Message From The President

Despite the winter rain, we had over 250 Bay Area professionals attend the The Keizai Society’s 20th annual Shinnenkai Reception on Friday, January 29th at the Fremont Hills Country Club. A lively period of networking and conversation started off the evening, followed with a program that celebrated the history of the Keizai Society, its current place in Silicon Valley, and well wishes for the future.

Keizai Society was proud to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Koichi Nishimura, a renowned leader in the manufacturing industry and the former Chairman & CEO of Solectron Corporation. Dr. Nishimura shared with us the wisdom he gathered from key employees he worked with during the growth years at Solectron. Common themes key to the outstanding performance of Solectron included speed to market, quick turnaround, and better quality.

We were also fortunate to have Mark Dispenza and Craig Justice, co-founders of the Kaisha Society (the forerunner of Keizai Society) address the audience. They remembered when Kaisha Society was founded in Tokyo and Palo Alto over 20 years ago and talked about how proud they were to see Keizai Society blossom from a handful of people into a prominent community organization making the difference for the US-Japan business relationships.

Later, Keizai Society was proud to receive a Contribution Award from Yasumasa Nagamine, the Consul General of Japan in San Francisco. This reward recognizes Keizai Society for its contributions to strengthening the business relationship between Japan and the US.

To end the evening’s proceedings, guests joined in a toast in the traditional Japanese Kagami Wari ceremony, led by Dr. Nishimura and Consul General Nagamine, with hopes for a prosperous 2010. Outside the winter rains are ending and the spring flowers are beginning to bloom. We hope to see you at our March panel discussion and at future Keizai Society events.

Sincerely,
Chimmy Shioya and Mark Kato
Co-Presidents