Global Leadership Team

Andrew Barr was appointed in April 2019 as Vice President and Executive Officer of Hitachi, Ltd., and Group CEO of Hitachi Rail, a global, full-service provider of rail services and products, with a presence in 38 countries and over 12,000 colleagues.

Starting his career in rail in 1990 with London Underground Limited, Andrew held posts with UK train operator GNER, at Bombardier Transportation and with the Strategic Rail Authority. He went on to be appointed as Head of Maintenance Delivery and later COO at Hitachi Rail Europe, before being appointed CEO of the global business, Hitachi Rail STS, based in Italy.

He was awarded a BSc (Hons.) in Manufacturing Technology and Management from Brunel University and is a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Koji Agatsuma is Group COO of Rolling Stock. His role focusses on managing safety, quality, delivery and cost of global projects to our customers.

He has worked for the Hitachi brand since 1994, where he joined as an Engineer working on a number of global projects including major deliveries in China,Russia and UK.

In 2002 Koji joined the Rail business in the UK as Projects and Engineering Manager, he then went on to be appointed to Head of Engineering and Engineering Director, where he led the delivery of innovative solutions and continuous technical improvements across our rolling stock products.

Koji holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and is a member of the RSSB rolling stock committee. He has also supported the UK Government sponsored UKRRIN and NR’s Chief Engineers Vehicle Introduction Forum.

Christian Andi is Executive Officer - Head of Sales & Projects for Europe, Middle East & Africa at Hitachi Rail and is responsible for ensuring business development, sales, and project execution in the EMEA region.

Throughout his time at Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS) he has held the positions, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Senior Vice-President of the Standard Processes, Quality and IT Services function.

Before joining Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS), Christian worked as Chief Restructuring Officer and Head of Controlling at a Milan-based company producing electronic equipment.

He started his career in 1998 between Chicago and Milan office of Arthur Andersen S.p.A., serving corporate customers belonging to the Industrial sector with audit services and Risk and Process improvement consultancy activities.

Christian graduated in Economics and Business from the University of Genoa, Italy.

Cristiano Crinisio was appointed Chief Director of Group CEO Office of Hitachi Rail in September 2019.

Joining Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS) in 2010, he has held a number of positions throughout the organisation, including Head of Integrated Management System, Head of Process Standardisation and Improvement, Principal Program Manager and Head of Project Management Office within the Railways & Mass Transit Business Unit, Head of STS CEO Office.

His started his career in 2002 at Alitalia Airlines Group and he went on to work at Alenia Aeronautica/Finmeccanica group and General Electric Oil & Gas throughout 2004 – 2010.

Cristiano has a Master’s Degree with honours in Management Engineering at the University of Naples “Federico II”, an international certificate in General Management by SDA Bocconi and Wharton University of Pennsylvania, and is registered at the Order of Engineers of Naples - Italy.

Luca D’Aquila is Group CFO, Strategy, Risk Management, Legal and IT at Hitachi Rail and was appointed in April 2020 as Corporate Officer of Hitachi, Ltd.

He joined the company in 2010 as SVP Chief Financial Officer, Risk Mgmt., IT of the Italian business. Since then he has held the positions of Deputy Global CFO, SVP CFO, Risk Mgmt. & IT, before being promoted to Group CFO, in 2018.

Luca has extensive background in the manufacturing industry, prior to joining Hitachi Rail; Luca worked as Chief Financial Officer at BREDAMENARINIBUS S.P.A. and Head of Corporate Planning & Controlling at FINCANTIERI S.P.A.

He holds a degree in Business Economics from Federico II University, Naples, as well as a Masters in Finance and Management Controlling from Finmeccanica, Rome, 1991.

Michele Fracchiolla is Executive Officer and Head of Sales & Projects for Asia-Pacific.

An Electronics Engineer, Michele has gained extensive experience and knowledge of automation systems across different industries such as power generation, pharmaceutical and petrol chemical production, postal and airport automation and has senior program management experience in turn key projects for industrial plants including automation systems.

Since joining Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS) in 2011, Michele has overseen a variety of roles. Projects included the successful delivery of the automated train management system for Rio Tinto’s autonomous heavy haul mining railway, as well as the successful acquisition and delivery of the satellite-based signalling and communications solution recently commissioned by Roy Hill Iron Ore.

He started his career in Bailey Controls (USA), ABB and Pirelli and before joining Hitachi Rail He worked since 2003 in Elsag Datamat where he held the position of Executive Director for the Logistic & Transport, Security and Automation Division.

Giuseppe Gaudiello is Group COO of Signalling & Turnkey at Hitachi Rail.

Giuseppe has a broad range of experience leading teams across Ansaldo companies, starting his career at Ansaldo STS Segnalamento Ferroviario S.p.A as Manager of signalling system design. From there he worked in many managerial positions across signalling, procurement and delivery, from 1992, before becoming the Chairman of the Standard Platforms & Products Unit in 2011.

In 2013, Giuseppe was President of Railway & Mass Transit Business, before being appointed to Chief Technology Officer of Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS).

Giuseppe graduated in Electronic Engineering from the University of Naples (Italy).

Leonardo Impagliazzo is Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at Hitachi Rail where he is responsible for defining and implementing the global rail digital and innovation strategy. He is also responsible to promote the growth of the Lumada business within rail.

