Renraku's CEO Options

[Demonseed Elite]

Just curious who everyone thinks the new CEO of Renraku should be and who they'd like to see in the job.

[Demonseed Elite]

I voted for Yukiako Watanabe myself. I'd like to see a woman in the CEO spot in one of the Big Ten, plus, I think she's in good shape for the spot. She rose to Chairwoman despite the legacy of chauvinism on the board, which means she has the skill and likely also some considerable control over the corporation's shareholder votes.

Huang seems like he'd have taken too much fallout from the Arcology to really be placed as CEO for the whole corporation. The Arcology was not only under his direct watch, but he was personally involved in the AEP. I don't think the shareholders would be confident putting him in charge of the whole corporation after he missed the whole Arcology problem until it was too late.

Nakada is the interim CEO, and so he's got a plus in that direction, but his "slow and steady" philosophy doesn't seem to be cutting it, and I imagine the stockholders want someone with more strength in the spot. He may be Aneki's groomed successor, but he's no Aneki.

Nakatomi's certainly got the drive, but he's still fairly new at Renraku, and he comes from the competition (Fuchi). I think a number of shareholders would be hesitant to vote him for CEO, despite the fact he wants the spot so badly. Besides, his personal vendetta against Novatech might cloud his business sense.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Aneki.

Just because he's dead doesn't make him dead, anymore.

[Demonseed Elite]

I think Renraku publicly announced his death though, which makes a post-mortem figurehead a bit hard to pull off. :D

[Ancient History]

Samuel Verner. Aneki's Chosen. Father of the AI.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

"Mistakes were made..."

[Cochise]

The reports of my death ...

But I have to agree with AH here: Sam Verner ... :D

[lokugh]

Ok, I admit, Sam Verner would be cool. But barring that, Nakatomi is my choice. He'd generate more work for us than the other candidates, and I've never been fan of Villiers or Nova.

[Ombre]

Sam "twist" Verner?
A name from the past...has there been any recent mention of Verner in Shadowrun products except some posts on the Shadowland site (as side comments made by him in the sourcebooks) ?

[Bigity]

Sprawl Survival Guide had some from ole Sam. He was interviewed by the reporter who went undercover as a runnr, I think.

Why in the world would he still be running, I don't know. Didn't he burn out his magic curing his sister?

[mfb]

what... how in the world would Verner get the leverage needed to overcome all those corporate power players? and why would he want to?

the one i'm most familiar with is Huang, who we're (still!) trying to get through the damn Arco. i can't see him gainging enough leverage on anyone to win that position, though, after the massive disgrace of the Arco. frankly, i'm surprised he managed to keep the position, given his deep involvement in the whole affair; i guess he must of spun up his hand in ending it, and downplayed his hand in starting it--not hard, i guess, just kill off anyone who knows the truth and say Deus got 'em. that wouldn't be enough to stave off the kind of determined mudraking that would come into play during a bid for the chairmanship of the board.

i honestly have to say the same thing for Nakatomi. let's face it, it's a matter of public record that the man destroyed his last megacorp; the only reason he's on the board is that no one has been able to divest him of his deep holdings in Renraku. nobody in their right mind would give this guy a chance to screw up again, and he's too much the new kid on the block (that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh) to be able to manipulate his way into winning.

nakada and watanabe, i have to admit know real knowledge of. offhand, i'd give them about equal chance. nakada, with the power of his interim CEOship, can put a lot of players in places that will give him a big advantage--if he has time, during his efforts to pull Renraku out of the tailspin it was in when he got the job. watanabe has less power, but also less responsibility.

i guess, in the end, i'm gonna go with watanabe. unless nakada is a god among men, he's really going to have been too busy keeping Renraku from cramming into the ground to manipulate. this basically gives Watanabe free reign to position herself and gather up the votes.

edit: i see i am in the majority. either many other people are thinking along the same lines, or we're all just casting our vote for b00bies in '65.

[Shockwave_IIc]

Watanabe, Myself, if she's made this far in a chauvinist Corp, then the girl must have some real skills, problem is however, quite a lot of people won't like it, thus will make it there duty to see her fall.

Nakada, Just because the last person thought he was a good idea doesn't make him the best. Though baring Watanabe, he would be my choice.

Nakatomi, Not a chance. Failed once already, new to the Corp and has a very clouded judgement when it comes to Novatech, less so with Shiawise.

Huang, Again no, Smart guy, lets face it he was project leader for the AEP, but handled that all wrong. Would be good to have as an advisor i would imagine.

