Experience

公益社団法人 会社役員育成機構 The Board Director Training Institute of Japan ( BDTI )

• Japan
• Education Administration Programs
• 1 - 100 Employee

• CEO and Lecturer

  • Nov 2009 - Present

  In 2009, five respected Japanese persons and I established “The Board Director Training Institute of Japan” (BDTI; https://bdti.or.jp/en/ and https://bdti.or.jp/ ) as a non-profit "Institute of Directors offering" director training" programs and related training. BDTI also offers e-Learning modules, a "Director Bank" service, and access to normalized big data (inc. text) from disclosure by all listed companies in Japan. Greater understanding of good governance practices, and deeper analysis using our time series data, have huge potential to boost the Japanese economy and the very vitality of Japan's society. In 2013 and 2014, I had a huge success when I was able to convince the Japanese government to promulgate a corporate governance code, and advised the FSA on its contents. (See the "project" below.) I then followed up with successes in seeding a number of other governance reforms. I recently scored another big win by persuading the government (MHLW) to encourage corporate pension funds to sign the Stewardship Code. Based on a rigorous application process, the Japanese government has granted BDTI the respected status of a regulated "public interest corporation", which makes donations to it tax-deductible in Japan. We have also obtained "tax-credit" status, which effectively doubles the tax benefit for most Japanese taxpayers. (Tax deductibility can also be arranged for US taxpayers.) We'd like to encourage the corporate governance and sustainability officers at large global institutional investors to to support our efforts and send a constructive message about the importance of director training. Anyone making significant continuing donations is billed as a "Sustaining Donor" on our web site, joining major investors such as Fidelity Management and Research, Baillie Gifford, Prudential Japan, and Aflac. Investors can also "share" substantial discounts on training programs with their portfolio companies. Show less



Advantest

• Japan
• Semiconductor Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Independent Director

  • Jun 2019 - Present

  In June of 2019, I was elected to serve on the board of Advantest, the world's leading provider of semiconductor and component test systems and related products and services. Advantest is an exciting, very profitable company that is one of the most "global" companies in Japan. (95% of revenues come from outside of Japan.) In June of 2019, I was elected to serve on the board of Advantest, the world's leading provider of semiconductor and component test systems and related products and services. Advantest is an exciting, very profitable company that is one of the most "global" companies in Japan. (95% of revenues come from outside of Japan.)



JTP Corporation

• President and Founder

  • Jan 1998 - Jan 2023

  Advised on M&A transactions and corporate governance practice in Japan. M&A side of the company is dormant now; JTP was previously a support organization of BDTI. For many years, JTP Corporation specialized in mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, strategic alliances, and joint ventures in Japan. It proved it can create outstanding deals time and time again. The JTP team has advised Amazon.com, AIG, Johnson Controls, Itochu, Mercian, Mediatti, Cadence Design Systems, Advantest, MapInfo, Clariant, and a variety of other successful firms on transactions in Japan. As an investment banker, I have been tapped to serve as an “outside director” on a number of corporate boards in Japan, including those of Alps Mapping, post-scandal Livedoor Holdings (to clean it up), Cecile, Imagica Group, and Advantest. I find that my diverse experience, my training in law and business, my bilingual capability, and my understanding of governance practice and finance, enable me to add significant value to Japanese companies in the role of external director. Show less



Imagica Group

• Japan
• Movies, Videos, and Sound
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Independent Director

  • Jun 2016 - Jun 2020

  I served as an independent director at Imagica Group, a company whose products and services add value in virtually all phases of film/video production, content creation, and localization. I served as an independent director at Imagica Group, a company whose products and services add value in virtually all phases of film/video production, content creation, and localization.



