The not-so-hidden champions:

Kazuo Ishigame is the Co-Founder and COO of Infostellar, a newspace communications technology company based in Tokyo that manages a satellite antenna sharing platform called StellarStation. Using this platform, users can share their unused antenna time and access antennas worldwide for their satellite operations.

Prior to founding Infostellar, Ishigame founded and managed an online space business publication called Astropreneur, where he raised local awareness of domestic space business. He also served as the COO of 7-bites, where he directed the development of an anime goods C2C marketplace app. During that time, he also led a number of teams ranging from customer support to business development, resulting in the Animate Group purchasing the service in 2013.

Kasugahara Daiki is Director-General, Trade Policy, Minister’s Secretariat (Manufacturing Industries Bureau) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan. He joined Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan in 1989 and held different posts in the Ministry and its affiliated organizations. Until October 2019, Mr Kausgahara was Director-General for International Affairs and Public Relations in Small and Medium Enterprise Policy at Small and Medium Enterprise Agency of METI. He also served as General Manager, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and as President Director of JETRO Jakarta Office.

Mr Kusagahara graduated from the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law in 1989 and also received Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University in 1993.

Bill Zhang was appointed Corporate Officer, Head of SME Segment, of AIG’s $5billion Japanese entity, AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. on August 1, 2019. In this role, Bill has end-to-end accountability of the Small Medium Enterprises business segment, including P&L, product, marketing and distribution.
He is also the Chief Data & Analytics Officer of the entity, a role he assumed since June 1, 2018. In this role, Bill is accountable for setting and executing enterprise wide data & analytics strategies, and oversees pricing actuaries, business analysts, data analysts and innovation.

Andrew is the global Editorial Director of The Economist Corporate Network (ECN), the Economist Intelligence Unit’s briefing and advisory service for senior business leaders. He leads and supports a team of Network Directors (NDs) across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and ensures that editorial consistency and quality are maintained to the highest level.

As editorial director, Andrew ensures that the values and standards of The Economist brand are upheld across all the networks and drives ECN editorial strategy through the innovation of new services and products.

Andrew joined the Economist Group in 2013 and prior to his current role, ran ECN in Tokyo (later North Asia) and South-east Asia.

Andrew provides members with insight and analysis on a range of topics related to ASEAN and the broader East Asian economy. He regularly chairs and moderates major Economist events, delivers custom briefings to senior executives (including Fortune 500 C-suite) and public figures (including heads of states) in his areas of expertise in the international media (BBC, CNN, CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, Al Jazeera).

Prior to joining The Economist Group, Andrew was an associate professor of international business at business schools and leading universities in the UK (University of Sheffield) and Japan (Keio University, Doshisha Business School and Globis University Graduate School of Management).

Andrew has published widely in his areas of expertise and his major publications include Responses to Regionalism in East Asia: Japanese Production Networks in the Automotive Sector published as part of the Palgrave Macmillan Asian Business Series and chapters in edited volumes including Asian Inward and Outward FDI: New Challenges in the Global Economy and popular textbooks including Asian Business and Management. He was also a Senior Editor for the internationally peer reviewed journal Asian Business and Management.

Andrew has an MSc in East Asian Business and a PhD in International Political Economy from the University of Sheffield, U.K., and was a Ministry of Education research scholar at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo (2001-2003).