Duncan will oversee all human resource functions and will have responsibility for organizational design and development, succession plans and span of control for all levels of the management team. The CAO is a newly-created position, intended to bring best practices to organizational management.

Since 2005, Duncan managed his own consulting company, which provided a broad range of HR services. Before that, Duncan served as executive vice president of HR and Real Estate for Maxtor for nine years. Duncan brings more than 24 years of HR experience with technology companies, including Avantek, SyQuest and Berkeley Systems. He will be based at Hitachi’s Yerba Buena Road site in San Jose.

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies develops advanced hard disk drives to store and preserve the world’s valued data. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, Hitachi enables users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing high-value, high-capacity storage in formats suitable for the office, in the home or on the road. With vertically-integrated research, design and manufacturing capabilities, Hitachi delivers leadership technology and quality to its global customer-base.

With approximately 33,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi offers a comprehensive range of hard drive products for desktop computers, high-performance storage systems and servers, notebooks and consumer devices. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.hitachigst.com.