CICOM BRAINS offers support for sustainable growth of individuals and organizations.

Craig Dibble

Craig worked as a Risk Manager for Bankers Trust and Deutsche bank in London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo. He was one of the earliest developers and users of value at risk technology which has since become a standard in the industry. Prior to entering banking he worked for Deloitte, Haskins and Sells as a consultant. He started his own consulting firm in 2000. During this time he has advised on over a dozen business start ups and has completed consulting assignments at a similar number of established firms, generally in the areas of change and risk management. His particular interest is the monitoring of performance and the allocation of resources to trading businesses. Craig first arrived in Japan in 1994. He has a strong interest in Japanese and has co-written three textbooks on the language. He also co-writes a regular language column in the Daily Yomiuri. Craig holds an MBA from Columbia University, New York. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Physics and a postgraduate degree in Operations Research from Cambridge University, England. He was awarded scholarships at both universities."

Dylan Scudder

Dylan worked for UNICEF where he conducted research on global companies' social and environmental performance, and produced a policy recommendation on building strategic alliances with the petroleum industry to support indigenous communities in developing countries. In addition, he worked in Germany, where he was certified as a logistics specialist. He has also lectured at Waseda University on Japanese, European and American approaches to CSR. He currently offers professional consulting and coaching in stakeholder management, negotiation and logical thinking. Dylan earned an MA in Conflict Studies at the European University, Center for Conflict Studies in Austria, working under the tutelage of world-renowned conflict specialist, Dr. Johan Galtung. He is now pursuing studies at Tokyo University, where he researches sustainability strategies for companies doing business in emerging markets.

Grant Bosnick

Grant graduated from Queen's University of Kingston, Canada with a degree in Western Philosophy, focusing on existentialism, psychology and other philosophies of the self. His interest in eastern philosophy and Japanese business brought him to Japan in 1998. Since then, he has been conducting seminars on assertiveness, motivational communication, presentation skills, negotiation, logical thinking and facilitation. He also coordinates leadership training programs for a U.S. consulting company as part of a global organizational development strategy. He has been a writer and musician for over 20 years. His new book, "SPARK: A Process in Self-Empowerment" will be published in U.S. in 2009. Based on the book and other research, he is developing new seminars in empowerment, motivation, creative thinking, and time management; and often presents at international conferences. He holds membership in several prominent organizations, including the Association for Business Communication (ABC), the International Communication Association (ICA) and the Association of Professional Communication Consultants (APCC). In addition, he started an arts production company in 1997, and manages projects for this company, including projects for the Canadian Embassy in Japan and Apple.

Hideo Owan

Dr. Owan is a graduate of the University of Tokyo's School of Science and holds an M.A. in Economics from Colombia University and a Ph.D. in Business from Stanford University... After teaching as an associate professor at the Washington University John M. Olin School of Business in the US, Dr. Owan became a professor at the Aoyama Gakuin University Graduate School of International Management (Business School). He currently works as an economist at Nomura Research Institute, and serves as a research fellow (part-time) at the Hitotsubashi University Institute of Innovation Research Center and as a research fellow (part-time) at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade & Industry. His primary field of expertise is the economics of organizations and personnel systems, as well as industrial organization theory. His research papers have been published in international academic journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, Management Science, and Journal of Labor Economics.He has also written research papers and delivered lectures for business people in the fields of organizational strategy, personnel system design, and innovation management.

Hiroaki Kobayashi

Mr. Kobayashi holds a Bachelor of Law from the University of Tokyo and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago. He started his career at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation in 1982, marketing network services, including new product development, promotional planning, and other sales support activities. He then joined Boston Consulting Group Tokyo, where he was involved in business development, business process reengineering, and sales effectiveness projects. He later became Director of Strategy for BT Japan, where he focused on M&A strategy for e-commerce and multi-media in addition to equity tie-ups. From March 2000, he worked for HSBC Securities as a Senior Analyst covering the telecom, broadcasting and advertising sectors. He joined CICOM in April 2003 as Managing Director, before appointed to COO in February 2006.Mr. Kobayashi is also the co-author of the MOT Innovation Guide (Nikkei BP), and co-translator of Business of Software by Michael Cusumano (Diamond Publication), and Democratizing Innovation by Eric Von Hippel (First Press), both authors are faculty in the MIT Sloan School.

