2/12, Free Symposium: “Practical Methods for Effective Board Management, As Used by Successful Companies”

Thank you very much for your interest in symposium, Practical Methods for Effective Board Management, As Used by Successful Companies, with lead speaker Professor Martin Hilb.

Unfortunately, as of this time we have a Full House, with no extra seating available. However, as it is a free event, invariably some people will probably drop out. If you wish, we would like to put you on the waiting list and we will then contact you by mail as we receive cancellations from applicants.

Please be informed that there will probabaly be a similar, smaller-numbers presentation event by Professor Hilb at a major foreign Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, February 13, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. If you are interested, please contact us at info@bdti.or.jp , and we will see if it may be possible to arrange for attendance at that event, if there is room.

We thank you for your interest in the event, and in BDTI.

Free Symposium:

“Practical Methods for Effective Board Management, As Used by Successful Companies”

• How would your own board measure up, if it was evaluated?

A presentation by the famous Professor Martin Hilb of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, followed by comments by Nobuyuki Hiraizumi, outside director at Kajima Corporation, and a panel discussion.

(Simultaneous Translation will be available)

Professor Hilb, a world famous professor and consultant in the field of corporate governance, will be visiting Japan in connection with the release of the Japanese version of his popular book “New Corporate Governance”. Japanese is the seventh language into which this book has been published.

On the occasion of his visit, The Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI) will offer a free symposium on this very timely topic in collaboration with LexisNexis Japan and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

To a greater degree than ever before, the global financial crisis of 2008 demonstrated the extreme importance of effective corporate governance. It is now clear to all that we live in an age when the externalization of ever-larger risks by corporations poses serious challenges for mankind. At the same time, recent corporate scandals in Japan have once again dramatically exposed some of the unique governance issues that arise in Japan.

Debates about corporate governance in Japan often tend to focus on simplistic comparisons between the Anglo-American system and the Japanese system. Professor Hilb’s research has shown that such “either-or” thinking has many faults. Instead, he advises companies to use universal principles and proven “new corporate governance” methods that seek to optimally integrate the functions of the board and draw upon the superior features of various governance regimes. In his presentation, the Professor will first introduce these core concepts, while making recommendations for improving corporate governance in the post-financial crisis world, and commenting on the urgent issues that Japanese companies face in the years ahead. .

Next, Professor Hilb will use “mini-case” (real-life) examples to demonstrate the “board management” techniques that are being used by successful Japanese and non-Japanese companies to improve decision-making and their “directing and controlling” functions. He will explain some of non-obvious roles that boards need to play in order to contribute to performance and sustainability. Based on his many years of consulting and research using his own techniques for board evaluation and director selection, Professor Hilb will give us not only academic perspectives, but also practical, real-world advice.

Following Professor Hilb’s presentation, Mr. Nobuyuki Hiraizumi (an outside director at Kajima Corporation), will comment on the Professor’s presentation, focusing on those aspects that are most relevant and valuable for Japanese companies to consider. An active panel discussion will follow. Joining our panel will be Professor Bruce Aronson from Creighton University School of Law, Professor Kenichi Osugi from Chuo University Law School and Nicholas Benes, Representative Director of The Board Director Training Institute of Japan.

Place: Sanjo Conference Hall at The University of Tokyo
Map: http://www.sanjo.nc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/sanjo/contact/

Date and Time: 14:00 – 16:30, followed by light networking over coffee and tea *The start time may be delayed slightly due to preparation simultaneous translation. In that event we will inform participants in advance.

TO SIGN UP: Please download the form by pressing the Sign up button below, fill out page 4 of the application form, andeither email, fax, or scan/send it to usat info@bdti.or.jp:

Speakers

Professor Martin Hilb, University of St. Gallen

Prof. Dr. Martin Hilb is the founder of the IFPM Center for Corporate Governance at the University of St. Gallen. Prof. Hilb has been awarded a gold medal in Corporate Governance by the International Academy of Quality “for exceptional contributions to the principles and practice of quality in governance”. Hilb is Professor of Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen, Titular Professor at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management in Brussels. He is also Managing Director of the Institute for Leadership and HRM and its Center for Corporate Governance, President of the Institute for Business Ethics as well as Member of the Board of Governors of the University of Lucerne in Switzerland.

Nobuyuki Hiraizumi, Outside Director, Kajima Corporation
Advisor, Avant Associates, Inc.

Mr. Nobuyuki Hiraizumi presently serves as an external director to the global construction firm, Kajima Corporation, and as an Advisor to Avant Asssociates, an urban planning company in Tokyo. A graduate of Waseda University’s School of Commerce, he has broad experience in management and policy matters. He first entered the PHP Institute, and then moved to Kajima Corporation to work as a salary-man. In 1991 he received an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and returned to Kajima to serve as an executive. Between 2005 and 2007 he was seconded to serve at the Ministry of Finance’s Policy Research Institute. He returned to Kajima, retired in 2009, and became an outside director at in 2012.

Professor Bruce Aronson
Professor of Law, Creighton University
Senior Fulbright Research Scholar, Waseda University

Bruce Aronson is a professor of law at Creighton University School of Law. He is currently in Japan as a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar at Waseda University. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1977. Prior to becoming an academic, Professor Aronson was a corporate partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP in New York (1989-2000). His experience in Japan includes studying at Waseda and Doshisha universities and working at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. Professor Aronson was a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Tokyo (2000-2002), the first holder of the Chair on International Capital Markets Law at the University of Tokyo endowed by Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (2004), and a Visiting Scholar at the Bank of Japan (summer of 2010). He writes in the areas of comparative corporate governance and the legal profession with a focus on Japan.

Professor Kenichi Osugi
Chuo University Law School

Professor Osugi graduated from the Law Department of Tokyo University. After serving as Assistant Professor of Law at Tokyo Metropolitan University, he assumed his present position at Chuo University Law School. His principal areas of research include corporate governance, laws related to venture businesses, and restructuring/revitalization of distressed businesses. He is the co-author of ”The Frontline of Takeover Battles: Guidance for Hostile Takeover Defense,” “Cases and Materials on Company Law”’ (both in Japanese). He is also a member of various study groups and committees, including METI’s Corporate Governance Study Group, and the M&A Study Group of the Cabinet Office’s Economic and Social Research Institute.

Nicholas Benes
Representative Director, The Board Director Training Institute of Jpaan
President and Representative Director, JTP Corporation

Mr. Benes received his B.A. in political science from Stanford University, and a JD-MBA degree from UCLA, after which he worked at JP Morgan for 11 years. He is an inactive member of the bar in California and New York, and is certified as a securities salesman in London and Japan. Currently, he is a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), where he also is Chair of the Growth Strategy Task Force and Vice Chair of the Labor Force Diversification Task Force. In the past, he served as Chair of the FDI Task Force of the ACCJ, and as a member of the Experts Committee of the Japan Investment Council, an advisory committee to the Japanese Cabinet on FDI policy. He has also served as an independent outside director at Alps Mapping, the listed company Cecile Ltd., and Livedoor Holdings (post-scandal). In 2010, he was a member of the Financial Service Agency’s Corporate Governance Liaison Committee, which had been formed to provide private sector input to the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Affairs Advisory Council regarding amendment of Japan's Company Law.

The Board Director Training Institute (BDTI) is a "public interest" nonprofit in Japan dedicated to training about directorship, corporate governance, and related management techniques. It is certified by the Japanese government to conduct these activities as a regulated nonprofit. Read a summary about BDTI here, and see a menu of its services for both corporations and investors here.

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