Jump to bio:


*Listed in order of presentation



Mr. Keith W. Rabin serves as president of KWR International, Inc.; a consulting firm specializing in the delivery of research, communications and advisory services with a particular emphasis on public/investor relations, business development, public affairs, cross border transactions and market entry programs. This includes a wide range of engagements for government agencies, industry associations, law firms and financial institutions, investors, trading and distribution companies, financial intermediaries and professional service firms; as well as start-ups, turnarounds, venture/technology-oriented companies and multinational corporations.

During his twenty years of experience as a manager and consultant, Mr. Rabin has served as an officer at Hill and Knowlton and Edelman Public Relations (two of the world's top ten public relations firms.) Mr. Rabin has also served as the president of a global trading company. He has been a consultant to major corporations, financial institutions, donor and government agencies and professional service firms.

Mr. Rabin has extensive experience working with Japanese, Korean and other clients from Asia as well as other locations around the world. He frequently speaks, and has authored numerous articles concerning, trade, investment and economic issues. In addition, he serves as publisher of the KWR International Advisor, a globally-focused newsletter containing economic, political and financial analysis that is currently distributed to over 10,000 senior executives, investors, analysts, journalists, government officials and other targeted individuals in over 60 countries. He has been interviewed on numerous occasions by U.S. and foreign radio and television broadcasters and serves as a special advisor on the editorial board of Korean American Science and Technology News. He holds a masters degree in international business from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a bachelors degree in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany.











Mark J. Lerner currently serves as the Managing Partner of Morgen Evan & Co., Inc. Prior to establishing Morgen, Evan & Company in 1992, Mr. Lerner was the Managing Director and head of the Japan Corporate Finance Group at Chase Manhattan Bank. Before that, he served as the head of the Japan Group of the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch from 1982-1989. His international banking career started with Banker's Trust Company in 1976. Mr. Lerner has been deeply involved in the Asian markets for more than 20 years and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences dealing with Japan/U.S. relations. He has spoken on the development of technology partnerships in Asia for the Government of Canada/Department of Foreign Affairs, and has also worked closely with the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA).

Recently, following the successful completion of an assignment in Japan for Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. (RVSI), a large, public semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer, Mr. Lerner was appointed to the company's Board of Directors.

He is also a member of the Business Advisory Board of MassTech Ventures - a venture capital fund based at MIT. In addition, Mr. Lerner serves as Publisher of the Japan Technology Alert, a monthly newsletter covering technological development in the Japanese market.

Mr. Lerner is also a Board member of M&A International, Inc., the world’s leading network of independent M&A advisors with membership in over 25 countries.

Mr. Lerner received an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (1976) and an AB in Applied Mathematics from Vassar College (1974).











Nobuharu Ono is currently the President & CEO of NTT DoCoMo USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary established in November 1999 of Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc.

After graduating from Nagoya University with a bachelor degree in Engineering in 1968, Mr. Ono began his career at NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), the largest telecommunication carrier in Japan. He held a variety of executive positions relating to the field of transmission during his early years at NTT. In 1989, he became Senior Vice President of NTT America responsible for the operation of the Pacific and Western Divisions. In 1994, he served as Executive Manager of the Multimedia Business Department in charge of strategic business planning. He was promoted to Vice President, Executive Manager of the Multimedia Business Department in 1995.

He was elected to NTT’s Board of Directors in June 1998 and transferred to NTT-East in 1999 in accordance with NTT’s reorganization. In July 2000, Mr. Ono moved to NTT DoCoMo, Inc., the mobile arm of NTT, which was spun off from its parent company in 1992. At that time, acting as both a Senior Vice President and Board member, he headed the Mobile Multimedia Division, which promotes multimedia communication and services through DoCoMo’s wireless network.

In July 2001, Mr. Ono became President & CEO of NTT DoCoMo USA, Inc., and at the same time was appointed to the Board of Directors of AT&T Wireless, a strategic U.S. partner for NTT DoCoMo. He continues as a Board member at NTT DoCoMo (Japan), and acts as Deputy Head of its Global Business Division.

NTT DoCoMo, Inc is one of the leading mobile communication providers in the world. The company has pioneered wireless Internet services by introducing “i-mode” service. The company’s global partners include AT&T Wireless, AOL Time Warner, Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong, KPN Mobile in the Netherlands, and KG Telecom in Taiwan.











