Strong leaders who drive positive change through inclusive leadership and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are essential to long-term business success and sustainable growth. Studies show that companies with higher representation of women at the executive levels are significantly more likely to outperform those with fewer or no women executives[1]. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to reconceptualize traditional business models. Leading edge companies recognize the value that women can bring to the workplace as business leaders, especially in the midst of crisis management.
Join us for an interactive discussion with three innovative and inclusive leaders on this critical topic that matters now more than ever.
[1] Diversity Wins: How inclusion matters, McKinsey & Co., May 2020.
2021 Featured Speakers
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Teruko Wada Director International Affairs Bureau, Keidanren Chair of the Board |
Kathy Matsui Global VC Fund
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Albert Chu Co-Chief Digital Officer & Senior Vice President, SOMPO Holdings, Inc.
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| Panel Moderator |
Conference MC |
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| Debra Nakatomi President Nakatomi & Associates |
Joan Haratani Partner Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP |
Thursday, November 4, 2021 (PDT) / Friday, November 5, 2021 (JST)
5:00-6:15 pm (PDT)/ 9:00-10:15 am (JST) Virtual Conference
6:15-6:45 pm (PDT)/ 10:15-10:45 am Virtual Networking
This is a virtual conference which will utilize a digital conference system
Admission to Virtual Conference
JASSC Members - $50
Non-members - $75
Students - Free w/ valid ID
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About the Speakers & Presenters
(in order of appearance)
Kathy Matsui
Founding General Partner of
MPower Partners, Japan's First ESG-focused Global VC Fund
Former Vice Chair,
Goldman Sachs Japan
Kathy Mitsuko Matsui is a founding General Partner of MPower Partners, Japan’s first ESG-focused global VC fund.
She was the former vice chair of Goldman Sachs Japan, co-head of Macro Research in Asia and chief Japan equity strategist. Kathy was ranked No. 1 in Japan Equity Strategy by Institutional Investor multiple times. She was chosen by The Wall Street Journal as one of the "10 Women to Watch in Asia" for her work on the "Womenomics" theme and was also named to Bloomberg Markets magazine’s “50 Most Influential” list in 2014.
Prior to joining the firm, Kathy was chief Japan strategist for Barclays de Zoete Wedd Securities for four years and worked at the Export-Import Bank of Japan’s Washington, DC office for two years. She is a policy commentator for Japan’s Cabinet Office and has served on numerous Japanese government committees aimed at promoting gender diversity.
Kathy is a board member of the Asian University for Women (AUW) Support Foundation, chair of the Board of Councilors (Japan) of the US-Japan Council, director of the Fast Retailing Foundation, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Nature Conservancy Asia Pacific Council, the Bretton Woods Committee Advisory Council, Keizai Doyukai, and the Japan Society Fund Against Breast Cancer.
Kathy earned an AB, magna cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard University and an MA from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. She has conducted research on Japanese foreign policy at Kobe University Graduate School on a Rotary Scholarship.
She is a mother of two and resides in Tokyo, Japan.
Teruko Wada
Director
International Affairs Bureau,
Keidanren
Chair of the Board
National Commissioner
Girl Scouts of Japan
Teruko Wada serves as Director, International Affairs Bureau for the Keidanren, an economic organization founded in August 16, 1946. The mission of the Keidanren is to accelerate growth of Japan's and world economy and to strengthen the corporations to create additional value to transform Japanese economy into one that is sustainable and driven by the private sector, by encouraging the idea of individuals and local communities. Ms. Wada began her career with the Keidanren in 1995 as a staff economist and remained in that position until 2002. The various bureaus she worked for included the Economic Policy Bureau, Industrial Policy Bureau and Industrial Technology Bureau which included the intellectual property, space, and defense industries.
In 2002, Ms. Wada left the Keidanren to study at Georgetown University. She graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M with distinction) with a Fulbright Scholarship. She also held an internship position in the Legal Department at the International Monetary Fund. She returned to the Keidanren in 2004. She was also admitted into the New York State Bar that same year. As for her earlier education, she graduated from Waseda University with a BA in Law and received her LL.M from the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Law and Politics in 1995.
Ms. Wada is currently Chair of the Board and National Commissioner for the Girl Scouts of Japan. Her past appointment has also included Board of Trustee for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts which is a UK based charity.
Albert Chu
Co-Chief Digital Officer & Senior Vice President,
SOMPO Holdings, Inc.
CEO
SOMPO Digital Lab, Inc.
Mr. Albert Chu is the Co-Chief Digital Officer and Senior VP of SOMPO Holdings and CEO of SOMPO Digital Lab, based in Silicon Valley. In these roles, Mr. Chu leads the digital transformation initiatives and partnerships for the SOMPO Group, manages the SOMPO Digital Lab innovation team in Silicon Valley, and supports the global implementation of SOMPO’s Real Data Platform initiative.
In his 40-year Silicon Valley career, Mr. Chu has brought dozens of products and services to market, at startup and global companies including Apple, AT&T, PalmSource, ACCESS and SOMPO. As an experienced technology executive, product marketing and business strategist, Mr. Chu serves as advisor, board member and investor for a portfolio of startups.
Additionally, Mr. Chu is a managing partner at Poppyseed, a Silicon Valley-based early stage investment and advisory firm; an advisor at SkyDeck, the accelerator program at the University of California, Berkeley; and a Silicon Valley advisor to Mitsubishi Research Institute’s Innovation Network for Co-Creating the Future.
