Global Alumni Speaker Series

The Global Alumni Speaker Series is an opportunity for alumni and students to learn about the inspiring work and lives of ICU alumni, and to engage in meaningful dialogue. Each of the online sessions will feature an ICU alum who lives or has lived outside of Japan or who has pursued a career that is global in nature. Sessions will be open to students and alumni, and registration is required.

Each session will begin with a 15 minute presentation by the featured alum, followed by 45 minutes of moderated Q&A dialogue. JICUF hopes this will be an opportunity for students and alumni to connect and learn valuable lessons from one another. Session attendance limits may vary by session.

Registration is required to attend!

Are you an ICU graduate who would like to be featured in a future session? Contact us at information@jicuf.org!

Session 1: Masako Kawashima (ID75)
Thursday, October 15: 8PM ~ 9PM JST

This session will be conducted in Japanese. Attendance is limited to 30 people for this session. Priority will be given to current students.

Masako Kawashima is an entrepreneur, translator, event producer, and international concert booker. She is the proud founder of the frozen yogurt brand Sno:la. She is based in Los Angeles.

We have reached the maximum number of registrants and closed registration. Thank you for your interest.
Registration closed

Session 6: Kakeru Tsubota (ID11)
Wednesday, February 10: 9PM ~ 10PM JST

This session will be conducted in Japanese.

Kakeru is a Senior Principal at Transformation Office, SAP Japan. Kakeru also serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of EDISON Project, an SAP internal startup that provides responsive, real-time disaster prevention platform to public sector customers.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Kakeru Tsubota Full Bio

Kakeru is a Senior Principal at Transformation Office, SAP Japan. He oversees SAP Japan’s innovation outpost to transform both market perception and value proposition scheme of SAP Japan, and internal readiness toward innovation among 1,300+ SAP Japan employees. He also leads the Japan 2023 initiative, SAP Japan’s mid-term strategy, delegated directly from Chief Transformation Officer of the company. He spent 3 years in Silicon Valley as the Japan Representative at SAP Labs Silicon Valley and recently came back to Japan.
Kakeru also serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of EDISON Project, an SAP internal startup that provides responsive, real-time disaster prevention platform to public sector customers. Kakeru is a trusted mentor of the startup community, serving as a Venture Partner at SAP.iO, the early stage venture arm of SAP, and as a Mentor at Sido Next Innovator, the government-funded venture incubation program led by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan. Before SAP, Kakeru was an Account Sales Representative at Oracle Japan. He was responsible for leading cross-border software sales for manufacturing industry and customer success. Kakeru holds B.A. in International Relations from ICU.

Session 7: Koji Miyazaki (ID17)
Wednesday, February 24: 11AM ~ 12PM JST

This session will be bilingual.

Koji is the Director for Japanese Partnerships at Plug and Play, an early stage investor and largest corporate innovation platform in the world. PNP invests in 200 startups every year; portfolio includes PayPal, Dropbox, Lending Club, Honey.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Koji Miyazaki Full Bio

Koji is the Director for Japanese Partnerships at Plug and Play, an early stage investor and largest corporate innovation platform in the world. PNP invests in 200 startups every year; portfolio includes PayPal, Dropbox, Lending Club, Honey. The company is also known for its corporate innovation platform, developing innovation strategies for 400+ corporations around the world.

Koji represents the Japanese business practice of PNP, with experience supporting 80+ Japanese companies including Panasonic, Nintendo, NEC, and many others. He has played an essential role in the launch of PNP Japan, which now holds offices in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, with over 50 employees.

Koji graduated ICU in 2017 with a B.A. in business, then immediately moved to Silicon Valley to work for PNP. He still resides in San Francisco, hoping to transform Japan from the outside.

Past Speakers

Session 1 (10/15/20): Masako Kawashima

Masako Kawashima is an entrepreneur, translator, event producer, and international concert booker. She is the proud founder of the frozen yogurt brand Sno:la. She is based in Los Angeles. (ID75)

Session 2 (10/30/20): Marito Hayashi

Marito Hayashi is a neuroscience postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. A graduate of ICUHS and ICU, he studied at UC San Diego as an exchange student and returned there for his doctorate studies. (ID07)

Session 3 (11/5/20): Shizuka Pohl

Shizuka Pohl is a Senior Fund Oversight Officer at Danske Invest Management, Luxembourg Branch. She has additional experience living and working in NYC, Boston, and Stockholm. (ID98)

Session 4 (12/14/2020): Yoshimi Horiuchi

Yoshimi Horiuchi founded Always Reading Caravan in 2010, which has been officially registered as Bookworm Foundation (BWF) since June 2018. She was born nearly blind, and lost all sight in her late teens. (ID 07)

Session 5 (1/14/2021): Yumiko Matsuoka

Yumiko Matsuoka is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and a professor in the Ear Training department. She has also taught vocal writing in the Contemporary Writing and Production department. While studying at Berklee, she founded Vox One to fulfill her dreams of writing and performing in an a cappella ensemble.