Nikkei Virtual Global Forum -Women in Innovation- New ways of living and working in a post-corona world

Seiko Noda (Leadership)

Executive Acting Secretary-General (LDP)
Member of the House of Representatives

After graduating from the Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University, she entered the Imperial Hotel, Ltd. in 1983. In 1987 she became a member of the Gifu Prefectural Assembly in 1987. Since the 40th General Election, she has been elected as a member of the House of Representatives (HR) from Gifu First District for 9 times. She was appointed as State Secretary for Posts and Telecommunications (1996) and Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (1998) in her second term. She held various posts at the Cabinet, HR and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), such as Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy and Food Safety, Consumer Affairs, Space Policy (2008), Chairperson, General Council, LDP (2012), and Chairperson of the Special Committee on Disasters, HR (2016). Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Minister in charge of Women's Empowerment, Minister of State for the Social Security and Tax Number System, and Chairperson of Federation of Gifu Prefecture LDP Branches.(2017), Chairperson of the Committee on Budget(2018). She currently serves as Executive Acting Secretary-General (LDP)

Chieko Asakawa (Diversity)

IBM Fellow
T. J. Watson Research Center, IBM Research
IBM Distinguished Service Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

After Chieko Asakawa hit her eye on the side of a swimming pool at age 11, she began losing her sight, and by age 14 she was fully blind. After graduated from a university, Asakawa started learning programming in Nippon Lighthouse Welfare Center for The Blind.

1985: Join IBM Research-Tokyo
1992: Develop digital braille system for Japanese language
1997: Develop IBM HomePage Reader, world’s first practical self-voicing web browser
1999: Received recognition from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare
2009: Appointed to IBM Fellow, the third person in IBM Japan’s history
2014: Become IBM Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University
2017: Unveil Navcog, indoor navigation technology for blind people
2018: Move to IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, IBM Research
2020: Received Helen Keller Achievement Awards (The American Foundation for the Blind)
2020: Unveil AI Suitcase, navigation robot for blind people

Ryoichi Nagata (Diversity)

MD, PhD, FFPM
Chairman and President
Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd.

Dr. Ryoichi Nagata is the Chairman and President of Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd. (“SNBL”), Chairman of the Medipolis Proton Therapy and Research Center, Chairman of the Veritas Academy, a member of the Board of Directors for St. Marianna University, Juntendo University, and the Society of Japanese Preventative Medicine, and a Honorary Consul to the Royal Government of Bhutan.
SNBL was awarded with a Prime Minister’s Commendation for its contribution to actively promoting women’s participation at work and awarded a Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare Award for equal opportunity contributions and work and family balance. SNBL’s company slogan is “your happiness is my happiness and everyone’s happiness” and strives to be a company that individual employees grow and shine.
Dr. Nagata has also authored several books, including “Cleansing Your Soul: Danshari and Kukai“ (Kazahino bunko), “Cancer Treatment without Incisions: Proton Therapy for Breast Cancer” (PHP), and etc.

Kyomi Nagatoshi (Diversity)

Senior Officer
Senior Director
General Affairs and Human Resources Division
Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd

Ms. Nagatoshi joined Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd. (“SNBL”) in 2002 after serving at Kyusyu Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd. (then). She started in the IT department and was promoted to Senior　Director of the General Affairs and Human Resources division, her current position. She was appointed as an Executive Officer in 2017. She established and led an in-house committee, “Hataraku Nadeshiko Committee” established for the purpose of giving women in the workplace a voice and implemented 50 key improvements in their working environment. These improvements included promoting diversity and women’s participation at work. She is president of “Fureai Sasaeai, Co., Ltd.”, an SNBL subsidiary, that promotes employment of those with disabilities, as well as serving as a councilor of Veritas Kindergarten. She is a mother of a university sophomore student.

Shea Lih Goh (Empowerment)

President
Philip Morris Japan

Born and raised in Malaysia, Shea Lih entered Philip Morris' Malaysian affiliate Godfrey Philips in 1993 after graduating from Monash University, Australia (United Kingdom Bachelor of Business, Major in Marketing). With the company's support, she obtained her MBA (Business Administration) from University of Hull. She has built her career mainly in the fields of marketing and sales at various Philip Morris subsidiaries in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Indonesia. In 2016, she started to lead the Reduced-Risk Products section in Asia, handling "Smoke Free" products, which have the potential to reduce risk compared to cigarettes. She has assumed the current position in January 2018, driving the company-wide transformation to grow the Heat-Not-Burn segment's growth. Shea Lih is also a bellwether of diversity and inclusion, becoming Philip Morris Japan's first female President, and empowering many both inside and outside of the company in order to drive innovation for a company undergoing a drastic transformation.