American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ)

• Chair, Growth Strategy Task Force; Twice-Elected Governor

  • Jan 2001 - May 2018

  For ten years until September 2011, I served as the Chair of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Committee at the ACCJ, the leading policy advocacy organization for foreign companies in Japan. In 2010, I proposed and led the ACCJ's Growth Strategy Task Force for Japan, which produced the influential White Paper that you can download here - http://bit.ly/WqEQps . This was widely read in government circles, and became the base for Abenomics' "Third Arrow" (reform focusing on productivity enhancement). The core analysis by Professor Kyoji Fukao was submitted as a major research report by METI's think tank (RIETI) and became an award-winning book,and our White Paper recommendations were reflected in METI's White Paper the following year. More recently, many of The Task Force's core concepts have emerged in Abenomics' much-discussed "third arrow". In 2014, the theme that "productivity growth is essential to Japan's future" is what enabled me to convince senior LDP dietman that Japan should promulgate a corporate governance code under the FSA's supervision. In 2003 I proposed and led the ACCJ's highly successful "FDI Task Force", which made a number of detailed recommendations after a similarly detailed economic analysis of FDI flows into Japan and their impact on productivity, a report which later became an award-winning book. In 2004-2006, this team successfully led a drive to change the Company Law so as to allow cross-border triangular mergers by foreign firms as an acquisition structure. In December of 2012, I stepped down from my second term as a Governor of the ACCJ, so as to be able to focus even more energy on my other activities. That turned out to hard to do; with "growth strategy" at the fore, I remained very busy as head of the Growth Strategy Task Force for six more years, and was elected by the ACCJ as a "Leader of the Year" in December 2013. Show less



International University of Japan

• Japan
• Higher Education
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Adjunct Professor

  • Jan 2013 - Aug 2014

  I taught a course on "Corporate Governance in Japan and Asia" for the International University of Japan's MBA Program. I have also taught separate courses on "Corporate Governance and Culture in Comparative Perspective" and "Business Ethics" at Hitotsubashi University. I taught a course on "Corporate Governance in Japan and Asia" for the International University of Japan's MBA Program. I have also taught separate courses on "Corporate Governance and Culture in Comparative Perspective" and "Business Ethics" at Hitotsubashi University.



Japanese FSA Liaison Committee on Corporate Governance

• Commitee Member

  • Mar 2010 - Oct 2010

  Related to the subject of BDTI's activities, I sat on the Japanese FSA's "Liaison Committee on Corporate Governance", in which various experts advised the FSA with regard to the upcoming revision of the Company Law of Japan. Related to the subject of BDTI's activities, I sat on the Japanese FSA's "Liaison Committee on Corporate Governance", in which various experts advised the FSA with regard to the upcoming revision of the Company Law of Japan.



Cecile Co., Ltd.

• Independent Director

  • Mar 2007 - Mar 2008

  During 2007 and part of 2008 I served as an independent "outside director" at Cecile, which is a public firm that is one of the top five catalog sales companies in Japan. This job added significantly to my experience base related to direct marketing and retailing industries in Japan, which I had previously gained in advising Amazon.com, and two other (Japanese) clients. During 2007 and part of 2008 I served as an independent "outside director" at Cecile, which is a public firm that is one of the top five catalog sales companies in Japan. This job added significantly to my experience base related to direct marketing and retailing industries in Japan, which I had previously gained in advising Amazon.com, and two other (Japanese) clients.



Livedoor Holdings Co., Ltd (post-scandal)

• Independent Director

  • Dec 2006 - Dec 2007

  In January 2006, Livedoor was involved in a financial scandal that caused the company to be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in April 2006. Shortly before the delisting, a number of foreign hedge funds purchased a controlling stake in the company. Most of these funds had no experience in Japan, so they approached me and asked me to join the Board of Directors in order to turn the company around, sell off non-core and underperforming subsidiaries and assets, and develop a strategy for value enhancement and defending the numerous shareholder lawsuits. Acting as a totally independent director, I proposed and led a major project to defend on the legal issues of loss causation and damages computation, which were crucial to the lawsuits. This project and the strategy that it set saved shareholders many billions of Yen and established the first case law for civil suits under Japan's securities law in postwar history, a very meaningful series of precedents. Show less



