Simon is the Global Chief Economist for the Economist Intelligence Unit, responsible for driving their world-leading macroeconomic, business and political reports and forecasts with a team of 100+ economists, data scientists and analysts based in every continent. An engaging and renowned economic communicator who can make economic ideas actionable and relevant to stakeholders across financial services, corporates and government, he regularly appears on international broadcast media, briefs boards and executive teams, and gives keynote presentations at large events. Under his leadership the EIU has been ranked the top global forecaster on multiple occasions.

Simon has a doctorate in Economics at the University of Oxford, where his research investigated productivity and technology in emerging market manufacturing firms. This postgraduate study followed degrees in Economics and Science from the University of Tasmania. He has published a number of academic articles, including in World Development, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, University of Oxford working paper series, and Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, as well as leading or contributing to a large number of EIU publications.

Naoko Nemoto is a professor at Waseda Business School (Graduate School of Business and Finance). Until May 2021, she was a financial economist at the Asian Development Bank Institute. Her research interests include financial markets, financial inclusion, and sustainable development goals. Before that she was a managing director at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and an economist at the Bank of Japan.

She has a BA in law from Waseda University, Tokyo, an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in finance from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. Currently she is a board member of the Government Pension Investment Fund Japan, and Mizuho Bank. She was a chair of the Carbon Neutrality Working Group at the Financial Service Agency in Japan.

Mr. Takehiko Nakao is currently the Chairman of the Institute at Mizuho Research & Technologies, Ltd. Concurrently, he teaches as Visiting Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo.

From April 2013 to January 2020, Mr. Nakao served as President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is based in Manila with membership of 68 countries including 46 regional developing countries.

Mr. Nakao was the Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs between 2011 and 2013, and in charge of foreign exchange markets, G20 and G7 processes, ASEAN+3 financial cooperation, and bilateral financial relations with the US, Asian countries and European countries.

Mr. Nakao has gained extensive experience in international finance and development since he joined the Ministry of Finance in 1978. He was assigned as Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. between 2005 and 2007, and worked as advisor at IMF's Policy Development and Review Department between 1994 and 1997.

He has published books and numerous papers on financial and economic issues both in Japanese and English. He took an initiative and was a “lead editor” for the ADB’s recent publication of “Asia’s Journey to Prosperity”, a comprehensive account of Asia’s development history in these several decades. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo in 2010 and 2011.

Mr. Nakao holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Tokyo (1978) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California-Berkeley (1982).

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.