PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

President, Keizai Silicon Valley
Greetings from the President (2020)
Welcome to Keizai Silicon Valley’s annual Shinnenkai. On behalf of the board of directors, we welcome you to our kick-off event for the year.
This year marks our 30th anniversary and it is a major milestone for an NPO that is operated solely by volunteers. Originally named “Kaisha Society,” it was founded by those who returned from Tokyo to San Francisco and the Bay Area to share each other’s work experiences and to build a network for the US-Japan business community. Founding members included Craig Justice, Mark Dispenza, Peter Thompson, and a few others. Kaisha Society was then rebranded as Keizai Society and then to Keizai Silicon Valley since 2015. Over the years, Keizai has grown to be recognized as the biggest US-Japan business organization in the SF/South Bay community and has remained as the bridge and force influencing US-Japan business relations.
This milestone could not have been achieved without the service and dedication of many volunteers. While there are too many to thank at this 30th anniversary, I would like to especially mention Nadine Grant, who is retiring this year. Since 1995, Nadine served as President for 13 years, then President Emeritus and board member for 12 years. We would like to sincerely thank her and convey our appreciation for her three decades of services.
This year, we are honoring two remarkable individuals:
- Mr. Guy Kawasaki with Keizai Silicon Valley Distinguished Achievement Award for his many contributions to Silicon Valley. In particular, he popularized the word evangelist in marketing the Macintosh as an “Apple evangelist” and expanded the concepts of evangelism in high tech marketing. In addition, he is also an author and Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
- We are also presenting Mr. Kaname Hayashi, Founder and CEO of Groove X with the Outstanding Innovation Award for his leadership in developing and marketing robots to meet the needs of society.
Keizai Silicon Valley’s mission continues to promotion of business between the US and Japan by presenting trendy topics and conducting meaningful discussions and debates. Recent examples include:
- Drones: Current Uses and Future Trends
- Automated Food
- The Privacy Tsunami!
- Market Trends of Industrial Robotics
We hope you were able to attend some of these forums, and obtain useful insights. In addition, we hosted several networking-only events which were very popular for forging new contacts. As we enter the new decades, we continue to explore new areas and formats.
We offer sincere gratitude for continued support from the Japanese Consulate, our sponsors, and, most importantly, from you, our Friends of Keizai.
We also want to express our deep and sincere thanks to the volunteers of Keizai Silicon Valley. These individuals generously donate countless hours to Keizai activities.
We wish you all a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2020!
Chimmy Shioya
President & Board Member
Keizai Silicon Valley