Hiroharu Okochi Named New President of Harlan Japan

Harlan has recently announced Hiroharu Okochi as president of Harlan Japan.

Okochi will have full profit and loss responsibility as well as overall accountability for all aspects of the Harlan Contract Research Services (CRS) business stream serving the Japanese chemical, agrochemical and pharmaceutical markets.

“Hiroharu has all the qualities we’re looking for in leadership for our Japanese facility,” said Eric Hess, Harlan CRS Vice President of commercial operations. “He has strong product development and marketing skills combined with excellent planning, team building and administrative abilities. We are confident that he will play an important role in building our franchise in Japan.”

Prior to joining Harlan, Okochi was responsible for sales and business development of Covance central laboratory services to Japanese pharmaceutical companies. While in this position, he achieved the top sales record of all Covance units in the Asia-Pacific region. He also held research positions of increasing authority for Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd (SNBL), culminating with the position of general manager of SNBL’s Cambodia subsidiary, where he was responsible for production control, managing more than 270 employees and negotiating with the Cambodian government.

Okochi earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Washington State University and his M.S. in muscle biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We see Asia-Pacific as an area with great growth potential for Harlan,” said Manuela Leone, Harlan CRS President. “Part of our strategy is to seek out and hire the best possible talent to help us achieve our goals, and Hiroharu Okochi fits that profile perfectly.”