|
"The pleasure of working with entrepreneurs is beyond words. Every day is filled with imagination and creativity." |
Mike Kayamori
Senior Director of Asian Business Development
As Senior Director of Asian Business Development in Globespan's Palo Alto office, Mike helps the portfolio companies to expand their businesses into Asia. Mike brings a powerful combination of business development, operating and cultural experience to the job.
Prior to Globespan, Mike was instrumental in ground-breaking projects at Mitsubishi Corporation. As Project Manager at the corporation's New Business Initiative Group, he led a cross-border business development project that established the largest retail joint-venture company in Mitsubishi history. During his tenure at the joint-venture, he led operations, store development, logistics, IT, and import handling, helping to expand the new company into a successful retail business.
Mike was a core team member at one of Mitsubishi's largest buyouts, a Japanese convenience store with 7,500 outlets. As one of the buyout's key strategic projects, he developed and rolled out a new retail prototype store that now has more than 40 outlets in Tokyo. Mike also served as Area Coordinator of Mitsubishi's Development and Coordination Department. In this role, he assisted the corporation's China branch with inland trading and researched China's business policy and foreign affairs.
In addition to his operating roles at Mitsubishi, Mike has investment banking and private equity experience with firms in Japan.
He found his way to Globespan through a case study in an international entrepreneurial finance class at business school. Andy Goldfarb, Globespan co-founder and Executive Managing Director, was a protagonist in the case, and "I knew then that I wanted to work there."
The best part of Mike's job is "working directly with our entrepreneurs. They are the ones closest to innovation, and it is exciting to work with them." He has worked with the teams at Nominum, Luidia, Ingrian and Copan in developing marketing strategies and establishing business alliances throughout Asia.
Mike earned a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Recently married, Mike lives in Mountain View with his wife, who just moved to the U.S. from Japan. He enjoys all kinds of sports, including squash, scuba diving, snowboarding, golf and racquetball. |
