Ikuko Atsumi, MA...Representative

Ikuko Atsumi is an educator, pioneer in multicultural and global business training, former Research Fellow and invited scholar at Harvard University, a former tenured Associate professor at Aoyama-Gakuin University (Japan) and a leader in Japanese women’s “Awakening” movement. Now, Ms. Atsumi’s role is founder and president of Intercultural Business Center, Inc. with operations in both the USA and Asia. She is also Representative of Multicultural Playing Field LLC, a new venture that designs and produces educational toys, games, videos and learning maps that bring the reality of this world as a global village to children across the globe.

With the mission statement “make the entire world your playing field”, Ms Atsumi created inter-cultural tools such as “Cultural Motivators^(sm)” on major nationalities. She has also designed and conducted over 1,200 business seminars in conjunction with instructors from more than 50 countries for over 15,000 executives and their group members on four continents since 1983. Her client list includes blue chip corporations such as United Technologies (UTC), DuPont company, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Heidelberg Druckmaschinen, Texas Instruments and Denso aswell as the Government of Singapore. Her seminars and executive coaching sessions aim at a paradigm shift from home-country centered thinking to global thinking, and from intolerance of cultural differences to innovative use of the richly diverse people and cultures in the global arena.

The women’s magazine she founded in Japan in 1977 was translated into English for distribution at the United Nations Conference on Women in 1980. In 1985, Time magazine featured her business training in their magazine. And all through her career she has been writing and serving as a guest speaker at international conferences including AT&T’s “Global Management Symposium”, Bausch and Lomb’s “Speaker Showcase” and Lucent Technologies’ “Women in Leadership 200: Global Professional Development”, and Goldman Sachs Japan’s Global Leadership For Women.

Ms. Atsumi-Stewart is a chartered Financial Analyst and currently works as Vice President in the Global Emerging Market Department at J.P. MORGAN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT in New York, USA. She previously worked at GOLDMAN SACHS & Co.’s US headquarters in New York City as a Financial Analyst.

She received an MA in International Economics and Finance, and a BA in Physics and Economics at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, USA. She completed graduate coursework in Applied Economics at National University in Singapore, a program she entered in conjunction with her studies at Brandeis. She and Colin have two children, who are 4 years and 2 years old.

Mr. Briefer is an inventor with 24 US and foreign patents and a financier. Since 2001, he served as Chairman of the Board and now Board member of The John E. Mack Institute, a Harvard University-affiliated NPO dedicated to conducting research and taking action to solve problems of humankind in relation to the world and the outer world. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is also President/Chairman and Board member of a number of technology-oriented companies in which he has invested and developed.

For the thirty years prior to his current activities, he was Senior Vice President and Board Member of SETRA SYSTEMS, a manufacturer of sophisticated weighing machines and sensors, located in the center of the New England high tech zone. He was involved with all aspects of business development. He is a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, well known as the first technical institute established in the USA. He also did graduate studies at Northeastern University in Massachusetts.

Mrs. Tan Leng Leng is a business professional with a deep commitment to promoting cross-cultural understanding among the young people of Asia and beyond. In addition to serving as VP of Marketing at SembCorp Parks Management Ltd., she is also the founder of MICE Family, an organization devoted to building a bridge between children in Singapore and other nations through activities such as Homestay. She previously participated as Youth Leader in the Singapore contingent on the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme sponsored by the Japanese government, and is currently the programme’s Director of Alumni, which is linked to 10 other ASEAN countries and Japan. She was also the 4th Grassroot Ambassador in Nagoya International Center.

Mrs. Tan earned a BA (Honours) and MBA from National University of Singapore, and also graduated from the Nanzan University of Nagoya in Japan. She is fluent in English, Japanese, and Mandarin, in addition to German and Bahasa Indonesia (elementary).

Mae Hiruma is a seasoned business professional with expertise in business development and sales/marketing in the Asia Pacific region, with a particular focus on the Japanese HQ-Asian subsidiary relationship. A native of Japan and currently based in Singapore, Mr. Hiruma is an Intercultural Business Center, Inc. instructor who specializes in cross-cultural training and consulting for Japanese MNCs.

Mr. Hiruma began his career in 1978 at Nomura Securities Trust Sales Company, where he was in charge of securities sales to private investors. In 1983, he transitioned to Toppan Moore Systems (TMS), working out of their Tokyo Office for the next ten years. At TMS, he first served as General Manager of the First Sales Division, in charge of formulating IBM Distributorship and computer systems sales. He later served as General Manager of the Business Planning Division, General Manager of the J.D. Edwards Solution Division, and finally, Director of Business Planning, responsible for business development and management support to TMS overseas subsidiaries throughout the world.

In 1993, Mr. Hiruma was transferred to Toppan Moore Systems (America), Inc., in New York, where he held the position of Executive Vice President. He moved back to the Asia Pacific region in 1995 to serve as CEO of Toppan Management Systems Pte Ltd in Singapore. As such, Mr. Hiruma was responsible for all of TMS Singapore’s business operations. In 2002, Mr. Hiruma accepted a position as Manager of Japan Based Company Accounts in Asia Pacific. Mr. Hiruma attended Meiji University, School of Commerce, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Industrial Administrations.

Mr. Murodono, a resident of Singapore, is Managing Director of DENSO International Asia Pte. Ltd. Since he entered DENSO Japan headquarters immediately after his graduation from Shiga University in 1967, he has been dedicating himself to the company’s international business expansion. He was in charge of finance, manufacturing, human resources and international operations in the USA, Australia, and ASEAN. DENSO is now a global company with $20 Billion revenue worldwide, and is the No. 1 automotive parts manufacturer in Japan and No. 4 in the world. Toyota Motor Manufacturing is one of DENSO’s major clients.

Charlie is a frequent guest speaker at such conferences as APEC Automotive Dialogue and Automotive News International Asia Pacific Congress.

Ms.Ishihara presently works at AT&T Global Network Services Japan, formerly IBM's network services division. She started in international sales and marketing support in 2002, then worked as coordinator/instructor of technical seminars in Singapore and Thailand. In 2004, she supported the President of AT&T Global Network Services Japan in Tokyo and has now transferred to Shanghai in early 2005.

Prior to AT&T, she was an application software instructor at Ricoh Japan (89-98) and won Ricoh’s Employee Excellency prize. She then moved to Singapore and worked at Toppan Management Systems, which was IBM's sales agency. Her ability to initiate a business in teaching computers to one with 1,000 students was highly evaluated at the company.