Japan's Top Business Interviews Podcast By Dale Carnegie Training Tokyo Japan

162 Alex Zoboli, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Cornerstone Recruitment, Japan

Alex Zoboli, is the Managing Director of Cornerstone Recruitment, a company he founded with Matt Nicholls four years ago.  Previously Alex was a senior leader at RGF in Japan, working together with Matt, part of the Recruit  Group.  Before that he was working in a recruitment company in the UK.

161 Matt Nicholls, President & Co-Founder, Cornerstone Recruitment Japan

Matt Nicholls, is the President of Cornerstone Recruitment a company he founded with Alex Zoboli four years ago.  Previously Matt was the President of RGF in Japan, part of the Recruit  Group.  Before that he was running his own small recruitment company in the UK.

160 Satoshi Mizusawa, President, Stryker Japan KK

Mr. Mizusawa started his career in HR for Sanyo, GE in the USA, GE Healthcare back in Japan and was Director, Compensation & Benefits at Abbott Japan Group.  He joined Stryker as the Senior Director of Human Resources, before becoming the Vice-President of the MedSurg Business Unit, then Vice-President & General Manager Japan of Orthopaedics and Medsurg, becoming President and Representative Director of Stryker in 2021.

159 Masashi Ogino, Japan Country Head, International Airline

158 Christian Baudat is the Country General Manager Japan for The Ascott Limited.

Previously he was the Director of Operations, Japan and South Korea and General Manager Oakwood Suites, Yokohama.  He was area Vice-President for the Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSCI Abu Dhabi and General Manager of the Hilton Hotels in Tokyo, Nagoya, Odaiba, Fukuoka, Otaru and Zurich Airport.

157 Masayo Nagai, Chairwoman of APCO Worldwide Asia

Masayo Nagai is the Chairwoman of APCO Worldwide Asia. She started her career working on policy for the government as a legislative aide. After studying at Columbia University she moved across to the PR industry joining Inoue Public Relations. She later became the Senior Director at the Japan Public Relations Institute before becoming President at Propeller Communications.

156 Naosuke Goto, CEO, Goto Florists

Naosuke Goto is the fourth generation to run the Goto Florists company in Japan.  Like his father, he went to the USA and Europe to study flower design and brought that knowledge back to Japan, making the business highly successful.  The main store in Roppongi is a landmark in Tokyo and they have many shops in five star Hotels in Tokyo.

155 Morgan Laughlin, Managing Director, PGIM Real Estate, Japan

Morgan Laughlin, Managing Director, PGIM Real Estate, Japan.  Morgan has had a stellar career as Managing Director Asia Pacific for the Grosvenor Group, Regional Managing Director for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Head of RREEF non-Japan Asia at Deutsche Bank and Managing Director Bankers Trust Company.  He is a graduate of Columbia University in Latin American Studies.

154 Adam Hall, Country Manager, Joseph Joseph Japan

 Adam Hall, Country Manager, Joseph Joseph Japan Prior to becoming head of Japan for Joseph Joseph, Adam Hall was Japan Country Manager for Weber-Stephen Products.  He is a graduate of Auckland University of Technology.

153 John Kirch, beqom Japan Head

John Kirch, beqom Japan Head   Vice President of Sales, Uppsala Security East Asia Regional Director, Darktrace Independent Consultant, Nominum Vice President-International & President Japan, Penta Security Systems Director - Asia Pacific & Japan Director, Aerohive Networks Director-Japan, Ubiquity Software Independent Consultant, CyberGuard Regional Vice President-Asia/Pacific & President-Japan, WatchGuard Technologies Regional Director-Far East & President-Japan Regiona...

152 Kentaro Kiso, President Barclays Securities Japan

Kentaro Kiso, President Barclays Securities Japan previously worked in London for JP Morgan for six years followed by joining Barclays UK and working there for over 12 years. He is a graduate of Tokyo University.

151 Hiroaki Mori, President McCann Erikson Japan

Hiroaki Mori, President McCann Erikson Japan Previously, Mr. Mori was COO for TBWA/Hakuhodo China.  He is a graduate of Waseda University.