Peter Ennis is also US Bureau Chief for TOE's sister publication, Weekly Toyo Keizai, with responsibility for coordinating coverage of economic and political developments in the United States. For the past 7 years, Mr. Ennis has written the "Inside Washington" column for Weekly Toyo Keizai.

Mr. Ennis has been reporting and writing about Japan and US-Japan relations for over 20 years. He began working for Toyo Keizai in 1985, first on a freelance basis, and then full time when the company opened its New York office in 1987. He became bureau chief in 1996.

Before joining Toyo Keizai, Mr. Ennis wrote for a host of publications, including Bungei Shunju, Chuo Koron, and the Christian Science Monitor. He also spent 3 years as a correspondent at the United Nations, covering economic issues affecting developing nations.

Over the years, Mr. Ennis has paid particularly close attention to Japan's defense policies and the US-Japan security relationship. He was widely recognized for his coverage of the FSX dispute between the US and Japan in 1989, and was the lead researcher on a television documentary on that subject produced by NHK.

During 1995 and 1996, Mr. Ennis broke numerous stories relating to the so-called "Nye Initiative" to upgrade the US-Japan defense relationship. He also wrote several acclaimed stories on the inside workings of the Japan Defense Agency.

In 1996, Mr. Ennis was a member of a Council on Foreign Relations study group that examined the future of the US-Japan security relationship. He also became a member of the US delegation to an annual gathering of American and Japanese security specialists organized by the Pacific Forum-CSIS and the Japan Institute for International Affairs.

Mr. Ennis is currently a Fellow of International Business Journalism at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business.

Mr. Ennis studied Japan and Spanish at Hunter College in New York City. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.











Mr. William J. Lazar, Jr. serves as the Director, Japan Services Group (Tax) in the New York Tri-State Area. Mr. Lazar has worked in San Francisco, New York and Tokyo, where he has provided international tax compliance and consulting services to many of the firm's most significant clients. He has experience in a broad array of industries including electronic components, high technology (internet and computers), information systems, financial services, consumer products and real estate. While in Tokyo, he practiced both U.S. and Japanese taxation with a special emphasis on cross-border transactions, tax treaties and transfer pricing. Since his return to the United States, he has worked exclusively on Japanese owned U.S. corporations and investment in Japan by U.S. multinationals. A major portion of his consulting services since returning to the United States has involved analysis of intercompany transactions, transfer pricing documentation/planning and IRS audit defense. He works closely with the Tri-State transfer pricing group in providing transfer pricing services to a broad array of Japanese companies.

Mr. Lazar is also in charge of Tri-State's tax consulting services for Japanese clients. He also serves on the International Tax Committee of the New York State Society of CPAs. He has authored the firm's tax checklist for inbound investment and international tax compliance guidebook. He has written numerous articles for professional publications including Intertax and Prentice Hall's Taxation of International Operations. Mr. Lazar is able to converse in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. A significant portion of his work for U.S. multinationals involves research in Japanese tax law. He recently chaired a seminar for Japanese clients on changes in U.S. tax law which was conducted entirely in Japanese.

He holds an M.S. Accounting from the University of Illinois, an M.S. Chinese Studies from Seton Hall University and a B.A. Oriental Studies from St. Vincent College.











Mr. Masatoshi Go serves as president of Tsunami Network Partners Corporation, an organization born in August 2000 to assist venture businesses through a collaboration between public organizations and private enterprises in Kanagawa prefecture. Prior to the establishment of Tsunami Network Partners, Mr. Go participated in the founding of Watami Food Services Co., Ltd, in 1985, where he served as Managing Director. Prior to this position, he joined Nippon Radiator, Inc., the current Calsonic Kansai Corporation.











Ms. Harumi Hata serves as a Partner in the Los Angeles Office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. In this capacity, she concentrates in the representation of domestic and foreign clients (including European and Japanese clients) in matters involving business, corporations, limited liability companies, real property, and partnerships. Ms. Hata's clients include national and multinational clients, as well as emerging companies.

Ms. Hata represents clients in business, corporate and commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, and lending and financing arrangements. Ms. Hata's representation includes financings involving private placements, public offerings and other securitizations. Ms. Hata has extensive experience in conducting, and coordinating teams of attorneys and paralegals for, complex due diligence and investigations, as well as complex transaction closings.