Izumi Kobayashi (Empowerment)

Director, Member of the Board,
ANA Holdings, Inc.;
Mitsui & Co., Ltd.;
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.;
OMRON Corporation

Izumi Kobayashi was in the position of CEO and Executive Vice President of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA, the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank Group) from 2008 to 2013.
Kobayashi participated MIGA from Merrill Lynch in Tokyo where she was president and Representative Director. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1985 and subsequently held a number of high level global leadership roles.
From 2013, she engages various private and public organization as an advisor or an independent director.
She also served The Osaka Securities Exchange as a Non-Executive Board Member from 2002 to 2008. From 2006 to 2008 and from 2015 to 2019 April she took the role as a Vice Chairman of Keizai Doyukai.

Erica Angyal (Wellness)

Health consultant

Erica Angyal is a nutritionist, health consultant, speaker, and author of 14 books on health and beauty. She is also the host of NHK World’s global TV program “Medical Frontiers” since April 2015.
Born in Sydney Australia, Erica graduated from the Sydney University of Technology in 2000 with a Bachelor of Health Science in Acupuncture, and was placed on the dean’s merit list for academic excellence in two consecutive years. She received her diploma in Nutrition from Nature Care College in Sydney.
Erica was the official nutritionist to Miss Universe Japan from 2004 to 2012. During that period, Japanese contestant Kurara Chibana became the first runner up in 2006, and Riyo Mori won Miss Universe in 2007. Erica has been featured in a myriad of newspapers and magazines, ranging from Nikkei Health and The Japan Times, to Vogue and Elle Japon.
Erica's greatest passions are the areas of preventive nutrition and holistic anti-aging strategies and she has made it her life’s mission to empower and inspire people to maximize their health, happiness, beauty and well-being "from the inside out".

Noriko Enokido (Leadership)

Anchor, “Nikkei Plus 10,” BS TV Tokyo

During the university years, in order to broaden her global perspectives, she once studied at Salamanca University in Spain. Having developed her career as anchorwoman at various TV stations including Sakurambo TV and TV Osaka, she started to focus on reporting on business news in 2008. Currently hosting “Nikkei Plus 10” news program on weekdays from 10pm on BS TV Tokyo and “Nikkei Sunday Salon” program on Sunday mornings from 9:30am, she is known for having conducted a wide range of interviews with corporate executives and political leaders.

Natsuko Nakamura (Diversity)

Editor of Working Women's section, Editorial Bureau, Nikkei Inc.

Graduated from Ochanomizu University, Ms. Nakamura joined Nikkei as a journalist in 1993 to cover various corporations in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, concurrently to write stories on consumer trends. From January to July 1998, she was nominated to be a member of a project team to run a series of front page stories focusing on women. The column, “Quiet Revolution of Women,” was the first of its kind and Ms. Nakamura found her own position in reporting on women and women related issues. Later in 2017, she was the founding Editor-in-Chief for NIKKEI The STYLE, Nikkei’s lifestyle magazine on print and digital. Since April 2019, she has been the Editor of Working Women's section.

Yumiko Murakami (Empowerment)

Head of OECD Tokyo Centre

Since Yumiko joined OECD in 2013 as the head of OECD Tokyo Centre, she has been at the forefront of policy discussions between OECD and governments, businesses and academia in Japan and Asia, covering a wide range of economic policy issues. She has been leading discussions with various stake holders in Japan and Asia, particularly in the areas of Corporate Governance, tax guidelines, gender diversity, education, international trade and innovation. Prior to joining the OECD, Yumiko held a number of leadership positions as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. Yumiko has diverse professional experiences, ranging from banking in New York and London to UN Peace Keep Operations in Cambodia. Yumiko has an MBA from Harvard University, MA from Stanford University and BA from Sophia University. She sits on the Japan Advisory Board of Harvard Business School as well as several advisory committees of the Japanese Government. She is the author of a bestseller book, “Turning Demographic Challenges into Economic Opportunities”. (Japanese only) Ranked #1 at Amazon Japan, economics category.

Yuko Nishiyama (Wellness)

Editor of Nikkei Health, Nikkei Business Publications Inc.

After graduating from School of Media and Governance, Keio University, joined Nikkei BP in 1997. Has been the editor of the Nikkei Health magazine since 2018, after working for the construction department as a journalist, covering architecture, civil engineering, and housing construction industry. At Nikkei Health, mainly covers cosmetology/dermatology, exercise and diet for wellness-enhancing lifestyle.