Mr. Chu is a regular speaker on the topics of startup culture, global entrepreneurship, and innovation trends in insurtech and healthtech. He is a published author, co-authoring the first university textbook for the Apple Macintosh, Approaching Macintosh: A Guide to Learning Macintosh Software (Addison Wesley, 1986), and recently, a contributing author to the Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, Volume I (Academic Press, 2017).
Mr. Chu has a degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and completed the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is fluent in English, Portuguese and Shanghainese.
Panel Moderator
Debra Nakatomi
President
Nakatomi & Associates
Debra Nakatomi is founder and president of Nakatomi & Associates, an LA-based firm that designs communications and media initiatives promoting health, environmental sustainability and education issues. The firm’s clients include the CA COVID-19 campaign, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Energy Upgrade California and Southern California Edison. An advisor to CEO’s and executive management teams, she leads the firm’s practice assisting clients through growth, organizational change and issues management.
She has dedicated her career to supporting mission-driven organizations committed to advancing social change and promoting equity. She is trustee and past chair of The California Wellness Foundation and former president of the Little Tokyo Service Center Community Development Corporation. She serves on the Advisory Councils for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Peace Over Violence the National Advisory Committee of the Irene Hirano Inouye Philanthropic Leadership Fund. A lifelong advocate for gender equality, she served as board member and International Commissioner for Girl Scouts of the USA and is former chair of the Los Angeles Women’s Foundation and the Asian Pacific Women’s Leadership Institute.
Debra was a member of the 2009 Japanese American Leadership Delegation where she met delegate, Dianne Fukami. Together they co-produced the Mineta Legacy Project; that includes a TV documentary, Norman Mineta and His Legacy: an American Story, profiling the life and career of Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Stories From Tohoku, a documentary about survivors of the 2011 Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. Both films aired in the U.S. and were screened in Japan. In 2020, she was conferred the award of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays by the government of Japan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Conference MC
Joan Haratani
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Joan Haratani’s three decades in the law have won her widespread recognition as one of the nation’s premier litigators. Combining practical, goal-oriented, and strategic thinking with superb courtroom skills, she has prevailed in high-exposure cases for a broad spectrum of clients in numerous industries, including retail, banking, and finance. She currently is co-lead national counsel for one of the world’s largest financial institutions.
Among Joan’s many accolades, she has won recognition as one of the Daily Journal’s “Top 100 Lawyers in California” and as a “Top 75 Women Litigator.” The American Bar Association (ABA) awarded her its “Spirit of Excellence” award, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association named her as the recipient of the Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer award. Recently, she won the Chambers and Partners Outstanding Contribution to Furthering the Advancement of Diversity in the Legal Profession Award, and IANGEL bestowed on her its highly coveted Amel Zenoune Zouani Rights & Leadership Award.
Joan serves on the board of Asian Americans Advancing Justice/AAJC and she formerly sat on the board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the Center for Justice and Accountability. She also previously served as a member of the ABA’s House of Delegates and as the first woman of color to become president of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She also served as president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area and as regional governor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. A former board member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) of Northern California, she was a 2017 runner-up in the LLS Bay Area Woman of the Year campaign. Joan is an Elite Athlete with its Team in Training program, having completed the Ironman, and numerous other long-distance events. She is the drummer in the firm band, Morgan Lewis and ROCKius.
A Special "Thank You" to our First Confirmed Sponsors of 2021
Platinum Sponsors
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Gold Sponsor
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<WLC Conference Bonus Event>
Registrations to the WLC Virtual Conference includes a complimentary registration for the following event:
Empowering the Next Generation:
Resiliency and Mentorship - an Exclusive Fireside Chat with Olympian Mirai Nagasu
Sponsored by Ernst & Young
Olympic medalist, Mirai Nagasu, knows the importance of resiliency during times of challenge and the value of mentorship on that journey. As the first American woman to land a triple-axel at the Olympics, Mirai has experienced many highs – but it is her inner strength to overcome the lows with an attitude of always looking forward that continue to propel her. Gain insights from Mirai’s experiences, learn how to overcome challenges, and the central role of mentorship on that journey.
Thursday, August 19, 2021
5:00-5:50 pm (PDT)
About Women's Leadership Counts Initiative
In 2014, the Japan America Society of Southern California's Women's Leadership Counts Initiative (WLCI) was created as a first-of-its-kind initiative to provide a platform for women in business on both sides of the Pacific to engage in professional and leadership development.
Together with our partner organizations, business executives and community leaders, the WLCI will create a network that inspires action and moves the needle on women's leadership.
WLCI's Mission Statement:
To provide an inclusive and diverse platform for women in business to engage in professional and global leadership development
Who Should Attend
Current and future corporate, business, academic, non-profit and entrepreneurial women and men leaders who value the U.S-Japan collaboration and wish to expand their networks.
Why You Should Attend
- LEARN from global leaders - Understanding the culture of the parent company, management, or client from Japan or overseas is key to having a successful career
- DISCOVER your potential - Build leadership and management skills and navigate through unique corporate culture in a professional environment
- INVEST in yourself – Exchange ideas as well as challenges you are facing with peers and mentors, and learn tactics to advance your career
- BUILD your professional network – Meet a diverse group of women and men representing a wide variety of industries
Follow our official Facebook group page to stay up to date
Past Conferences
2020
Activating Your Kaizen Mindset
Impact Leadership in the New Normal – VUCA World
2017
Talent Innovation: Going Beyond Unconscious Bias to Lead Generational Diversity
Diversity Inspires Innovation: Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Leadership
Leadership Dialogue: How to Navigate Toward your Greatest Potential
Women's Leadership Counts