Prior to his current role, Leonardo was Vice President Signalling Engineering and then Senior Vice President of RAMS, before holding the position of Senior Vice President System Assurance & Control, managing teams working across Integrated Management System activities, the Quality, Safety and Cybersecurity Assurance and Control activities as well as the RAMS and Verification & Validation activities for Hitachi Rail’s (previously Ansaldo STS) products, applications and systems.

He started his career at Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS) in 1994 as a Safety Manager (RAMS). Since then, he has held a variety of positions with rapidly increasing responsibility.

Leonardo holds a Master Degree in Electronic Engineering from the “Federico II” University of Naples, Italy. He also holds a Master in Business Administration (Global Executive MBA) from the IE Business School of Madrid, Spain, and is a Member of IEEE and of “Beta Gamma Sigma” Honour Society.

Edoardo La Ficara was appointed in this role in 2019 to lead the line of business of Hitachi Rail Group for Operation, Service & Maintenance (OS&M) in terms of both Sales & Projects and Operations functions.

He joined Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS) in 2010 as Sales Director for the Middle Eaast. Since then he covered different roles throughout the organisation including Deputy Senior Vice President Sales & Bidding for the Railways & Mass Transit BU and Executive Vice President Institutional Affairs, External Relations and Communication.

Before joining the company, he spent his career as Executive of his family private group in the civil and electromechanical engineering industry.

Edoardo holds a degree in Civil Transportation Engineering at “La Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy.

Rory was appointed Group Chief Procurement Officer for Hitachi Rail in 2018, after joining the business as UK Procurement Director in 2017.

He started his career in Aberdeen, working for BP and gained experience in the procurement of goods and services as well as procurement processes & technology in the subsequent four years. Following this, he joined Accenture where he had wide-ranging exposure to many industries, whilst developing a professional focus on procurement and supply chain management. In 2009, Rory worked across Libya, Syria, Holland, Canada and the UK, as part of Petro-Canada’s Procurement leadership team, before re-joining BP in 2011 as the Head of Category Management for their Refining and Petro-Chemical businesses.

In 2019, Rory was made a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and an Executive Officer of Hitachi in 2020.

Andrea Luzinat is Chief Human Resources Officer at Hitachi Rail.

Andrea's career began working at a Recruitment & Management Consultancy firm as a Personnel Consultant and after six years she started to work as an HR Professional.

Throughout her career, she has gained a broad range of international experience in HR leadership positions, working for prestigious companies such as General Electric (GE Inspection Technologies and GE Oil & Gas) plus leading global HR functions for Honeywell Friction Materials Division and of Nordex SE, a wind energy company.

Andrea has a humanities background, studying Protestant Theology, as a major subject, at the Universities of Bonn and Münster in Germany.

Tetsuo Tanaka is Executive Officer Region Japan of Railway Systems Business Unit and was appointed in April 2019 as Corporate Officer of Hitachi, Ltd.

Since joining the company, he has been consistently engaged in sales for the rolling stock and signalling business in Japan.

Prior to his current role, Tetsuo was Vice President of Chubu Branch of Hitachi, Ltd. in 2013 and in 2015 was General Manager of Sales for Japan/APAC of Railway Systems Business Unit, Hitachi, Ltd.

Tetsuo holds a bachelor degree from Keio University and is Executive Officer of the Japan Train Operation Association and Japan Railway Electrical Engineering Association.

Takuya Yamakawa is Head of Sales and Portfolio Coordination and joined Hitachi in 1986.

After working for the global sales businesses, including 15 years of overseas assignments such as the successful merger of a US IT company, he began working in the Rail division in 2009.

Most recently, he served as General Manager of the Overseas Sales Division in Hitachi Rail Japan and led overseas sales for large-scale projects in the APAC region.

He graduated with a bachelor degree from Hitotsubashi University.

Jason White is the Head of Sales & Projects for the Americas at Hitachi Rail, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. He is responsible for all commercial business for Railway, Mass Transit and Class One Freight Railroads in Americas.

Since joining Hitachi Rail (previously Ansaldo STS) in 2010, Jason has been a key component in the successful commercial strategy and delivery of various rail infrastructure programs in the major metro areas.

Prior to joining Hitachi Rail, Jason’s experience in the rail industry spans over 17 years and he has held several roles in leadership, program management and sales.

Outside of Jason’s current role, he also maintains active memberships and involvement with executive boards and governing bodies within the US rail industry.

Ulderigo Zona leads the Group Safety, Health, Environment, Quality business unit at Hitachi Rail. His former position was SVP of the Supply Chain & Construction Unit and acting as SVP of HSE & Facility Management departments of Hitachi Rail STS.

From 2014, he was Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Management, Construction & Maintenance departments. Under his leadership significant achievements were obtained such as the completion of driverless metro systems in Italy and Riyadh, as well as the creation of the Construction & Commissioning team for the first driverless freight transportation system in Australia.

In 2009 Ulderigo was Vice President of Construction & Commissioning department for the Transportation Solution Business Unit in Ansaldo STS, while from 2001 he was head of Construction and Commissioning department in ATSF. He was also appointed as Legal Employer for ATSF – position that he maintains until today. He joined Ansaldo in 1987 in the Signalling Division.

Ulderigo holds a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the “Federico II” University of Naples, Italy.