Profile

• President The Great Hanshin-Awaji EarthquakeMemorial Research Institute

Graduated (in Law) from University of Tokyo in 1956. After he entered the Ministry of Home Affairs, he was appointed as Director of the District Affairs Division of Hyogo Prefectural Government in 1970 and Vice Governor in 1980. He was elected Governor of Hyogo Prefecture in 1986 and served for four terms (15 years).Currently, he is also President of the Hyogo Prefecture Regional Policy Research Institute, President of Yukiyoshi Institute, Member of the Tax Research Commission, and Member of the Local Government System Research Council of the Japanese Government.

• General Partner, Compass Providers L.L.C.

Graduated (in Economics) from Kyoto University in 1959 and joined Itochu Corporation in the same year. He was appointed as Executive Vice President of Itochu America (1989), General Manager for South and Central America (1993) and Executive Managing Director (1994). In 1995 he was invited to Kurita Water Industries, Ltd. as Executive Senior Managing Director and has served as its Chairman (1998-2001). He has been active in his present position since 2003 and he is also Visiting Professor at Takushoku University, committee member of the Foreign Affairs Personnel Council (Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Trustee of Keizai Douyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) and Chairperson of the Discussion Group on Constitutional Issues of the Keizai Douyukai.

• Professor Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University

Received her BA (1969) and MA (1971) in Economics from Monash University (Australia) and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 1978. After holding several research positions including as an expert at the International Labour Organization, Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore) and Associate Professor at Chulalongkorn University, she has served in her present position since 1998.For her contributions mainly in the academic field, she was awarded the title of Distinguished National Researcher in 1998 and has twice received the methi wichai awuso (Senior Research Scholar) award from the Thailand Research Fund. She has written widely in Thai and English on the Thai economy, Japanese investment, the sex industry, corruption, and the illegal economy. Her main publications include Thailand: Economy and Politics (coauthored with Chris Baker), which was awarded the 1997 National Research Prize (for the Thai version), Thailand's Boom and Bust (1998) and Thailand's Crisis (2000).