Noriyuki Shikata is Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs under Prime Minister Kishida. He was Director General, Economic Affairs Bureau of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). His other prior positions include: Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan in China; Deputy Director General, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, MOFA; Political Minister, Embassy of Japan in the U.K.; Director of Global Communications, Prime Minister’s Office. He was also Visiting Professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Law/Public Policy. He holds Master in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. His Twitter handle is: @norishikata.

Nicholas joined Hakluyt in 2016 and is a partner based in the Tokyo office. He was previously in London and Frankfurt, where he established Hakluyt’s business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Prior to Hakluyt, he worked on M&A with Rothschild & Co, initially in London and then in Beijing as chief representative and team leader. During his time in China, Nicholas was also vice chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce. He speaks German, French and Mandarin.

Yasuhito Ohwaki is Board Member, Senior Executive Vice President, Nitto. He joined Nitto in 1984. And he is currently the head of Human Resources Management, which is responsible for delivering on the company's ESG/Sustainability agenda and promoting human capital management that enjoys challenges. Prior to his current role, he has held positions of General Manager Printed Circuits Division, General Manager Information and Communication Technology Sector, General Manager Functional Base Products Sector, Chief Procurement Officer, Chief Information Officer.

Rachel Morarjee brings over two decades of foreign reporting experience to the boardroom when advising executives about geopolitical risk.

A fluent Chinese speaker, Rachel was the director of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network between 2017 and 2020 in Beijing where she worked with local management teams and visiting C-suite executives navigating China’s changing political, policy, business and economic climate.

Prior to joining the Economist Intelligence Unit, Rachel was the Financial Times correspondent in Kabul before working with the paper in London and Moscow.

During her time in Beijing, Rachel sat on the board of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, where she spearheaded the Chamber’s Cross-Industry Mentor Initiative, to build a leadership pipeline for mid-career women in European companies.

Rodrigo González is the Director for Tokyo of Economist Intelligence Corporate Network.

He works closely with regional business leaders to assist them in economic and market trends, business competitiveness, monetary and fiscal policy and general economic advisory to help them optimise their business strategies and further enhance their connections to their c-suite peers.

He has vast experience in statistical analysis, strategy consulting and market research in different industries in and outside Japan. Rodrigo is a published author in environmental and transport economics and has spoken at international conferences in global warming and fiscal policy throughout the world.

Rodrigo holds a PhD in Economics from Keio University and is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Japanese.