[Cochise]

[Kagetenshi]

Nakada. It would be annoyingly out of character for Renraku to get headed up by Watanabe and would just be another trite "woman rises to power in face of überpatriarchal corporate culture". Then again, maybe that's just me. Huang isn't even in the running, in my opinion; more important than the arc botch, he's a scientist/programmer/researcher, not a businessman.

~J

[Demonseed Elite]

I think Sam Verner is a non-entity here, it's just coolness factor. The Board of Directors appoints the CEO, and unless Verner has some major secret control of shares through various shell companies and fronts, he wouldn't have the necessary sway on the Board. And even then, I don't think he'd want the job. He was loyal to Renraku, and a friend of Aneki's, but he knew that Renraku was a corrupt pit of snakes, and it's only gotten worse lately.

My vote is still with Watanabe. She's "intelligent, confident, ruthless and fiercely devoted to Renraku" (Blood in the Boardroom, p. 42). She hasn't been devisive in Renraku's past; while she hasn't always agreed with Aneki, she worked towards a united front with him. In particular, she disagreed with Aneki's focus on the Arcology/AEP, and the diversion of so much Renraku capital to it, a position which I'd say works in her favor now. She's chairman of the board at Renraku, and considering she's faced an uphill battle as a woman there, that means one of two things (or both): either she has a lot of secret control of Renraku's shares, enough to keep her position of power on the board despite her opposition, or she's just so damn capable that Renraku can't afford to toss her aside, as much as the traditionalist, chauvinist crowd would like to. Either one says a lot about her ability.

With Nakatomi aiming to kick her off the board, she may pull the rug out from under him a bit by using her sway to get herself into the CEO spot. Then even if Nakatomi comes out on top of the board later, he likely won't dethrone her as CEO, because ousting a CEO isn't something a megacorp does lightly, and especially not to satisfy one board member's vendetta against Novatech. Besides, to the many other shareholders of Renraku, Watanabe looks like a pragmatic choice. She's the one who has the strength to take the reins and the level-headedness to not let Renraku get obsessed with pie-in-the-sky ideas that could cripple them again (like the AEP).

[Nath]

I wouldn't rule out Huang that easily. He used to run for more than a decade all of Renraku America, with its shopping mall, its media branch or financial arms. And besides, computer technologies remain the core business of Renraku. Also consider he get all the good press when the arcology situation was resolved, while it can still blame the original failure on people who died in the arcology. Plus, Renraku main issue is the tech curve followed by Transys, Cross, Novatech and the others, and Huang is the most qualified to put the company on the right track (hey, it worked for Cross).

[Kagetenshi]

[lokugh]

Of course, the question is "Who would you like to see..." not "Who do you think will become..." Under those restrictions, Sir Twist works for me :) Of those listed, I voted for Nakatomi, for the reasons previously stated.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Or they can pull a Disney and just pluck someone out of left field like they did in electing Sen. George Mitchell to be the new Chairman.

Which raises the question, why would Watanabe want to be CEO? She's already the Chairman. It seems like adding additional responsibilities for no extra benefit. And last time I checked, Chairman's a much better job.

[Demonseed Elite]

Well, one reason might be the brewing war between her and Nakatomi over the Chairman position. Nakatomi's intent on dethroning her, if not ousting her from the entire board. But if she were in the CEO spot, Nakatomi can't get rid of her easily, because the corp isn't going to oust a CEO they just put in. She'd likely have to give up the Chairman spot to Nakatomi, but she could still serve on the Board of Directors while being CEO.

The other reason just being plain devotion to Renraku. The megacorp is having troubles right now, and Nakada doesn't seem strong enough to guide it through the rapids. Watanabe's probably pretty confident she could handle Nakatomi's influence on the Board, but can Nakada?

And yeah, there is a possibility they could pull someone from the outside, which is why I left in the "Other" category. I was curious if anyone had any interesting ideas about other corporate leaders that Renraku might find worth considering.

[toturi]

Nationalise the Japanacorps and the Emperor will rule them all...

[mfb]

wow. if you wanted to test the bounds of the new Emperor's mysterious luck, that'd be the way to do it.

[FlakJacket]

I'd probably see Watanabe and Nakada teaming up to screw with Nakatomi and keep him, and Huang also, from taking over the company. Of course once that's settled, that still leaves the question of what happens between them. :)

[SpeedFreak]

Am I a goober if I ask what happenned to Lofwyr?

[mfb]

yes, you would be. Lofwyr is the CEO of Saeder-Krupp, not Renraku.