150 Matthias Sutter, General Manager, Shangri-La Hotel, Tokyo

Matthias Sutter is the General Manager Shangri-La Tokyo and Representative Director Shangri-La Hotels Japan. Previously he had been the General Manager for Marriott International Hotels in Seoul, Singapore, Phuket.  He has a Master’s degree from the GSBA Zurich International Business School

149 Hiroo Murota is the Vice President, General Manager, Representative Director of Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan

Hiroo Murota is the Vice President, General Manager, Representative Director of Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan.  Previously he was Representative Director of Siemens Healthcare Japan.  He is a law graduate of Tokyo University and has an MBA from Northwestern University-Kellogg School Of Management

285 Japan Inc

“What anchors their behavior is the salaryman’s desire to protect himself – no one wants to put their position at risk by telling the truth”.  This little gem of an insight was made by a retired nuclear engineer who worked for Toshiba.  He was referring to the various scandals that had taken place there and explaining why illegal decisions made by senior management like cooking the books went unchecked internally. Corporate Japan in some ways, could be a modern model for George Orwell’s dy...

148 Leo Keeley, PresIdent and CEO Japan B2B Sales

Leo Keeley is the President and CEO of B2B Sales. He has held a number of posts here in Japan, inlcuding Vice-President Asian Pacific and Japan for Ariba, President of Japan InfoTech, President of Platinum Japan and President of Dunn and Bradstreet Software Japan.  He has a BA from Bentley University and an MBA from Suffolk University.

148 Leo Keeley, Presdient and CEO Japan B2B Sales

Leo Keeley is the President and CEO of B2B Sales. He has held a number of posts here in Japan, inlcuding Vice-President Asian Pacific and Japan for Ariba, President of Japan InfoTech, President of Platinum Japan and President of Dunn and Bradstreet Software Japan.  He has a BA from Bentley University and an MBA from Suffolk University.

147 Michael Bobrove, CEO HealthyTOKYO

Michael Bobrove is a founder and CEO of HealthyTOKYO, which has pioneered the introduction of CBD oil into the Japanese market.  He previously was Managing Partner of Bucatani, a medical device marketing and distribution company in Tokyo and a Senior Parrtner in the Mikan Group, which provides advisory services for internationl expansion.  He graduated from Antioch College and has an MBA from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

146 Cairo Marsh, Founder and Executive Partner at relativ*

  Originally from the Bronx, Cairo was a VP and Account Director for Data Solutions in New York.  He came to Japan in 2009, becoming the General Manager for RAPP, later becoming the Managing Director for DDB in Japan in 2012.  In 2015 he started relativ*

145 Takeshi Fujiwara Ex-President BBruan Aesculap Japan

Takeshi Fujiwara Ex-President BBruan Aesculap Japan.   He started work as an industrial engineer, later joined a second Japanese company who sent him to Germany, where he worked for nine years.  He moved back to Japan working for a Swedish company called Gambro Japan, later becoming President.  After over ten years there he briefly became the President of Molnlycke Health Care Japan, before joining BBraun.  Today he has his own company TR3.Inc.

144 Carl Eklund, Ex-CEO Volvo Japan

Carl Eklund has been in Japan since 1979.  He has had many high profile positions in Japan, including President Volvo Japan, President Hagglunds Japan, President Denison Japan, President Lafarge Svenska Hoganas,  and has been President of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Japan.  Currently he is President of Hoganas Japan.

143 David Macdonald, Ex-CEO Discovery Japan GK

David Macdonald was originally a JET in Japan in 1995.  He joined NTT Docomo in 1999 and then joined Walt Disney Internet Group Asia Pacific in 2004.  He moved to YouTube Japan in 2009 becoming Head of YouTube Spaces Asia Pacific in 2014.  He became President of Discovery Japan in 2018 and President and Representative Officer, Discovery Japan GK in 2020. David mentioned the speaker who got him on the “complain, confront or conform” terminology can be found at www.juliensbourrelle.com. Th...

142 Takeo Obayashi, Chairman Obayashi Corporation

Established in 1892, Obayashi Corporation a $5 billion listed enterprise, is one of the top 5 construction companies in Japan. Obayashi has 86 subsidiaries and 26 affiliated companies in Japan, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and North America.

