Culturelabs Representative Shimada is a visiting researcher of Tokyo University, Columbia University graduate and diversity activist. She specializes in finance, tech, medical care,media, and M&As. Shimada’s past experience include innovation head of a major global financial company, a CXO advisor for a major tech, medical and financial company, COO of MUFG Financial Markets Division Americas, and the General Manager of Thomson Reuters Bank Securities Global Strategy Department and the General Manager of Japan Department. She is a former travel geek (70 countries pre-Covid), has coding experience and her hobbies include people watching

Ogawa is a former PMO and Business Analyst of a variety of projects at non-life insurance companies. He is an expert in new product development (including customer experience and employee experience designs), and specializes in Design Thinking and conducts workshops and training for internal and external participants.

Daisuke is President of Digital Brain Enablement K.K. He participated in Japan's national data strategy formulation from 2020 He has been the Director of Cognitive Design Excellence at the University of Tokyo since 2019, ideating social businesses with Art Thinking Former SAP Japan Public Sector VP, Accenture Public Sector Partner, Oracle SOA Director, IBM Business Consulting Services Enterprise Architecture Director

Katherine teaches global marketing at UC Berkeley Haas Business School, consults worldwide and is finishing a memoir on being a global CMO and mother around the world.

Larry Bates, an LGBTQ+ dad and corporate lawyer/director, is passionate about traveling and life's adventures. Larry has served as Director and Managing Executive Officer and General Counsel at Panasonic, Senior Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer at LIXIL Global, General Counsel for GE Japan, President Emeritus at The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), an associate at Morrison & Foerster and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, a Visiting Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Tokyo, and a Teaching Fellow at the Yale-China Association, among others.

Rochelle Kopp, Executive Advisor at CultureLabs. Born in Rochester, New York and raised in Chicago. Yale University graduate, major in History. Early career with ZS Associates and Yasuda Trust Bank in Tokyo. MBA from the University of Chicago. Former IPC Group staff,Independent Director MS&AD Insurance Group, founder of Japan Intercultural Consulting in 1994. Specializes in cross-cultural communication and human resource management. She helps Japanese companies understand and adopt Silicon Valley style management techniques. She also serves as a mentor and advisor to startups.

Patrick Cunningham is a renowned entertainment consultant and producer known for his partnerships with notable brands and stars, and his productions have received numerous awards. His work has taken him to various countries and he has collaborated with internationally acclaimed artists and personalities. He's been involved in the film industry, working with famous actors and his films have premiered at prestigious film festivals. He also had a role in a significant purchase in the entertainment industry. Cunningham was recognized by the White House and his projects have received grants from significant foundations. Currently, he works as a Senior Consultant at Sony (SME) in Tokyo, Japan.

Born and raised in Germany, Alexa splits her studies between Paris & Tokyo, currently pursuing her Masters at Sciences Po specializing in Economic Law and Global Governance Studies. She is passionate about promoting Euro-Japanese innovation initiatives and the evolution of CSR As Management Assistant, she handles business management tasks at Culturelabs.

Olivier Fabre, Culturelabs' Media Relations & Diversity Advocacy, is also a freelance journalist and LGBTQ+ activist in Tokyo with Pride House Tokyo and Tokyo Rainbow Pride. Previously he worked with Reuters in Tokyo and around Asia for 25 years, as a reporter, video producer and Senior Producer. While at Reuters, he set up the Tokyo chapter of the local LGBTQ+ employee resource group (ERG), Pride at Work and led it for several years. He is also a third generation Third Culture Kid, Sansei (3rd generation Japanese) and mixed culture citizen having been born in Paris, France of parents also of mixed heritage, and then brought up in Chennai, India and Tokyo, Japan. Speaks, English, Japanese and French in that order.

Hiroshi started his career as an institutional salesperson for one of the “Mega Banks” in Osaka. He then decided to move to one of Japan’s southern most islands, Ishigaki. Once on Ishigaki, Hiroshi has self-taught as a designer and a copy writer. His brilliant ways were noticed, and now he runs Design Sprints, marketing, and visual design, including prototypes and other visual deliverables for Culturelabs.