Join us in celebrating Keizai Silicon Valley’s 2026 Shinnenkai (New Year’s Reception) on Friday, January 30, at the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club. This year, we are honored to award Ms. Kristi Yamaguchi with the Keizai Silicon Valley Distinguished Achievement Award.
Ms. Kristi Yamaguchi is an Olympic gold medalist, a two-time World Champion and celebrated Hall of Famer in figure skating. She made history as the first Asian American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport. During her career in figure skating, she worked with a nonprofit, Make-A-Wish Foundation, which inspired her to continue working with families and serve under-resourced children. In 1996, she founded Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream organization to support early literacy skills in children in Northern California and Hawaiʻi.
Ms. Yamaguchi will be giving an acceptance speech and participating in a fireside chat. Mrs. Yoky Matsuoka, Founder of Umi, CEO of Panasonic Well, and recipient of the Keizai SV Distinguished Achievement Award, will be the moderator.
We will also be performing our traditional Kagamibiraki (sake barrel opening) ceremony. The Deputy Consul General of Japan, Mr. Takeshi Ishihara is expected to lead this tradition.
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Kristi Yamaguchi captured the gold medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France in figure skating. She was the first Asian American ever to win gold at a Winter Olympics. She is also a 2-time World champion and U.S. National Champion. Kristi is a member of the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, and the US Olympic Hall of Fame. She is the recipient of USOPC’s Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award for “serving as a powerful force for good in society” as well as the 2019 Heisman Humanitarian Award for the work of her nonprofit organization, Always Dream. Following a long and successful career in professional figure skating, including 10 years of touring with Stars On Ice, Kristi took to the dance floor to win the mirror ball trophy with partner Mark Ballas in season 6 of the popular TV show “Dancing With The Stars.”
In 1996, she founded Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream, whose mission focuses on early literacy through family engagement with children and families in Northern California and Hawaiʻi. In 2012, Kristi added New York Times Best-Selling author to her list of achievements by introducing her first children’s picture book, “Dream Big, Little Pig!”, and then following up with “It’s A Big World, Little Pig!” and a third title “Cara’s Kindness.”
Yoky Matsuoka is the founder of Umi and the CEO of Panasonic Well, a venture and business incubator within the Panasonic Group committed to building new services and technologies that improve well-being for all. As an accomplished executive and technologist, Matsuoka brings more than two decades of leadership experience to her role where she also leads global innovation and serves as the Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation.
Prior to Panasonic, Matsuoka brought her distinct approach to human centric design to leading Tech Giants. Most recently as a Vice President at Google's Healthcare organization, and before that as Chief Technology Officer at Nest. Prior to Nest, she was head of innovation and co-founder of Google X, the company’s research and development lab. She has also served in a senior executive role at Apple and was Chief Executive Officer of Quanttus, a wearable health technology startup.
Before her work in Silicon Valley, Matsuoka’s career began in academia as an endowed professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington. During her tenure, she founded and directed the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and the Neurobotics Laboratory to create devices to restore the human body's capabilities for sensation and movement. Matsuoka received the MacArthur Genius Award for her work in robotics and neuroscience. With this grant she founded YokyWorks Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children with physical and learning challenges, focused on removing reading barriers to unlock the potential of every child.
Matsuoka received her Ph.D. and S.M. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and B.S. at University of California, Berkeley, all in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, TechCrunch, and Wired. She currently resides in the Bay area with her husband, four children, dog, and pet pig.
Friday, January 30, 2025
Dress code: Business casual. A buffet dinner will be served.