141 Satoru Hiraga, Director and Chairman of Marsh Broker, Japan

Mr. Hiraga initially worked in banking in Japan for ten years, in what has now become Mizuho, before he went to the US to study for his MBA. He then joined Marsh Broker and from 1991 worked in Germany. From there he covered a large number of European countries targeting Japanese companies active there. Five years later he was sent to the Headquarters in New York to cover Japanese companies active in the US, for another five years, before finally returning to Japan. From 2017, he became the D...

140 Tae Ho Kim, President, en world Japan

Tae Ho Kim was previously President of Nihon Inter Electronics Corporation from May 2013 -2017, before becoming President of ARRK Corporation in 2017.  He joined en world Japan as President in 2022.  He graduated from Pomona College in Economics.

139 Yuko Furuichi President and CEO of Comexposium Japan

Yuko Furuichi is the President and CEO of Comexposium Japan.  In 2007 she was a media personality and talent for BonaPro Agency and in 2009 became the Emcee for Pokemon Programming.  She joined CyberAgent in 2011 as an Account Leader.  She joined Comexposium as an Event Manager in 2013 working her way up to the Presidency in 2019.  She has a BA Law degree from Keio University.

138 Marco Breitfeld, Representative Director and Head of Shared Services Draeger Japan

Marco Breitfeld, Representative Director and Head of Shared Services Draeger Japan,  started working in Japan in 2007 for NEC/Schott Components Corporation. He moved to Plansee Japan in 2010 as the CFO and in 2016, he joined Storopack Japan as CFO.  In 2017 he joined Pitney Bowes as Senior Manager Business Operations before becoming Finance Director and Representative Director for Pieroth Japan.  He took over as head of Draeger Japan in 2022.  He has a Bachelor Degree in International Manage...

137 Joachim Rohe, Country Director, CPKelco Japan Aps

In 1995 Joachim was working as a Manager in Tokyo for BASF, eventually becoming the President and Representative director of BASF Agro Japan KK in 2005.  Thereafter he became President and Representative Director for Catalent Japan KK in 2010 and then in April 2015 the Country Director Japan for CPKelco.  He has a degree in Chemistry from the University of York.

136 William Boesen, President of the East Asiatic Company Japan.

William Boesen is the President of the East Asiatic Company Japan.  Originally from Denmark and like me, martial arts drew him to Japan to further his training and to advance his career. In 2001, with ISS he became General Manager in Japan reorganising the company here with their partner the famous Mitsui Trading company.  In 2004 he became the President of Carl Hansen & son In Japan.  In 2013 he became the President of the East Asiatic Company Japan.  From 2006-2008 he was the Chairman of t...

Best of the Best Encore #39: Andrew Hankinson, President, Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan

Best of the Best Encore #39: Andrew Hankinson, President, Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan Originally released Feb 27, 2021 Andrew Hankinson is the President of Zwilling J.A. Henckels Japan and host of the podcast Now and Zen. Originally from Seattle, Washington, Mr. Hankinson’s passion for Japan grew at a young age, having been exposed to Japanese culture by family members living in the country, leading him to learn the language from high school. After briefly teaching English in Osaka, Mr....

135 Tom Reich President and Executive Manager BAE Systems Japan

Tom Reich has been working in various roles for BAE systems in America and recently in Japan.  Originally he worked in the US State Department including a stint as American Consul-General in Okinawa as well as working in the US Department of Trade.  He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from Georgetown University.

134 Ryan McGuire Managing Director at Cutters Studios Tokyo

Ryan McGuire established Cutters Studios Tokyo in 2012.  He graduated from Sophia University Tokyo in 2002 and set up the Los Angeles branch of his father's Cutters Studios business, before moving to Japan.

133 Ruth Jarman, President Jarman International

Ruth Jarman is the founder of Jarman International. She graduated from Tufts with a BA in International relations, studied Japanese at Nanzan University in Nagoya and joined recruit in 1988. While at Recruit she worked closely with the CEO Hiromasa Ezoe and credits him with teaching her about business. She launched Jarman International in 2012.

