Twitter has appointed Yu Sasamoto as Vice President for Japan, South Korea and Asia Pacific (JAPAC) region. His appointment is effective from May 1.

Yu will succeed Maya Hari, who has been elevated to a global role as Twitter's Vice President of Global Strategy and Operations (GSO).

On his appointment, Yu Sasamoto stated, “I'm looking forward to bringing more people, communities, brands, and partners to Twitter as we build on the incredible business momentum from Maya's leadership across the region.”

Yu has led Twitter Japan and South Korea for the past seven years and will now spearhead Twitter's advertising business across the JAPAC region, including Australia, Greater China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and South Korea.

Yu will move to Twitter's Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore for his new role. In addition, he will continue to serve as the General Manager of Twitter Japan and head of Twitter Client Solutions in Japan until his successor is hired in Tokyo.

Prior to joining Twitter, Yu has had stints at MTV Japan, Microsoft and also founded the restaurant search engine and review site ASKU.