Simon Baptist is Editorial Director and Chief Economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit. Prior to his current role, he has held a number of other senior management and editorial positions in the business, including Managing Director for Asia, Regional Director of our Asia editorial team, Director of Global Forecasting, and Consulting Director in both Europe and Asia

Simon’s focus is on the global economy, national and international political developments, and public policy. He engages with business, government and international organisations, helping them to understand the operational and strategic implications of the EIU’s forecasts.

He has a doctorate in economics from and was a lecturer at Oxford University, along with degrees in economics and science from the University of Tasmania. His academic research investigated technology and the determinants of productivity in manufacturing firms.

Yasuhide Nakayama was first elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 2003, and since then has been reelected to the Diet on five occasions as a representative for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
During that time he served as State Minister for Foreign Affairs (under Prime Minister Abe) and most recently as the State Minister of Defense/State Minister of Cabinet Office (under Prime Minister Suga). He has also occupied various key Diet posts, including Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.
In November 2021, Nakayama was appointed Special Advisor for Foreign Affairs to the LDP（to the Chairperson of the Policy Research Council for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Game-Changing Fields.)

Arthur M. Mitchell has over forty-six years of experience, much of it in Asia, specializing in investment and financing transactions in the region. Prior to joining White & Case, Arthur was General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where he supervised all aspects of legal advice given with respect to public sector and private sector loan transactions, equity investments, political risk guarantees and bond financings at ADB. Since returning to Japan, Arthur has been involved in numerous private equity investments, as well as cutting-edge transnational financial transactions. His practice now focuses on infrastructure finance, technology-related projects and sustainability governance. Arthur is serving his seventh term as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., and his second term as a member of the Board of Directors of Komatsu Ltd. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Hiroshi Ugai is a Managing Director and Chief Economist, Japan. He is responsible for outlining the firm’s official view on Japanese economy and macroeconomic policies. He joined J.P. Morgan in May 2016.
Prior to his arrival, he built a 30 year career at the Bank of Japan where he was a Deputy-Director General. He served in many key areas of the Bank including the Monetary Affairs, Research and Statistics, the Financial System and Bank Examination, and International Departments. He was a Japan’s original delegate of Financial Stability Board during 2009-13. During 2014-16 he was seconded to the School of International and Public Policy of the Hitotsubashi University as a professor of Asian Public Policy Program.
He wrote many papers on monetary policy including effects of the quantitative easing policy, transmission channels and welfare implications of the unconventional monetary easing policy in Japan, and cross-country transmission effect of the US monetary shock under global integration. He also published papers discussing about Japan’s deflation, and optimal inflation for Japan’s economy. He compiled the review series of New Keynesian Monetary Economics, and also co-wrote the paper about Financial Sector Assessment Program entrusted by IMF.
He received a BA in Economics from the University of Tokyo in 1983, studied at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business in 1987-88, and received a Doctor of Economics from Saitama University in 2017.

Andrijana Cvetkovikj has a Doctoral Degree from Nihon University, and an Executive MBA from the Fox School of Business, Temple University, and a Master Degree in Cinema and Media Studies from the National Academy of Theater and Film Arts of Sofia, Bulgaria. She is recipient of the the WIN Inspiring Women Worldwide Award 2022. Cvetkovikj was the first resident Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia in Japan from 2014-2018. Cvetkovikj was also the Head of the Digital Diplomacy Unit (2013-2014)and the Public Diplomacy Unit (2018) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia. She sits on the Board of Del Sole Corporation, and used to be an Executive Advisory Board Member of Cartier-Japan (2018-2020), promoting women’s entrepreneurship and mentoring. Cvetkovikj was a visiting professor at Kyoto University (2012), the International Center for Japanese Studies(2010-2011), the European University and other academic institutes. She is currently an Advisor to the OIST Foundation (the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology).

Cvetkovikj is the Founder & CEO of BrioNexus, Co., Ltd., Tokyo based consultancy firm, and of a non-profit organization Ambassadors of Change. She is a member of the Japan Board Diversity Network (JBDN), and the Worldwide Women Corporate Directors (WCD) Organization. She has been a speaker at the UN Conference for Climate Change, the World Economic Forum, and other venues. In 2018 she received the distinguished award Doctor Honoris Causa by the European University for contributions in the Sciences and Arts.