Yuichiro KIRIHARA
Partner
DELOITTE

Yuichiro has started his career with automotive manufacturer in US, and joined Deloitte in 2005. Currently focusing on Aerospace & Defense industry and providing wide range of consulting services including business strategy, organization, process and IT transformation.

Vivek LALL
Chief Executive
GENERAL ATOMICS GLOBAL CORPORATION

Dr. Vivek Lall is Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corporation based at their headquarters in San Diego, California. General Atomics is one of the world’s largest privately held nuclear, space, and defense companies. GA and affiliated companies operate on five continents. The company produces a series of unmanned aircraft (Predator) and provides electro-optical, radar, signals intelligence, and automated airborne surveillance systems. GA is pushing the bounds of what is possible in space. Whether deploying constellations of interconnected satellites from low Earth orbit and throughout the cislunar volume, or developing a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion engine to take future explorers further into the solar system, GA-EMS is making the possibilities of space more accessible than ever before. GA produces electro-magnetic aircraft launch and recovery systems, satellite surveillance, electro-magnetic rail gun, high power laser, hypervelocity projectile, and power conversion systems. GA is the principal private sector participant in thermonuclear fusion research through its internationally recognized DIII-D and inertial confinement programs. GA is a leader in development of next-generation nuclear fission and high-temperature materials technologies.

Lall has recently been unanimously elected to both the Board of Directors of US Japan Business Council and the Global Board of Directors of the US India Business Council in Washington DC. In May 2018, he was appointed by the United States Government in a key advisory role for a two-year term to the US Cabinet Secretary heading Department of Transportation (encompassing entities like the Federal Aviation Administration) in Washington DC which affects US and global aviation policies and technologies. In January 2018, Lall was appointed as Vice President of Aeronautics Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin based in Fort Worth, Texas. Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest defense company. In August 2014 he was appointed Chief Executive in charge of U.S. and International Strategic Development at General Atomics. From 1996-2011, Vivek held numerous marketing and engineering leadership roles with The Boeing Company in Seattle including the Airplane Performance and Propulsion Group. He was appointed as Vice President and India Country Head, Boeing Defense Space & Security in May 2007. He also worked as an adjunct faculty member at Embry- Riddle, McConnell Air Force Base. He also served as the founding Co-Chair of the US – India Aviation Cooperation Program launched in 2005. Prior to Boeing he worked for Raytheon and conducted research with NASA Ames Research Center in various multidisciplinary engineering fields. He was also appointed as a special advisor in 2014 to United Nations in New York, a role in which he helped steer the multi-nation body frame policy and its implementation in the area of broadband and associated cyber security issues.

Vivek earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Carleton University in Canada and a Masters of Aeronautical Engineering degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. He also has his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University in Kansas and his MBA from City University in Seattle. He has also completed management and executive courses at the American Management Association in Washington DC. Vivek has been the recipient of several honors, including the 2008 OCA National Asian Pacific American Corporate Achievement Award in the US. Cambridge (UK) has listed him as one of only 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the Twentieth Century. He has also been cited in Who’s Who several times. He is in the Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Honor Society as well as the Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society. He was President of the Mathematical Association of America. He has authored over hundred articles in various journals. He was also trained as a private pilot at the Phoenix International Flight Training Center in Florida.

Masuda NAOKO
Director - Industrial Relations and Special Projects
BOEING INTERNATIONAL

Naoko Masuda is Boeing’s primary liaison with Japan’s aerospace industry, which collectively forms Boeing’s largest source of partnership outside the United States.

She is responsible for analyzing and understanding changing business priorities, trends and future requirements, and the value of optimizing strategic alignment between Boeing and its Japanese partners. Her main focus is to maintain, enhance and explore new business relationships with industrial partners in-country across a diverse range of areas, including structures, systems, engines, materials, R&D, and technology. She is also responsible for the management and execution of special projects, in partnership with Boeing Japan’s country president. In addition, she represents Japan on Boeing’s International Strategy team.

Prior to this assignment, from 2009 – 2020 Masuda was Director of International Strategy & Business Development for Commercial Airplanes. She interfaced integration with business units and functions to ensure successful development of enterprise strategies and executions. She was also involved and contributed in many industry partnerships and projects in Japan. From 2000-2008 Masuda was Boeing’s first Communications director for Japan. Partnering with Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Defense, Space and Security, she developed an integrated communications strategy, using media relations, advertising and other communications vehicles to achieve corporate goals in Japan.

Masuda joined Boeing in 2000 after a holding several key communications positions in the aviation and Public Relations industries. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Masuda graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University with a B.A. in International Business Management.

Akira MIYAKOSHI
Director, Aircraft Component and Material Industries Office, Manufacturing Industries Bureau
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)

After joining the METI in 1993, he has been involved in the automobile industry policy and international business relations. He took the current position in 2020, and has been supporting Japanese aircraft suppliers.