McCusker

Certainly. Throughout my career, I have focused on solving global challenges by leveraging the power of the private sector and innovation. Before joining LIXIL in 2018, I worked in strategy consulting, business development, communications, and philanthropy, most recently at the Gates Foundation, where I championed innovation and systems change through public-private partnerships. At LIXIL, I’ve had the privilege of helping to grow SATO, LIXIL Public Partners (LPP), and Hydrific, as well as stewarding our partnership with UNICEF and our voice as a sector leader to demonstrate that solutions to societal challenges can achieve positive impact at scale when structured as social businesses. Taking on the CIO role allows me to bring these experiences to the enterprise level, and I am committed to making impact a core driver of our long-term business resilience and market leadership.

Seto

Erin’s extensive background in ecosystem development and her leadership have been critical to the growth of SATO and LPP. I’m convinced that expanding her role to include CIO will be instrumental in accelerating our positive impact not only across all areas of the business but also across society as a whole.

Seto

For LIXIL, impact is not just about doing societal good; it is a powerful competitive advantage and the key to future-proofing our core business. Having transitioned our CR Strategy to Impact Strategy in 2023, we have been integrating impact into the core of our business operations. Our progress is evident in the FYE2026 milestones we achieved. We reached our goal of improving the lives of 100 million people globally through access to safe sanitation and hygiene. On environmental sustainability, we achieved 100% high-performance window sales for new detached houses in Japan and exceeded our 90% global recycling target, two years ahead of schedule.
However, the next phase requires greater rigor. We want to ensure impact is managed with the same strategic focus and discipline needed to drive business value, which is why we created the CIO role. As an Executive Officer, Erin will play a critical business-shaping role, hardwiring our Impact Strategy into each business division's profitability and ensuring that LIXIL is bridging the gap between societal needs and market-leading innovation. The new governance structures will also help us anticipate regulatory shifts and demographic changes, de-risk our business models, and capture opportunities at an early stage.

Seto

Over the last three years, we intentionally gave our businesses the autonomy to embed impact into their specific growth strategies. As our businesses are now embracing impact, we are shifting to the next stage of our impact journey, in which we will take a more holistic, company-wide perspective to address interconnected issues across our three strategic pillars, strengthen governance and transparency, and build more agile teams. It will also help employees internalize our purpose further and foster pride and engagement.

McCusker

For LIXIL, Impact Strategy is the lens through which we view everything we do. It helps us identify where we can solve pressing societal needs, often long before the broader market fully recognizes those needs. This is how we turn "social responsibility" into not only "market opportunity" but real positive impact. My role is to hardwire this "Impact Lens" into our strategic decision-making, including resource allocation. By working closely with all members of the Executive Team, I will ensure that Impact commitments are evaluated with the same rigor as financial metrics and that accountability is shared across all resource allocation and decision-making processes.

Seto

Our success is clear proof that the private sector can play a critical role in addressing urgent global issues. As I mentioned in last year’s interview, reaching 103 million was never the finish line but only one milestone in our ongoing journey. Around the world today, approximately 3.4 billion people still lack access to safely managed sanitation. LIXIL remains steadfastly committed to achieving sanitation for all. We will continue to accelerate the development of both sustainable business models and the sanitation market ecosystem, with a new target to improve sanitation and hygiene for an additional 100 million people, both directly and indirectly, by FYE2031.

McCusker

To add to Kinya’s comment, the 103 million milestone gives us the confidence to commit to the next 100 million in our FYE2031 expansion. The milestone success resulted from shipping more than 10 million SATO products across 59 countries and territories, made possible only by establishing SATO as a social business and developing sanitation markets in Africa and Asia, in collaboration with our diverse partners. Today, SATO’s business reaches beyond households to broader communities through schools, healthcare facilities, and humanitarian settings such as refugee camps. Our journey has been one of learning and partnership, and we are grateful to the families and partners who have welcomed our solutions into their homes and communities.

McCusker

Seto

The same can be said for the Water Conservation & Environmental Sustainability pillar. Naturally, we have been doing all we can within our operations and value chain, as reflected in our success in meeting and exceeding the milestones I mentioned earlier for FYE2026. However, the key to achieving further scale is to work with various stakeholders to enable a ripple effect of positive social and environmental impact. One significant opportunity we have pursued is in developing the aluminum recycling ecosystem in Japan. We now have partnerships with several companies that establish a circular model for collecting used aluminum components from demolition sites of residential homes and buildings and recycling them into our circular, low-carbon aluminum material, PremiAL. We have also partnered with a local government to establish a locally sourced, locally consumed plastic resource recycling system. In this arrangement, we transform hard-to-recycle household plastic waste from the region into our circular material, revia, which is then used to produce revia products that are supplied back to the local community. Even with the most brilliant innovations, there is only so much LIXIL can achieve on its own, so we will continue to seek mutually beneficial partnerships to scale our impact.

McCusker

As for Diversity & Inclusion, during the double materiality assessment we completed last year, we identified Talent & Development as one of LIXIL’s material issues. While, internally, we continue our efforts to develop our future female leaders, and embed a culture of inclusion for everyone at LIXIL, Talent & Development is not only about our own employees; it is also about the shortage of skilled workers in our industry and around the world. This poses a significant risk to both our business growth and our ability to achieve our impact targets beyond Diversity & Inclusion; addressing this challenge would create opportunities for LIXIL. Therefore, in addition to our efforts in our operations and value chain, we are committed to expanding our impact through training and partnerships to open pathways for skilled professionals, regardless of gender or background, and to ensure long-term business sustainability. Ecosystem development has been critical to our milestones, and through this approach, we will continue to strengthen partnerships and collaborations to maximize a collective, holistic impact on society.

McCusker

Looking back to when I joined LIXIL in 2018, the progress we have made is significant across many facets of LIXIL’s business. We are at the stage where we can really accelerate our drive on a company-wide, holistic level. I am absolutely confident that we are on the right track to make further significant impact, and I am eager to work alongside my LIXIL colleagues to continue meeting and exceeding the expectations of all our stakeholders and generating positive impact in the world.

Seto