132: Robert Roche Founder and Executive Chairman of Oak Lawn Marketing

Robert Roche, Founder and Executive Chairman of Oak Lawn Marketing and Founder and President of Roche Enterprises originally trained as a lawyer and has become one of the most successful foreign business founders in Japan. His company, Oak Lawn Marketing found a niche opportunity to bring popular North American TV shopping products to Japan. In 1997 he took the same concept to China and established a business there. He and his partners later sold part of the TV Shopping business, rebranded t...

131: Amane Nakashima, Chairman Kewpie Corporation

Mr. Amane Nakashima is the Chairman of Kewpie Corporation, the manufacture of Kewpie mayonnaise, one of the most famous food products in Japan. The firm started in Tokyo in 1919 after the founder Toichiro Nakashima returned from studying in America, where he had encountered mayonnaise for the first time. It has retained the number one spot for mayaonnaise sales in Japan since its launch in 1925, which is an amazing record. Kewpie Corporation had sales of USD$5b in 2020. Mr Nakashima graduate...

The Best of the Best Encore: Wolfgang Angyal, President of Riedel Japan, Episode #47 Japan's Top Business Interviews

Wolfgang Angyal, President of Riedel Japan, originally grew up in Austria and came to Japan in 1985 as an Austrian representative in restaurant service sector of the 28th WorldSkills Competition and won first place. He credits this win to the trust he had of his supporting team who were all Japanese. Mr. Angyal has also been practicing Judo from a young age where he developed a deep respect and fascination for Japanese culture. After working in the education sector as an instructor in Japa...

130 Karl Hahne President Haefele Japan

Karl Hanhe, originally from Germany, has been in Japan over thirty years.  He set up his own company here called ONEWORLD in 1992, before selling it in 2004.  After remaining in that business for a couple of years, he became the President and Representative Director of Haefele Japan in 2008.

129: Brendan Delahunty, President and Representative Director, SPORTS TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY JAPAN

Brendan Delahunty, who is the President of SPORTS TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY JAPAN (STH JAPAN) , first arrived in Japan for the JET Program in 1993 and has been living in the country since then, for over 30 years. His teaching experience through the JET Program led him into working at Pearson, the world's largest education company. At Pearson, Mr. Delahunty ended up working as the Sales and Marketing Manager for about four years in Tokyo and Osaka. While working at Pearson, Mr. Delahunty moved bac...

128: Christian Wiedmann, President & CEO, BMW Group Japan

Christian Wiedmann, President & CEO of BMW Group Japan had already arrived in Japan on one first stint back in the early 2000s. He was born in Thailand and grew up in the country for all of his youth. Due to this background, he seized the opportunity to run as the Chief Financial Officer in the BMW leasing business in various Asian countries such as Thailand, Korea, Australia and Japan. Mr. Wiedmann worked in many BMW departments around the world, and through his experience and knowledge, he...

127: Dan Kerrigan Country Head Interactive Brokers Japan

Dan Kerrigan spent nearly six years with Citibank in Tokyo as Managing Direrctor, Head of Execution Services from 2009 until 2015.  For the next seven years he had a number of roles in Hong Kong with Ohara Capital Partners Limited as Principal, then Managing Director, Head of Sales Trading and Execution Asia Paciific for BNP Paribas, later as CEO at SBI Securities, and finally at CEO Woodlands Investment Partners, before returning to Japan in his current role.

126: Yusuke Asai, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Tokyo Japan

Yusuke Asai is presently the CEO at Standard Chartered bank in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Asai has spent over 32 years in the financial services industry. Mr. Asai credits much of his success and leadership qualities to Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” which he has read twice. Mr. Asai spent his first 10 years with a Japanese bank, then received a scholarship to do an MBA at UCLA in the US. He returned to Japan to work with the bank for a few more years. After this, he switch...

125: Noboru Nakatani, President & CEO of JASTEC Co., Ltd.

Noboru Nakatani has been leading in a global environment in various industries including manufacturing, IT, finance, and consulting in France, US and Japan. He is currently the President and CEO of JASTEC Co., Ltd., a leading systems integrator in Japan. Mr. Nakatani graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Keio University and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School. After graduation, Mr. Nakatani worked first as a Production Engineer at Canon Japan, and then led the Research an...