Jusuke Ikegami

Jusuke Ikegami is a graduate of the Waseda University Faculty of Commerce. He has an M.B.A. (Management) from Cambridge University in England, an M.A. (International Relations) from the University of Kent in England, and an M.A. (International Studies) from the University of Sheffield in England. After working as an associate at the Boston Consulting Group, he served as Brand Manager at Master Foods Ltd. (M&M Mars Inc.) and Product Manager for GE Europe Ltd. He was also Director of New Business Development at Softbank EC Holdings Co., Ltd., which provided services to foreign-financed joint ventures, and General Manager of a Japanese joint venture, and chief venture capitalist at Nissei Capital Co., Ltd. He is currently an associate professor at the graduate school of Waseda University. His major publications include MBA Management Book and MBA Marketing (PHP), MBA Business Plan (Sougou Hourei Publishing), and Marketing Practice (JMA Management Center). He also translated The Delta Model: Toward a Unified Framework of Strategy by Arnold C. Hax and Dean L. Wilde II (First Press).

Masatsugu Fujii

Masatsugu Fujii holds a B.A and M.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. He also completed the AMP (Advanced Management Program) at Harvard Business School. After working as Food Products Manager at the Kuala Lumpur branch of the Grain and Oil Division of the Mitsubishi Corporation, he was promoted to President of an oil and fat manufacturing subsidiary in Oregon, USA. Upon returning to Japan, he served as Director of the International Human Resources Development Office in the Personnel Division before being transferred again to a refrigerated distribution joint venture in India where he served as Executive Director. After leaving Mitsubishi, Masatsugu Fujii served as representative for Global English Japan Co., Ltd. before taking on his current position as professor at the Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering. He also was a lecturer for the 1997 NHK Educational Television program 3 Months to English Conversation:"Make Them Say Yes"-Persuasive Skills for the Businessperson, and also for the 2000-2001 program English Business World: Lead!-The MBA Way-. He has written and translated numerous books and articles on international business communication and global management.

Nigel Denscombe

Nigel helped establish CICOM (former CICOM BRAINS) in 1996, and was one of three founding members of the original CICOM management team and has designed and taught various programs primarily in the Corporate Strategy area. He is currently CICOM-GLP Intensive Program Manager. Prior to CICOM and before coming to Japan, Nigel had an extensive professional business background in the US and Europe, mostly focusing on the financial services sector and corporate strategy/restructurings. Most recently, Nigel was President/CEO of "Denscombe & Co, Inc.", former New York based boutique investment and merchant banking boutique which he established to focus on corporate restructurings and M&A business. He was responsible for various small-sized corporate turnarounds where he acted as principal/board member executing new strategy. Before that, he was Managing Director/Vice President of Bank of America's Los Angeles investment banking office, which he founded/built-up into a world class securities operation focusing on California/Southwest USA market. He also accomplished various innovative deal-making firsts and received numerous media awards ("Deal of the Year", etc). Earlier he was a New York based Vice President at Bankers Trust Company (now part of Germany's Deutsche Bank), where he had wide ranging accomplishments from establishing global secondary market for loan syndications to recommending drastic corporate strategy change that resulted in selling-off the retail branch banking operations. Nigel received both his undergraduate and graduate education at Harvard University, and spent time between his academic degrees working in Europe (London/Paris) as a "French market entry specialist" for New York based Avon Corporation.　Nigel is a dual USA/UK citizen, and was born and raised in England.

Richard Sheehan

Richard came to CICOM (former CICOM BRAINS) in 1998 and has taught many of the finance, marketing and communication courses. He is currently CICOM-GLP School Program Manager. He is also actively involved in educational activities in the media, having co-hosted "Eigo Business World" on NHK-TV and co-authored "Learning MBA Basics in English" (NHK Publishing), and is currently in the process of writing a follow-up book.　He has worked in commercial banking as a credit analyst and in the software industry in a marketing / business development capacity. Richard received both his BBA and MBA from the University of Texas, majoring in finance and marketing.

Ryo Tokuda

Mr. Tokuda holds a B.A. in Economics from Yokohama National University and an M.B.A. with distinction from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the US. He started his career at a Japanese trading company, spending six years each in Tokyo and Chicago and leading a number of multinational projects. He then joined Boston Consulting Group Tokyo and, during his 12 years as a Consultant, Project Manager and Vice President and Director, worked on over 70 projects for over 40 clients in such fields as strategy, sales, marketing, and human resource management and organization. He is now President of LLC Value and Vision, his own company, working independently to help Western and Japanese global companies develop strategies and the next generation of leaders.

