Sega's First Female President
Sega Corp has appointed its first ever female president to run the Hitmaker studio, following Oguchi's promotion to President of the company.
Mie Kumagai is the new president of Hitmaker, following Hisao Oguchi's promotion to President of the Group. Kumagai is the first female president at Sega, making a positive step for girls in the games business.
The ladies have a strong design history at Sega Japan, with many characters and levels all having been designed by girls, unbeknown to most gamers - NiGHTS was conceived by a woman, and Mie Kumagai herself was a producer on Virtua Tenis and Virtual On Marz, among other titles.
Mie is 35 years old and joined Sega in 1993, working her way towards the Hitmaker studio which she moved to in April 2002. Mie will initially be responsible for advancing the Power Smash / Virtua Tennis series on PlayStation, and also overseeing the new TriForce project, Keys of Avalon.
Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com