ADVISORY
BOARD

Professor Iriyama joined WBS in 2013. Prior to joining WBS, he served as an assistant professor ofState University of New York at Buffalo, United States, for five years. He received MA and BA ineconomics from Keio University, Japan, and Ph.D. from University of Pittsb urgh, United States.

Professor Iriyama has broad research interests in strategic management, international business, and entrepreneurship. He has widely published in premier academic journals including Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Int ernational Business Studies, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Global Strategy Journal, and so on. Before pursuing his academic career, Professor Iriyama worked for Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., a leading research/consulting company in Ja pan, as an industry economist/business consultant.

Academic Degrees
Ph.D. in Management, University of Pittsburgh, United States, 2008
MA in Economics, Keio University, Japan, 1998
BA in Economics, Keio University, Japan, 1996

Serving in his current position since 2018, he has been involved in supporting startup companies and promoting open innovations. Before designation as a Senior Planning Officer, he served in the New Business Policy Office of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI.) He also has worked in the front line of the supporting program under Industry and Economy Department of Ota-ward, Tokyo, and was a member of the Fund Department of Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation. He participated in establishing Japan’s LLC and LLP systems. Throughout his career, he has worked extensively to establish and maintain policies for startups and medium-small companies under the METI. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law from Okayama University and studied at the University of California, Berkeley (credits exchange). He earned a Master of International Political Economy from Aoyama Gakuin University and a Doctor of Commercial Science from Waseda University.

Kenji E. Kushida is Senior Fellow at the Asia Program in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) directing Japan research and programming themed “Innovative Japan, Global Japan” and he leads the Japan-Silicon Valley Innovation Initiative@Carnegie.

Previously a Research Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University (APARC), he spearheaded the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project (SV-NJ, now completed). He is also Senior Advisor to global advisory firm Macro Advisory Partners, an International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and nonresident senior fellow at the Tokyo Institute for Policy Studies (TIPS). He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in East Asian studies and BAs in economics and East Asian studies, all from Stanford University.

Kushida’s research streams include Information Technology innovation, Silicon Valley’s economic ecosystem, technology policy, Japan’s political economic transformation since the 1990s, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He has published several books and numerous articles in each of these streams

・2022-present, United Nations World Food Programme member of the Board of Director
・2022-present, HITOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. member of the External Director
・2021-present, Polaris Capital Group Co., Ltd. member of the External Director
・2020-present, Open House Co.,Ltd. member of the External Director
・2020-present, Main newscaster, BS TV Tokyo’s special number “SDGs will change the future ~Maoko Kotani surveys the world~”
・2018.6-2022.6 TOYOTA Mobility Foundation member of the Board of Director
・2015 Moderate at annual OECD Forum
・2013〜 WEF(WorldEconomicForum)’s IMC(International Media Council)member
・2005〜2022 UN WFP (World Food Programme) Adviser

Bachelor of Economics from Keio University. Joined (either NVCC or CVPC) in 1998. Previously, Terunuma worked for Andersen Consulting (current Accenture), etc.

Through the career life, he has built up IT related skills based on his vast and depth of experiences in the industry, including the consulting and constructing the system networks for leading companies. His current commitment is to support the open innovation in the IT, internet, high-technology, and manufacturing fields, endorsing the associations among the startups, large corporates, and academia.

Part-time Lecturer, International Management Studies division (Aoyama Business School), Postgraduate from Aoyama Gakuin University (2016-2017,) Adviser for Kitakyushu City (2018-)

Mr. Nakamura founded his first successful startup during his years at Waseda Law. Thus began his career as a serial entrepreneur; he got involved with a multitude of startups and became a founding member of Yahoo! Japan, with Taizo Son. At the Japanese Conglomerates Mitsubishi Corporation, Mr. Nakamura worked in the telecommunications division and led multiple startup companies. Furthermore, he launched the Innovation Kitchen, a Mitsubishi Corporation subsidiary, which incubated seed-stage ventures in Japan and leveraged cross-border collaboration to yield sustainable advantages for portfolio companies.
Mr. Nakamura received an MBA from the University of Chicago, and holds Bachelor of Law from Waseda University. He is a member of Kauffman Fellows Program Class 12 where Sozo’s co-founder, Mr.Wickham, was serving as their CEO. KFP is a program that has been producing multiple elite capitalists such as Mamoon Hamid.
Mr. Nakamura was ranked 72nd at Midas List, which is the global Venture Capital Fund manager ranking in 2021 as a first Japanese.

Katsuya HASEGAWA has been a Project Professor at the University of Tokyo in charge of startup support and entrepreneurship education since 2009. He started his professional career as an LSI engineer at Panasonic in 1982. He became one of the founding members of Panasonic Ventures, a corporate VC arm of Panasonic in Silicon Valley in 1996. He left Panasonic in 2002 and became Managing Director of Venture Connection, LLC until he joined Waseda University in 2005 as a professor. He holds a BS and an MS in Applied Physics from the University of Tokyo. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University between 1990 and 1992.

Mr. Hosokane joined Mitsubishi Estate in 1990. After serving as General Manager of Urban Planning Office, General Manager of Building Asset Development Department, Executive Officer and General Manager of Marunouchi Development Department, Executive Officer and General Manager of Yokohama Branch, and Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, he was appointed Representative Executive Officer and Executive Vice President in 2023. Mr. Hosokane also serves as Chairman of the Otemachi-Marunouchi-Yurakucho District Machizukuri Council and Vice Chairman of the Daimaru-Yurakucho Environmental Community Development Promotion Association.

Yoshihiro is engaged in advisory and consulting services in the areas of business turnaround, crisis management, startups, new businesses, public sector, regional development, and IT and digital, with a focus on strategy and M&A. He is also a member of the Deloitte Tohmatsu Group’s Growth and Strategy Executive Committee. As the Executive Officer in charge of growth and strategy for the entire Deloitte Tohmatsu Group, he is responsible for the Group’s sales management, strategy development, new businesses, and M&A and alliances. He also serves as Representative Executive Officer of Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory and Representative Director of Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support.