NYK Line Names Payne North American President

NYK Line (North America) named William F. Payne as its new president on Thursday.

Payne, who joined NYK Line (North America) in 1989, replaces Tomoo Kitayama, president since 2009, who is becoming general manager of NYK Line’s environmental group in Tokyo.

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Payne will report to Yasuyuki Usui , president and CEO of NYK Group (Americas). He has been executive vice president and chief operating officer of NYK Line (North America) for the last two years. Before that, he held a series of senior positions in sales, operations, and trade in several U.S. locations.

Replacing Bill Payne as executive vice president is Shinji Umehara, who will report to him. He comes to NYK Line from Nippon Cargo Airlines.

-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.