Of the domestic clientele representation, Ms. Hata's practice includes the representation of regulated entities, including insurance companies, their holding companies and other related entities, in matters involving the acquisition of insurance company assets (including acquisition of assets of insurance companies in conservation and liquidation), acquisition and disposition of investments, business and real estate transactions, and regulatory aspects relating to such transactions. Ms. Hata also advises business clients in connection with the expansion of their operations and the establishment of subsidiaries and affiliates abroad.

Of the foreign clientele representation, Ms. Hata's practice includes the representation of foreign entities and individuals in the establishment and management of U.S. operations, including structuring and tax planning coordination and advice with respect to cross-border operations and business activities.

Ms. Hata is fluent in Japanese and represents Japan-based clients in the U.S. and non-Japan based clients in connection with their investments and other transactions in Japan. She is admitted to the bar in California and received a J.D. degree from Loyola Law School in 1985 and a B.A. from Loyola Marymount University in 1982.











Mr. Hideaki V. Horikiri serves as a Senior Manager in the Japan Services Group of Deloitte & Touche LLP. He has 12 years of public accounting experience. From 1997 through 2001, he has worked extensively on US-Japan cross-border private equity and debt investment financings as an advisor. Prior to his career in public accounting, he spent two years as a foreign stock trader at Nikko Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo. Mr. Horikiri holds an MBA and MS from State University of New York at Binghamton.











Mr. Yoshitaka Hasegawa was seconded to Deloitte & Touche in New York in 2001 from the Tax Department of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Tokyo office. He currently works in New York as a senior tax manager. Prior to arriving in New York, Yoshitaka spent over ten years in accounting and tax, including providing Japanese tax advice on corporate organization structuring to many Japanese and other multi-national corporations. Yoshitaka is an author/coauthor of numerous Japanese taxation books, including "Law, Accounting, Taxation and Management of Holding Company" (Seibunsha, 1998), "Foreign Tax Credit, New Edition" (Seibunsha, 2000) and "Accounting and Taxation of Hedge Transactions" (Chuokeizaisha Inc., 2001). He also has had articles published in various tax magazines, including "Taxation Business Review" (Chuokeizaisha Inc.).

He received his Bachelor of Economics degree from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan. Yoshitaka is a CPA licensed in both Japan and the U.S.











Carl Adams is a senior consultant and executive advisor specializing in business and policy applications for multinational firms and sovereign governments. His experience and focus is on management of country issues for private enterprise and public policy ambitions. Anchored by 25 years of managerial experience, his global business strategy promotes disciplined and articulate analysis of business development strategy by country. His ongoing leadership responsibilities promote country risk as an integral key for competitive business and good public policy success. Mr. Adams is currently Chairman of the Risk Steering Committee of The Bond Market Association. He is also a Vice President and Governor on the Board of the RMA (Risk Management Association) New York Chapter; and he is a Senior Director of the Capital Markets Credit Analysts Society.

Until recently, Mr. Adams served for 11 years as Global Manager for Country Risk and a Director of Portfolio Risk at Merrill Lynch. In this capacity, he reported to senior and executive management of the firm overseeing country business exposure and controlling fiduciary due diligence for over 130 national jurisdictions. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Adams was President of Strategic Research International Inc. He co-founded this private firm in 1984 as an investment advisory and publishing venture fulfilling successful assignments for the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Carl Marks & Co., and as an SEC Investment Advisor under the 1940 Act. Before forming this venture, Mr. Adams was a Vice President for Ratings Policy and Economics Analysis with Moody’s Investors Service from 1976 – 1984.

Mr. Adams received a B.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma and earned his Masters of Business Administration in Economics and Finance from New York University.











Mr. Ira I. Roxland serves as a Partner in the New York Office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. In this capacity, he concentrates in the transactional practice areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, venture capital and international joint ventures. Mr. Roxland has represented issuers and underwriters in connection with public and private offerings, both domestic and trans-border, of debt and equity securities. He counsels corporations on a broad range of issues, with an emphasis on those of particular import to start-up and developmental stage businesses.

Mr. Roxland regularly advises, among other clients, one of the world's largest industrial vision companies, the second largest fast food chain in Brazil, and a leading developer of LINUX operating system applications. He recently represented one of the largest Japanese domestic Internet service providers in connection with its sale to a U.S.-based ISP.

Mr. Roxland is admitted to the Bar in New York and Washington D.C. He received an LLM degree from the New York University Law School in 1968, a J.D. degree from the Cornell Law School in 1967 and an A.B. degree from Columbia College, A.B. in 1964.