Japanese Cabinet

• Technology, Information and Internet

• Member, Japan Investment Council (JIC)

  • Dec 2000 - Jan 2007

  I served as a member of the Experts Committee"of the Japan Investment Council, one of only three councils that advises the Japanese Cabinet, in this case on policies related to foreign direct investment (FDI). Since M&A transactions are the primary driver of increases to Japan' s cumulative stock of FDI, my experience as an investment banker and M&A advisor was highly relevant and useful. In the course of my membership, I led a drive among the foreign members to inject increased vigor into the discussions and make them more results-oriented. Show less



Alps Mapping Co., Ltd.

• External Director

  • Mar 2000 - Mar 2006

  In March 2000, my firm (JTP) advised NASDAQ-listed MapInfo Corporation in the acquisition of a partial interest in Alps Mapping Co., Ltd. in Nagoya, one of the top three publishers of maps, digital maps, and geodata in Japan. MapInfo thereafter appointed me as an outside director to serve on the Alps Mapping board of directors. I served until March of 2006, when Alps was acquired by Yahoo Japan. In March 2000, my firm (JTP) advised NASDAQ-listed MapInfo Corporation in the acquisition of a partial interest in Alps Mapping Co., Ltd. in Nagoya, one of the top three publishers of maps, digital maps, and geodata in Japan. MapInfo thereafter appointed me as an outside director to serve on the Alps Mapping board of directors. I served until March of 2006, when Alps was acquired by Yahoo Japan.



American Chamber of Commerce in Japan

• Japan
• International Trade and Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Governor

  • Jan 2004 - Dec 2005

  In 2004, I was elected to be a governor (= board member) of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), the most influential organization conducting policy advocacy on behalf of foreign companies in Japan. In late 2009, I was again elected as a governor in 2010, for a two-year term. In 2004, I was elected to be a governor (= board member) of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), the most influential organization conducting policy advocacy on behalf of foreign companies in Japan. In late 2009, I was again elected as a governor in 2010, for a two-year term.



Kamakura Corporation

• United States
• Software Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Managing Director

  • Mar 1994 - Dec 1997

  Senior Managing Director in charge of investment banking for The Kamakura Corporation from 1994 to 1997. While at Kamakura, my team advised on various transactions including the sale of two leading Japanese accounting software companies, MilkyWay and Nihon Micom, to Intuit; and the sale of Pacifitech, the leading independent software localization firm in Japan. By sheer coincidence in a “small world”, the company formed by the merger of MilkyWay and Nihon Micom (Yayoi Kaikei) was sold for 71 Billion Yen by Livedoor Holdings in 2007 when I was serving as an independent outside director on Livedoor Holdings’ board. This was particularly gratifying, as was the fact that the value of the combined companies had grown by roughly 10 times during the intervening 10 years. Show less



JP Morgan

• United States
• Radio and Television Broadcasting

• Vice President

  • Sep 1983 - Mar 1994

  After completing JP Morgan's famous "Commercial Bank Management Program" (CBMP #49), in due course I was promoted to Vice President and worked in New York, Tokyo and London in a wide variety of different product areas, including corporate finance/M&A, capital markets, derivatives and swaps, equity research/sales, structured finance, and real estate. During my last four years at JP Morgan, I served as head of the European Real Estate Division, Equity and Credit Research Section in Tokyo, and the Financial Institutions Group in Tokyo. While at JP Morgan, among many other transactions, I invented the "inverse floater" bond, advised PaineWebber on an equity tieup with Yasuda Life, designed and closed one of the largest packages of currency swaps ever engineered in the Tokyo market at that time, sold Morgan's European headquarter building to Sumitomo Life, and advised Mitsubishi Estate on the restructuring of Rockefeller Center. Show less