Japan in 1989 to serve as senior managing director and later become president and CEO in the mid-1990s. Business Week (2001) named him one of the world's top managers.

In America, Mitarai helped the company launch several successful camera products and expanded the company's printer and copier business. When he returned to Japan, many of the company's Japanese divisions were operating at a loss. He streamlined the company by eliminating unsuccessful divisions and returned it to profitability.