Sandy Saito

Ms. Saito graduated from Kansai University and has an M.B.A from the Entrepreneurship Institute Australia (EIA). Before coming to Singapore in 1994 as a lecturer, she worked at Surugadai Gakuen as a consultant for pre-university students. She has also worked in Human Resources and Administration for Fujitsu Asia Pte,, Ltd., and as the General Manager of Accounting, Finance, Human Resources and Administration in Zentek Technology Singapore Pte. Ltd. Group. She joined CICOM BRAINS (ASIA) Pte. Ltd. and has served as General Manager since its inception in 2007.

Tadayasu Nishida

Mr. Nishida has a B.A from Waseda University and an M.B.A. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Nishida began his career at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation in 1985, working in corporate finance including global capital markets, investor relations, and project financing for overseas telecom projects. Mr. Nishida started CICOM International, Inc. with Ms. Yukiko Kuroda in 1996. Since then, he has led the company to become one of the leading providers of management training, in both English and Japanese. Mr. Nishida advises corporate clients on their training programs, and works as trainer in finance, corporate strategy, and business planning. He is also involved in promoting entrepreneurship as a steering member of The MIT Enterprise Forum in Japan, which mentors entrepreneurs and operates an annual business plan contest.

Tsutomu Yokose

Tsutomu Yokose holds a B.A and M.A in Economics from Keio University. He has worked at Tokyu Corporation in personnel management, business planning, subsidiary management, licensing operations, and facilities operation in the Personnel, Resort, Living Information, and Overseas Divisions. He also served as Finance Manager and Personnel Manager at Northern Telecom Japan, before becoming Director of the General Affairs and Personnel Department at BT Japan, where he was responsible for strategic collaborations and personnel management. As Executive Director of the Personnel Division at the US-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Wyeth, he was engaged in business restructuring and organizational reform. Currently, Mr. Yokose lectures part-time at the International University Graduate School on resource management, organizational behavior, and negotiating techniques. He is also a senior researcher at the Keio Research Institute at SFC.

Yasuhiko Nakamura

After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University, Yasuhiko Nakamura worked at a real estate company affiliated with a financial institution, where his primary duties were planning, development, operation, and management of inner-city office buildings. He was then posted to the US, managing a broad range of real estate investments. He returned to Japan in 1997, and worked in rental property management, real estate brokerage, and restaurant operations as the Real Estate Division Manager of Tomio Building Co., Ltd. In 2000, he joined the Tachikawa Junior Chamber Inc., comprised of local corporate managers, and served in a variety of official positions, including Director, Executive Director, and Managing Director. He started working as an adult learning trainer in 2001, with student enrollment eventually growing to more than 5,000. In 2005, he was selected as a "Superior Global Trainer"by the Junior Chamber International, an entrepreneurial-based associated group of the Tachikawa Junior Chamber Inc., with more than 160,000 members worldwide. In 2005, he also established YAS Corporation to achieve a personal philosophical goal. In addition to real estate, HR and other business related consulting, Mr. Nakamura also provides lectures and training at government and business-affiliated associations, including follow-up training, young management staff training, retirement home director training, coaching training, and management training. Publications include collaboration on the Stories of Heisei Company Presidents (Adsmith Japan).

Yukiko Kuroda

Ms. Kuroda specializes in organizational and leadership development, teambuilding, and management training for corporations and academic institutions. Ms. Kuroda holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University, where she attended as a Fulbright scholar. Ms. Kuroda is the founder and President of P.Y. International and co-founder and part-time Director of CICOM International, Inc. She is a skilled presenter and trainer and is often called upon to provide Japanese management with new skills and insights in areas such as strategy development, leadership, change management, and communications. She formerly worked as a Senior Consultant at Gemini Consulting and, prior to that, as a Marketing Representative at Sony Corporation. Ms. Kuroda is also the author of numerous publications, including Venture Keiei Kakumei (Management Revolution through Venture Business-Nikkei BP), Yuki no Keiei (Managing with Courage-Japan Management Association), and translation of What Leaders Really Do by Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter.

Zachary Smith

Zach has been developing and implementing highly successful human resource and organization development programs for domestic and multinational corporations for over five years. His areas of specialty include organizational and leadership capacity building, organizational sustainability, executive coaching, communication skills development, learning program design, whole systems change and facilitation and somatic learning. He currently works as an organization development consultant and has also been a managing partner for a Japan based training and development firm. Before starting his own consulting business, Zach was a managing partner for a Japan based training and development firm. Prior to that, he worked as an internal consultant as well as in business development and HR management for a Japanese consumer services corporation. Zach has a Masters degree in Organizational Development from Antioch University.