International Business Department: America
SH Residential Holdings, LLC
Chief Insights & Marketing Officer
Erin Wills
Joined Woodside Homes in 2018
Transferred to SH Residential Holdings,
LLC in 2022
Erin Wills worked for some of the largest construction companies and community developers in the U.S. and has built her career in the areas of market research, corporate marketing, investor relations, and public relations. She joined Woodside Homes in 2018 and launched the Research & Insights division as Vice President. She was transferred to SH Residential Holdings, LLC in 2022.
Creating homes from the customer's perspective
I want to bring innovation to the U.S. market
Visit Comprehensive Housing R & D Institute with colleagues (September 2019)
Erin is second from the left.
The opportunity to work with Sekisui House has been very inspiring and has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to help bring Sekisui House’s innovation to the US. Sekisui House's way of thinking about housing is full of innovation and thoughtfulness that you cannot find in the United States. When I visited the Comprehensive Housing R & D Institute, I saw many examples of innovation and thoughtful research, which strengthened my desire to further expand Sekisui House's products and philosophy to the U.S. market.
I am passionate about differentiating Sekisui House from its competitors by analyzing the different consumer needs in each market and designing homes and communities to suit each of them. Currently, I am also working on the launch of SHAWOOD business. I believe that the resilient and functional nature of SHAWOOD is especially important in urban areas where people need to be prepared for earthquakes and other natural disasters.
The U.S. homebuilding industry is not very diverse and tends to be male-dominated, however our customers tend to be led by women. By bringing women and different ethnic groups into the team, we will have more information to meet the needs of our customers and will be able to offer different perspectives. If we can create homes from the customer's point of view, housing will become a happier place for families. Keeping this in mind, I will continue to do my best to bring innovation to the U.S. market.
International Business Department: Australia
Sekisui House Australia Pty Limited
Project Assistant Manager
Taishiro Kato
Joined in 2008
After working in sales of custom detached houses and rental housing, in June 2016 Taishiro Kato was transferred to the International Business Department. In March 2020, he was dispatched to Overseas Sales Planning (Development) at Sekisui House Australia. Currently, he works as Project Assistant Manager at the Brisbane Office. Together with the local staff, he promotes development projects such as apartments, retail facilities, and offices.
I Hope to Deepen My Interactions Both at Work and in My Personal Life and Build a Relationship of Trust with the Local Staff So That We Can Draw Out the Best in Each Other
Queensland, where our Brisbane Office is located, is currently the site of three of our ongoing development projects. As an overseas dispatch worker, I’m in charge of keeping a handle on the development and sales statuses of these projects, and making progress reports to be sent to Japan. Every day, I gather information while communicating with the local staff, and devote my efforts to development work for promoting these projects.
Our office is in a historic redbrick building, with a symbolic tree set up in the middle of the space, and so on, so it has an overall laid-back atmosphere. There are plenty of opportunities to exchange opinions and discuss things among the employees, and the office is always abuzz with lively conversation and laughter, which I think really contribute to creating a pleasant workspace.
What I try hard to do as a dispatch worker is to align my actions and way of thinking to the culture of the country where I’m living. Due to the linguistic barriers that interfere with communicating everything I want to say, I am constantly observing those around me to think about how I should act to form relationships of trust, so that we can draw out the best in each other. I have really felt the importance of getting those around me to understand my humanity through outside-work interactions such as eating together and sports.
I engage in regular information exchanges with the local project manager, regarding the project’s progress and what the International Business Department expects of the local office. In response to many challenges, I am working with local teams on a daily basis through trial and error to determine what needs to be done and how it can be done better, while always keeping in mind the perspective of customer satisfaction.
A meeting at the Brisbane Office
One of the projects we are working on is West Village. Families playing together happily in a park, young people enjoying a shopping center, people looking satisfied while chatting and dining in restaurants... When I see scenes such as these, I feel a tremendous sense of pride in the fact that I’m involved in community-building and the provision of “a place to relax.”
As overseas dispatch employees, we play an important role in conveying to the local staff and customers important ideas such as why Sekisui House has a vision of “making home the happiest place in the world” and just what housing construction in Japan is really like. Deeper understanding and integration will allow us to further invigorate our projects and also be the catalyst for new interactions.
Accepting Technical Trainees (Yamaguchi Factory)
