Akiko Sato is a global business leader with over 18 years of experience in go-to-market strategy, operations, and international market expansion. She currently leads Global GTM Operations at Cambly, an edtech company focused on English language learning. Previously, Akiko served as Cambly’s first Japan Country Manager, where she built the business from the ground up. Her earlier career includes senior roles at Goldman Sachs in both Tokyo and New York, where she specialized in derivatives and asset management operations. Akiko holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Studies from Sophia University.

Albert Chu is CEO of SOMPO Digital Lab in Silicon Valley, where he leads innovation initiatives for SOMPO Holdings, a global leader in insurance and healthcare. From 2021 to 2025, he also served as Group Co-Chief Digital Officer at SOMPO Holdings in Tokyo, shaping enterprise-wide digital strategy. With over 40 years of leadership experience in Silicon Valley, Albert has held executive roles at Apple, AT&T, PalmSource, and ACCESS, and helped launch groundbreaking technologies across industries. He is also Managing Partner at Poppyseed, an early-stage advisory and investment firm, and serves as Advisor to the President of Tohoku University. A Stanford mechanical engineering graduate with executive education from Kellogg School of Management, Albert is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Shanghainese. He is passionate about innovation, mentoring entrepreneurs and building bridges between Japan and the U.S. in technology, business and research.

Kenji Kushida is Senior Fellow at the Asia Program in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) directing Japan research and programming themed “Innovative Japan, Global Japan” and he leads the Japan-Silicon Valley Innovation Initiative@Carnegie. Previously a Research Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University (APARC), he spearheaded the Stanford Silicon Valley-New Japan Project (SV-NJ, now completed). He is also Senior Advisor to global advisory firm Macro Advisory Partners, an International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and nonresident senior fellow at the Tokyo Institute for Policy Studies (TIPS). He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in East Asian studies and BAs in economics and East Asian studies, all from Stanford University. Kushida’s research streams include Information Technology innovation, Silicon Valley’s economic ecosystem, technology policy, Japan’s political economic transformation since the 1990s, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He has appeared in media including The New York Times, Washington Post, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nikkei Business, NHK, PBS NewsHour, and NPR, and he advises companies and government. He is a fellow of the US-Japan Leadership Program, a Trilateral Commission David Rockefeller Fellow alumni, member of the G1 Next Generation Leaders, and a Mansfield Foundation Network for the Future member.

Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is a cultural anthropologist, learning scientist, Director of the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine and co-founder of Connected Camps, a nonprofit which offers social, project-based learning experiences in Minecraft and Roblox. For over thirty years, she has researched digital youth culture and socially connected learning in Japan and the U.S. She has also embraced connected learning with her own two children, including making bento, and learning how to play Minecraft, mod Nerf guns, surf, and make pizza together. Both her daughter and son are software engineers, and help keep their parents up to date on the latest in tech and digital culture.

After graduating from university, joined Hitachi, Ltd. I was involved in planning management leadership development initiatives in the corporate division, then transferred to the business unit and was in charge of HR for the business division. I came to US two years ago to support one of business unit of Hitachi, located in US.

Reiko Nakauchi is a trilingual educator (Japanese, English, Mandarin), born in Taiwan, raised in Japan, and currently residing in the United States. She is the founder of Sora International Preschool, a Japanese-English bilingual preschool highly regarded by parents working at top Silicon Valley companies such as Google. In addition to holding the internationally recognized AMI Montessori certification, Ms. Reiko also holds official licenses as both a kindergarten teacher and childcare provider in Japan. She currently operates three preschools in California and one in Tsukuba City, Japan, expanding access to high-quality global education. Drawing on her perspective from the heart of Silicon Valley—home to some of the world’s most innovative companies—Ms. Reiko advocates for educational practices that help children identify their unique talents and thrive in a global society. Alongside running her schools, she also works as an education consultant and actively engages in field research to create spaces where educators around the world can share insights and ideas. Her book, The Silicon Valley Style: The World’s Best Parenting (Floral Publishing, October 2020), became a bestseller, ranking No.1 in three categories on Amazon Japan’s Education list. She has delivered TED Talk and been featured in numerous media outlets including PRESIDENT WOMAN, gaining recognition as an inspiring educator and global female leader.

Dr. Richard Dasher has been Adjunct Professor and Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center at Stanford University since 1994. His research focuses on the impact of new technologies on industry value chains, management of open innovation interactions between large firms and startup companies, and on the flow of people, capital, and knowledge in regional innovation systems. Dr. Dasher concurrently served as Executive Director of Stanford’s Center for Integrated Systems (1998 – 2015) and on the Board of Directors and Management Council of Tohoku University (2004 – 2010). He rejoined the Tohoku University Management Council from 2024. He has been on the Program Committee of Japan’s Word Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Program) since its beginning in 2007. Dr Dasher also advises business accelerators, startups, and think-tanks in the U.S., Canada, and several Asian countries. From 2022, he became a Founding Partner of the venture capital firm Global Hands-On Venture Capital (GHOVC). He received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation in 2023 for long-term contributions to the economic relations between Japan and the U.S. Dr. Dasher received the Ph.D. in Linguistics with a minor in Japanese language from Stanford University.

Tadashi Tokieda was born in Tokyo and initially pursued a career as a painter before turning to classical philology and eventually mathematics, in which he earned a Ph.D. at Princeton University. Currently he serves as Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University. Through his lectures and international outreach, he shares the intellectual depth and elegance of mathematics and physics with diverse audiences worldwide. Professor Tokieda is renowned for his distinctive teaching style, which involves demonstrating surprising physical phenomena using everyday tools and toys to reveal their underlying mathematical structures. His ability to communicate complex ideas with lucidity, intuition, and humor makes his presentations highly engaging to audience of all ages and fields.

Tomohiro Hoshi, Ph.D., is the Head of Stanford Online High School. Born in Tokyo, he graduated from the University of Tokyo, earned his M.A. in Philosophy from Texas A&M University, and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stanford University. He joined the school’s startup project in 2008 and became Head in 2016. Alongside his leadership role, he supports educational institutions and EdTech startups in Japan, the U.S., and Asia. He also conducts research on management and education at Keio University and Yokohama City University. He is the author of numerous books on learning, education, and philosophy.