New Workday APAC president

Workday is increasing investment in Asia–Pacific and Japan (APJ) by segmenting the region to form two separate business units — Asia–Pacific (APAC) and Japan, bringing particular focus to the rapidly expanding Japanese market.

“We are seeing more Japanese companies embracing technology and data-driven transformation and are honoured to have corporations such as Nissan, Rakuten, Mitsui Chemicals and Topcon choose Workday as their enterprise technology partner,” said Patrick Blair, president global sales at Workday.

“We are amplifying our investment and tailoring our solutions to better align with Japanese business processes and regulations and ensuring our customers’ success.

“Our partnerships with companies like IBM Japan, Hitachi Solutions and Toshiba Digital underline our commitment to deepening our roots in Japan,” Blair said.

The Workday Japan business will remain under the leadership of Takumi Masai, and report directly to Blair.

To lead the APAC region, Workday has appointed Simon Tate as president of APAC, effective 6 November 2023. Tate will also report to Blair. Based in Sydney, he will oversee the APAC sales organisation, as the company enters a new phase of growth across the region where there are more than 800 customers headquartered. Workday applications are now used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500.

Tate joins Workday from Adobe, where he served as president for Asia–Pacific. Prior to that, he held senior sales leadership roles at Salesforce, SAP and Dell EMC.

“We are excited to welcome Simon to Workday,” Blair said.

“His energy, experience and leadership skills in the enterprise software market will be critical as we accelerate our growth across the Asia–Pacific region.”

“With over 25 years’ experience in the enterprise software industry, I have seen many transformative technologies, and I’ve long admired Workday as a leader and visionary in enterprise cloud applications,” Tate said.

“It is an exciting time to be joining Workday, as we see the power of AI shape the future of work. When combining that with Workday’s employee- and customer-focused culture, we are well poised to seize the immense opportunity in front of us.”

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