He joined DBJ in 1985 where he has led a number of innovative projects at Electric Office, Project Finance Department, Planning Dept for Investment Banking including pioneering project finance deals and real-estate securitization deals in Japan as well as introduced PFI and turnaround management.
He also worked at the World Bank as a senior deputy director in charge of the private sector and was responsible for the privatization of state-owned enterprises in African nations.
He joined MIC in 2005 while leading the Growth Cross-Border Investment Group at DBJ supervising all the growth sector investment. He was elected CEO of MIC in October 2008.
Graduated from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor’s degree in law and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master’s degree in real estate studies and urban planning.

He joined Salomon Brothers in 1986 and played a leading role in marketing financial derivative products in their early years in Japan and delivered many innovative structured deals.
After 2000 he was engaged in venture financing mainly in internet-related sectors as well as in management at venture companies where he led a cross-border JV and M&A.
He joined MIC in 2008 and is a director since April 2010.
Graduated from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.

He joined DBJ in 1990 and through his career at Electric Office, Information & Communication Dept., Project Finance Dept., Turn-around Dept. and Planning Dept. for Investment Banking, he has led and executed many innovative projects which range from project financing, real-estate securitization, PFI, to turnaround management.
He is a director at MIC since October 2005.
Graduated from Tohoku University with a bachelor’s degree in law, and from Columbia University Professional Fellow Program.

Ken Kusunoki is a professor at Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy. His field of study is competitive strategy. He examines the theory behind how companies build a sustainable competitive advantage. His field of specialization at ICS is strategy. He holds a master’s degree from Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Commerce. He served as a lecturer and assistant professor at Hitotsubashi University’s Faculty of Commerce in 1992 and 1996, respectively, and then as visiting professor at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy before joining Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in 2000. He took up his current position in 2010.

Professor Kusunoki’s pastime is music (listening, playing and dancing). He was born in Meguro, Tokyo in 1964.

After studying at Princeton University in the US, he graduated from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1990. He then joined Osaka Gas and worked in city gas sales, before going to the US again to study. In 1995, he graduated from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. After returning to Japan, he worked in the Corporate Finance Division, where he gained experience in areas such as fund management, investor relations, retirement benefit accounting, and pension investment deregulation. From 2000, he served as investment officer for Osaka Gas Corporation Pension Fund (contract-type), and engaged in full-scale investment management similar to advanced funds in Europe and the US, achieving an annual rate of 4.3% over the 15 years to 2015. In 2016, he left the company to work as a visiting senior researcher at the Research Institute of Capital Formation of the Development Bank of Japan, and to conduct research on asset management in the doctoral program of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Business. He also established a company called System 2 and started working as a pension governance advisor to help improve the international competitiveness of pension asset management in Japan.

After working for Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank in its Overseas Sales Department, Human Resources Department, Securities Department, Market Sales Department, International Examination Department, and Kanda Branch Manager, he transferred to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. in 1992, and after serving there as Representative Director and Executive Vice President, he became an advisor for two years from July 2005. From October 2005 to March 2018, he served as a director (part-time) of our company.

At Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, he was involved in international finance and corporate bond underwriting in London. At Kawasaki Heavy Industries, he was in charge of many departments as an officer, and then as Vice President, he was in charge of all management departments, as well as the planning and implementation of long-term management improvement plans.

He graduated from Keio University Faculty of Economics. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.