Yu Serizawa

She was born in Tokyo in 1958 and grew up in Europe. She studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Section Service Public, 1980) and joined Crédit Lyonnais the same year in Paris. Having worked both at the bank’s Paris Head Office and its Tokyo Branch (last position held: Chief Economist and Analyst, Tokyo Branch), she resigned in 1985 to establish InfoPlus, Inc. as one of the founding partners. The company published Nippon Finance, the first English-language newsletter on Japanese Financial Markets and was involved in cross-border transactions and business development consulting. In 1992, Yu Serizawa left the partnership to establish Forma Corporation, of which she is sole shareholder and serves as President and CEO. The company’s main focus are: organizing for third parties and hosting on its own risk events and fora with both substance and prestige, as well as the creation and execution of training programs for corporate executives, particularly in the area of cross-cultural management and business ethics. Forma Corporation also provides strategic consulting (in international finance, business partnerships, leadership and communications, media relations). Between 1990 and 2005, she has been serving as Senior Advisor for Japan to the World Economic Forum (headquartered in Geneva, known for its Annual Meeting in Davos). Since March 2000, she is concurrently Advisor to the President of Mori Building Company Limited (largest privately held real estate developer headquartered in Tokyo); in relation to that function, she is serving as the Director of the Japanese Committee of Honour of the Royal Academy of Arts (London). In 2004, Yu Serizawa was named Secretary-General of the Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum, a global initiative founded by Koji Omi (former Minister of Finance of Japan), which held its Inaugural Meeting in November 2004, and every year since then in Kyoto, Japan.