Mitsubishi, Japan's top trading house, said today Senior Vice President Yorihiko Kojima (62) would become president from April 1st.
Nr Mikio Sasaki, who has been company president since 1998, will become its chairman. Japanese corporate presidents often serve two three-year terms.
"I want to be ahead of the times, to create a new business model and target better earnings than we have had before," Mr Kojima told a news conference.
He has led some of the firm's new forays into the medical and retail fields, including its purchase of a stake in Lawson Inc, a Japanese convenience store chain.
Mr Kojima, who joined the company in 1965, has also long been involved in the trading house's heavy machinery division. He worked for Mitsubishi's New York office from 1985 to 1992.
Current Chairman Mr Minoru Makihara, who is widely known as the "don" of Mitsubishi group firms including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, will become a senior corporate adviser in April and will retire from the board in June.
Mitsubishi, a major global supplier of liquefied natural gas and one of Japan's main metals producers, posted a powerful rise in first half earnings, with net profit up 39 per cent on the back of a strong performance by its energy and metals divisions.
The company will announce a new three-year business plan in April.