Reggie rises to Nintendo's top

There was no more room at the top of Nintendo of America's corporate ladder, so the company just added some rungs. The US arm of the Japanese game giant announced today that company president Tatsumi Kimishima has received a promotion to the new roles of CEO and chairman of the board.

Before coming to Nintendo, Kimishima spent 27 years with Sanwa Bank of Japan, where he served in several management-related jobs. After leaving Sanwa, he served as chief financial officer of The Pokemon Company in 2000 and president of Pokemon USA in 2001 before becoming president of Nintendo of America in 2002.

Taking over the roles of NOA president and chief operating officer is Reggie Fils-Aime, who has led audiences through the past several E3 press conferences as executive vice president of sales and marketing. He achieved celebrity status among Nintendo fans for his speech at E3 2004, when he declared, "My name is Reggie. I'm about kickin' ass, I'm about takin' names, and we're about makin' games."

Fils-Aime joined NOA in December 2003, after working in high-level positions at VH1, Procter & Gamble, and Pizza Hut. As the company prepares for the fourth-quarter launch of its Wii console, Fils-Aime will juggle duties between his former role in sales and marketing and his new position overseeing NOA's daily operations.

A third promotion announced today sees senior vice president of business development Mike Fukuda bumped up to executive vice president of business development. Of the three executives promoted, he has the longest tenure with Nintendo, having been with the company for 12 years. In his new role, he will oversee the creation of games and hardware tailored to Nintendo's North American audience.

"With the upcoming introduction of Wii, along with the strength of this new leadership team and strong executives already in place, Nintendo will continue to dramatically change the way consumers of all ages interact with their video game console on a daily basis," said Satoru Iwata, the overall president of Nintendo, in a statement.