Daikin Applied has named Yu Nishiwaki as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, in a leadership restructuring that also created two separate chief operating officer roles at the Minneapolis-based commercial HVAC manufacturer. James Moe was named Chief Operating Officer overseeing commercial operations, while Hirokazu Hirao takes on a newly defined Chief Operating Officer of Manufacturing role.
The moves mark the most significant leadership shake-up at Daikin Applied in recent years and come as the company, a subsidiary of Osaka-based Daikin Industries, continues to expand its footprint in applied commercial systems, chillers, air handling units and data center cooling equipment. Daikin Applied is the former McQuay International, a Minneapolis manufacturer founded in 1933 that was acquired by Daikin Industries in 2006 and rebranded under the Daikin name in 2013. Daikin Industries reported roughly $30.8 billion in global revenue in its most recent fiscal year and employs more than 98,000 people worldwide, positioning it as the largest air conditioning manufacturer globally.
New CEO Brings Nearly Three Decades at Daikin
Nishiwaki has served as Daikin Applied's Chief Operating Officer since 2023 and will now lead the organization through its next phase of growth. He has spent close to 30 years with Daikin, including a stint as General Manager for Daikin Air Conditioning Italy and a prior role as Vice President of Strategic Planning for Daikin Applied Americas. His appointment keeps continuity at the top of the organization while formally elevating him from the COO post he has held for the past two years.
The company said the changes are intended to strengthen its operating model as it scales capabilities to support customers and advance strategic priorities for fiscal year 2026 and beyond.
Moe and Hirao Split COO Responsibilities
Rather than backfilling a single Chief Operating Officer position, Daikin Applied split the role in two. James Moe, who joined Daikin Applied in 2016 and has been credited with driving growth and profitability in his time with the company, will now unite the company's Air Handling, Chiller and Applied Terminal Systems business units under one leader, in addition to his existing oversight of sales, service, solutions and the Alliance Air Products division.
Hirokazu Hirao was named Chief Operating Officer of Manufacturing, a role focused specifically on the company's production operations. The creation of a manufacturing-specific COO position signals a structural emphasis on production capacity and supply chain execution at a moment when commercial HVAC manufacturers across the industry are contending with elevated order backlogs tied to data center cooling demand, tariff-driven input cost volatility and continued transition to A2L refrigerants in new chiller and rooftop unit lines.
Context Within the Broader Commercial HVAC Market
The leadership change comes at a period of rapid growth for commercial and applied HVAC segments broadly. Competing manufacturers, including Carrier, Trane Technologies and AAON, have reported sharp increases in commercial orders this year, driven substantially by data center and mission-critical cooling projects. Daikin Applied has likewise expanded its applied systems and controls portfolio, and the restructuring gives the company a manufacturing-focused executive whose sole mandate is production, separate from the commercial and go-to-market functions now consolidated under Moe.
Daikin Applied has not disclosed compensation details for the new executives or provided specific fiscal 2026 targets tied to the reorganization. The company's most recent public statements describe the changes only in terms of operating model strength and growth positioning rather than specific numeric goals.
A Distinct Business From Daikin's Residential Arm
Daikin Applied operates separately from Daikin Comfort Technologies and Goodman, the company's residential and light-commercial brands in North America, and focuses specifically on applied systems: air-cooled and water-cooled chillers, air handling units, rooftop units, and building controls used in commercial, institutional and industrial construction. That distinction matters because the leadership change affects the commercial and applied side of Daikin's U.S. business rather than the residential and ducted split-system lines sold through Goodman and Daikin Comfort dealer networks.
Context Within the Broader Commercial HVAC Market
The leadership change comes at a period of rapid growth for commercial and applied HVAC segments broadly. Competing manufacturers, including Carrier, Trane Technologies and AAON, have reported sharp increases in commercial orders this year, driven substantially by data center and mission-critical cooling projects. Daikin Applied has likewise expanded its applied systems and controls portfolio, and the restructuring gives the company a manufacturing-focused executive whose sole mandate is production, separate from the commercial and go-to-market functions now consolidated under Moe.
The split of operating responsibilities also mirrors a broader pattern among large HVAC manufacturers this year, as several competitors have separated commercial/sales leadership from manufacturing and supply chain leadership in response to sustained order backlogs. AAON, Carrier and Trane have each highlighted expanded production capacity and supply chain investment in recent earnings calls as data center-driven demand strains lead times for chillers and large air-handling equipment, a dynamic that appears to be part of the operating context behind Daikin Applied's decision to create a manufacturing-specific COO role rather than leaving production oversight folded into a single generalist COO position.
What's Next Ahead of Peak Cooling Season
Nishiwaki, Moe and Hirao assumed their new roles July 1, and Daikin Applied has not indicated additional leadership changes are planned. The restructuring will be closely watched by distributors and mechanical contractors who work with Daikin Applied's commercial product lines, particularly as the company continues to compete for large-scale applied and data center cooling contracts against Carrier, Trane and Johnson Controls. Any further changes to sales structure, warranty programs or manufacturing capacity tied to the new operating model would likely surface in Daikin Applied's next corporate communications or at industry trade events later this year.
