Shiori Nagata became NEC's Corporate Executive Vice President and CHRO in April 2026, three years after first meeting NEC President and CEO Takayuki Morita at an event at the British ambassador's official residence in Japan. Her mandate: overhaul HR systems built for a different era and prepare roughly 100,000 employees for an AI-native operating model under the company's Mid-term Management Plan 2030.
Nagata's path to the role is unconventional. She started as a management consultant during Japan's "Employment Ice Age," later led restructuring at Tohato, ran investment fund operations at two firms, and served as president of Yanmar's Dutch subsidiary. She has never held an HR title before now.
That background matters, she argues. Japanese companies' HR systems were designed over 50 years to maintain a conventional employment model, which makes them slow to adapt to sudden shifts like AI. "It is by no means easy for those who created something to change it on their own," Nagata said. "That's why there are certain things I can tackle because of my experience with different companies and cultures."
Walking the talk on AI adoption
Nagata says her first three months in the job have centered on making sure executive rhetoric matches operational reality. "Regardless of how loudly executives proclaim the need to 'take swift action' or 'embrace new challenges,' employees won't fall in line if decisions are not made quickly and those who do undertake challenges are not duly recognized," she said.
That principle extends to AI. NEC's goal is to make AI tools available to all employees, not a specialist few. "We want everyone to utilize it effectively in their work and continue their learning journey," Nagata said. "What is important is for employees to be able to catch the wave of change and ride it out."
The company is expanding AI training programs and supporting employees who want to become AI specialists even with limited prior experience. Nagata compared learning to building an "intellectual muscle" - the more you train it, the better you can adapt to whatever change arrives.
Engagement as a trust exercise
NEC's Mid-term Management Plan 2030 also targets top-tier global engagement scores, a steep climb given that Japanese companies' average engagement scores trail their European and U.S. counterparts. Nagata says superficial score-boosting measures won't work.
"My goal is to create a culture in which employees on the front lines can honestly voice their opinions to executives," she said. "To achieve this, executives must keep their promises in order to earn the trust of their employees."
She encourages employees to flag inconsistencies between what executives say and what happens day-to-day. "By doing so, we can identify these inconsistencies sooner and make changes more swiftly. As a result, engagement scores should naturally improve."
Nagata credits NEC's existing culture of open discussion for making this feasible. "Up until now in my career, I primarily devised plans on my own and then shared them with colleagues," she said. "Now that I am at NEC, I have peers who are willing to brainstorm, make decisions, and shoulder the responsibility of taking action together with me."
For HR professionals, the takeaway is that AI transformation and engagement work are the same project. NEC is treating AI adoption as a workforce-wide capability-building exercise, not a technology rollout, and linking it to trust-based communication. That means HR leaders should expect to measure AI fluency alongside engagement scores, and to hold executives accountable for following through on stated priorities. For those looking to build AI skills specifically for an HR leadership role, an AI Learning Path for CHROs covers AI HR strategy, workforce analytics, and talent management. Broader AI for Human Resources resources address recruitment automation and talent management.
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