Linux Foundation Announces the Election of Panasonic Automotive Systems’ Shojiro Nakao and Toshiba Corporation’s Yoshitake Kobayashi to the Board of Directors

Nakao and Kobayashi will serve two-year terms, helping shape the Foundation’s strategic direction as it drives global open source innovation

Summary:

• The Linux Foundation strengthens global leadership with the election of Panasonic Automotive Systems’ Shojiro Nakao and Toshiba Corporation’s Yoshitake Kobayashi to its Board of Directors.
• Nakao and Kobayashi bring deep expertise across verticals like mobile, automotive devices, energy, social infrastructure and more, supporting the Linux Foundation’s mission to advance open source innovation and guide its continued growth.

NAPA, Calif. – The Linux Foundation Member Summit – Feb. 24, 2026 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, is pleased to announce the election of two Gold Member representatives to its Board of Directors. Shojiro Nakao of Panasonic Automotive Systems has been reelected and will rejoin the Board alongside Yoshitake Kobayashi of Toshiba Corporation. Both will serve two-year terms, helping shape the Foundation’s strategic direction as it continues to drive open source innovation, collaboration and adoption.

“Open source underpins today’s most important technologies – from critical infrastructure and cloud platforms to the rapidly evolving world of AI – making strong, globally informed leadership essential,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “We are pleased to welcome Shojiro and Yoshitake to the Board of Directors, where their experience and perspective will help advance collaborative innovation and guide the Foundation’s continued global impact.”

About Shojiro Nakao

Nakao is a director at Panasonic Automotive Systems, a global provider of automotive system solutions. With over 15 years at Panasonic, Nakao has worked with Linux across a wide range of product development, including mobile, IoT and automotive devices. In recent years, he has focused on the automotive domain, contributing to community-driven innovation in automotive systems. Nakao has furthered Panasonic’s collaboration with various open source communities as part of his responsibility for software platform development. He has served on the board of directors for the Automotive Grade Linux project since 2022 and joined the Linux Foundation Board in the same year.

About Yoshitake Kobayashi

Kobayashi is a senior manager at Toshiba Corporation, a leading global company spanning energy and social infrastructure to electronic devices, where he leads multiple departments including the Open Source Program Office and the Cloud Center of Excellence. With nearly 20 years in the Linux ecosystem, he has a proven track record of integrating embedded Linux into mission-critical infrastructure, such as power plants and transit systems. A long-time leader within the Linux Foundation, he has chaired the Core Embedded Linux Project since 2015. He is a founding member of the Civil Infrastructure Platform and has served as the technical steering committee chair since the project’s inception. He is a dedicated advocate for InnerSource and industrial-grade open source to foster a sustainable and resilient global open source software ecosystem.

The Linux Foundation extends its gratitude to all candidates who participated in this year’s elections and looks forward to the valuable contributions of Kobayashi and Nakao to the 2026 Board of Directors.

For more information about the Linux Foundation’s leadership and governance, please visit www.linuxfoundation.org.

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