124: Ikuo Yasuda, Chairman, President & CEO of Pinnacle Inc

Ikuo Yasuda is the Chairman, President and CEO of Pinnacle Inc. (IMAP Japan) and is an expert in M&A business in Japan with over 30 years of experience. Mr. Yasuda graduated from Hitotsubashi University in the late 70s and entered the Long-term Credit Bank of Japan (currently Shinsei Bank) where he eventually became a Joint General Manager. After over 20 years at LTCB, Mr. Yasuda was headhunted by General Electric International Japan (GE) where he worked with Jack Welch managing business dev...

123: Yumiko Murakami, General Partner & Founder, M Power Partners

Yumiko Murakami is the General Partner and Founder of M Power Partners, Japan’s first ESG-focused global venture capital fund. The organization was founded by Ms. Murakami, along with Kathy Mastsui and Seki Miwa. Ms. Murakami was born and raised in Japan but studied in the US and spent a significant part of her adult life abroad. Upon returning to Japan, Ms. Murakami was shocked to experience the Japanese consensus-driven leadership style. Ms. Murakami observes this consensus-driven cultur...

123: Mario Munoz, President of Mölnlycke, Japan

Mario Munoz is presently the President of Mölnlycke in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Munoz has a long-standing history with Japan, having first come to Japan in 1979, he was studying in middle and high school until 1982. He moved to France for the rest of high school, where he continued studying Japanese. Mr. Munoz was one of the lucky foreigners who was immersed in the Japanese language and culture at such a young age. He went to the US to continue his education and attended Thunderbird School of Globa...

REVIVAL 44: Christian Wolf, Managing Director, JAS Forwarding Japan

Christian Wolf, Managing Director of JAS Forwarding Japan originally moved to Japan straight out of university in Germany where he worked in the freight and logistics industry as a student. He first started out as a roads development manager at DHL, developing new business for air and ocean freight transportation from Germany to Japan. Upon moving to Japan from a small village in Germany, Mr. Wolf experienced culture shock, and quickly realized he needed to be “very persistent” and have high...

REVIVAL 5: Kervin Go, CEO Of Curvature Japan

Please listen to our most accessed episode of Japan's Top Business Interviews!   Leading A Small Team In Japan - Kervin Go: Episode #5 Japan's Top Business Interviews   Kervin Go CEO Of Curvature Japan   Because it is easy to let your inner pride at being a leader override the humility that is necessary as a leader, it is important to meet with other people to remind you to be humble.   Managing people in Japan is like having an extended family, you have lots of different chi...

121: Mark Militello, Japan Country Head, APAC Head of Markets and Collateral, APAC at Bank Of New York Mellon Financial Corporation Limited

Mark Militello is the Country Representative of the Bank of New York Mellon. This is his third posting to Japan, though he has had a long history within the Investment banking space. He was most recently with the Bank of New York Mellon in Hong Kong for 10 years before relocating to Tokyo.   When leading in Japan, Mr. Militello explains how Japanese employees may not feel comfortable asking specific questions to their clients. This may be due to their lower rank in the company or the Jap...

120: David Bennett, former President, Lenovo Japan

Mr. David Bennett has been in Japan for more than 10 years in total. He has lived in Japan throughout his student years, and came back after graduation on the JET program for two years before joining AMD, an American multinational semiconductor company in Tokyo. His first leadership role would be with Lenovo Japan and NEC. Currently, Mr. Bennett has moved on from Japan and has become the Chief Customer Office at Tenstorrent Inc in the US.   As the President of Lenovo Japan, and the CEO o...

119: Bill Hall, President at Ipsos Healthcare Japan Ltd

William “Bill” Hall is currently the President at Ipsos Healthcare Japan Ltd. Mr. Hall has a long-standing history with Japan. He first visited the country in 1969 on a scholarship for post-graduate research, having majored in Japanese and Economics at Sydney University. After graduation, Mr. Hall worked in the consulting and marketing research field, starting his own market research company, and eventually leading Sterling Winthrop, a pharmaceutical company. Mr. Hall then worked for Kodak...