Dive Brief:
- Nissan Motor CFO Jérémie Papin will step down from his role for “personal reasons” after just over a year in the seat, the Japanese automaker announced in a Tuesday press release. George Leondis, a two-decade alum of the carmaker, will become CFO effective April 1, the company said.
- Also Tuesday, the Yokohama, Japan-based automaker announced nominations for key positions on its board of directors, including board chair and chairs of its audit, compensation and nomination committees, according to a separate press release and filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nissan expects to appoint Akiyoshi Koji as its board chair and will nominate Motoo Nagai as chair of its audit committee, among other appointments. The candidates will be nominated during Nissan’s annual stockholder meeting in June.
- The CFO departure comes as Nissan struggles to cut costs as part of its “Re:Nissan” restructuring plan. Papin played “a key role in strengthening our financial foundation,” Nissan CEO and President Ivan Espinosa said in a statement included in the release, expressing thanks “for the discipline he helped embed during an important phase of our recovery.”
Dive Insight:
A 15-year alum of the automaker, Papin rose to Nissan’s top finance seat in January 2025 after a three years serving as chairperson for Nissan Americas, according to a company biography page.
His successor, Leondis, joined Nissan in 2004 as head of finance for Nissan Australia, according to the press release.
Leondis has held various roles throughout his more than two decades at the Japanese automaker, including serving as regional finance chief for Nissan Europe and Nissan AMIEO, the latter comprising Africa, the Middle East, India, Europe, Russia and Oceania, according to his LinkedIn profile. He began his career as a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers UK.
Leondis will take the finance reins as the automaker continues its Re:Nissan plan — which “remains firmly on track, and with George’s deep involvement in the plan, we will ensure a smooth transition and continued execution,” Espinosa said in the statement.
Announced last May, Nissan embarked on the turnaround effort after two years of financial challenges, with both sales and profitability slumping for its full-year 2024, according to the May release.
The automaker has explored numerous ways to improve its financials, announcing workforce reductions of 20,000 as well as plans to reduce the number of manufacturing plants to 10 from 17 as part of the Re:Nissan strategy.
As well as aiming to achieve positive profitability and cash flow by its full year 2026, Nissan is targeting total cost savings of 500 billion Japanese yen (approximately $3.1 billion USD) versus full year 2024 actuals in fixed and variable costs.
The business also explored a potential merger with Honda, which was ultimately terminated last February, after restructuring its long-time partnership with French automaker Renault in 2023, according to reports. The two carmakers last March agreed to loosen that alliance, which also includes Mitsubishi, in a bid to enable greater financial flexibility for Nissan, according to a March 2025 press release from Renault group.
Nissan has made “strong progress” with its turnaround effort, Papin said during its Feb. 12 earnings call for its third quarter of fiscal 2025. The company is now expecting an operating loss of 60 billion Japanese yen for its full year 2025, compared to its previous forecast of a 275 billion operation loss, according to its earnings presentation.
Nissan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
