Nissan may appoint an outsider as board chairman

TOKYO: A Nissan Motor governance committee will recommend the appointment of an external director as board chairman, a role distinct from company chairman, in a move to decentralise power at the top level, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday. Under Nissan’s current corporate charter, the position of board chair is automatically appointed to head the company board, the Nikkei said, citing a person familiar with the matter. Former chairman Carlos Ghosn had filled both roles prior to his arrest in November. The issue of Nissan’s chairmanship is now particularly important after the Japanese firm identified the concentration of power in one executive as one of the reasons Ghosn was able to carry out his alleged fiscal misconduct. Speculation has swirled about whether the newly appointed chairman of France’s Renault, Jean-Dominique Senard, would assume the chairmanship of the company.