Lappin will lead newly-consolidated region as part of Lenovo’s initiative to transform its business

Lenovo, a global leader in PCs and mobile Internet devices, today announced the appointment of Roderick Lappin as president, Lenovo’s Asia-Pacific region, effective April 1, 2015, reuniting its Asia-Pacific Emerging Markets (APEM) and Asia-Pacific Mature Markets (APMM) businesses into a single unit.

Lenovo is in the process of transforming its business to maintain its successful trajectory as the #1 PC vendor in the world. As a result, the company has decided to bring together the APEM and APMM regions, promoting Lappin, and also promoting Ken Wong, to vice president of Strategy and Planning.

Lappin has been a driver of success across the current Lenovo APMM business, leading the company to become the PC sales leader in Japan and facilitating the successful launch of the consumer business in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Currently based in Japan, Lappin intends to stay in Tokyo where he will run the Asia-Pacific business and will remain the President of NEC Lenovo Japan Group. He will continue to lead the Japan and ANZ business and will report to Gianfranco Lanci, Lenovo’s chief operating officer and executive senior vice president.

“Rod has a wealth of experience in creating successful businesses in mature and emerging markets, making him the best person to head up the new Asia-Pacific business for Lenovo,” said Lanci. “With Rod at the helm, I am confident the business across Asia-Pacific will continue to thrive and will experience a whole new level of success, just like NEC Lenovo Japan Group in Japan over the last three years under his strong leadership.”

With the consolidated Asia-Pacific business, Lenovo will have the scale and efficiency to operate more effectively in this highly-competitive and dynamic market. Lenovo’s recent launch of smartphones and other consumer devices in the region shows the company is poised to make Asia-Pacific a growth engine in the enterprise and consumer technology market.

“Asia-Pacific presents Lenovo with a swathe of opportunities and is critical for our continued success as the global leader in PCs, and I’m excited to be taking over a new amalgamated team brimming with talented people, many of whom I have worked with personally,” Lappin said. “I have set my sights to not only continue Lenovo’s momentum in the PC market, but to elevate our positions in other key categories including mobile and other consumer computing devices across Asia-Pacific. I know for certain that together, with my new team, we can make this happen.”

Lappin has been with Lenovo for the past eight years and has been based in Japan since 2008. Originally from Australia, he holds a degree from Macquarie University’s Graduate School of Business.

Roderick Lappin’s Biography

Roderick Lappin is General Manager of Asia Pacific Mature Market (APMM – comprising of Japan, Australia and New Zealand) and Vice President of Lenovo Group.

Rod joined Lenovo Singapore in February 2007 as Vice President of Relationship Business for the Asia Pacific Region that included Japan. Since his appointment as President of Lenovo Japan on October 1, 2008, Rod has successfully led the Japan business to continuously outperform the market while cultivating a great company culture. Adding to his role as President of Lenovo Japan, Rod has assumed the role of President of NEC Lenovo Japan Group, a highly successful joint venture with NEC Corp, where its market share climbed to a record high of 29.1%, solidifying the company’s #1 position in the Japan market. With its record-breaking profit contribution, Japan has remained a significant profit engine for Lenovo throughout his tenure.

Rod’s role has expanded to include ANZ when the company divided the Asia Pacific region into emerging and mature markets in April 2014. In ANZ, Lappin oversaw the recent successful launch of the region’s consumer retail business, achieving a consumer notebook PC market share from 0% to 8.9% in just three months.