Board of Directors
Our esteemed Board Officers
Deborah Scherer
President
Executive Vice President, Global Development, One Columbus
Deb Scherer brings more than 15 years of global business development experience from both the private and public sectors. In her capacity as Senior Vice President, she is responsible for leading the Columbus Region in worldwide marketing and business development efforts for the One Columbus strategy.
Scherer’s private-sector experience as an International Sales Manager includes sales and marketing on five continents, territory development, mergers and acquisitions, and promotion of Ohio products globally.
Scherer is a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) accredited by the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE). She holds a Bachelor of Business degree from Ohio University where she majored in International Business and Marketing and minored in Spanish.
President-Elect
Hiroaki Kawamura
Secretary
Associate Professor; Director, Area of Modern Languages, University of Findlay
Special Assistant to the Director, Findlay/Hancock County Economic Development
Grassroots Outreach Advisor - Ohio, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
Aaron McKee
Treasurer
CPA | Senior Assurance Manager Plante & Moran, PLLC
Board Members
Anthony Weis
Development Committee Chair
Partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
Alexis McCullough
Corporate Communications Business Partner, THK Manufacturing of America, Inc.
Kasumi Yamazaki
Associate Professor of Japanese & Director of Japanese Program at The University of Toledo
Sachiyo Peterson
Partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
Isao Shoji
Programming Committee Chair
Managing Partner at TSG Advice Partners
Brian Cataldi
Sales Department Manager at TS Tech Americas, Inc.
Kensuke Oe
President of Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, LLC
Scott Kuehn
Senior Manager - Economic & Business Development at American Electric Power
Isao Yamakawa
Membership Committee Chair
Information Scientist at CAS - A division of the
American Chemical Society
Chris Petersen
Senior Vice President at Honda Trading America
Nobu Namba
Shinichiro Iwano
President, Nissin Travel Service (U.S.A.), Inc.
Mari Noda
Education Committee Chair
Emeritus Professor at The Ohio State University
Hiroshi Nemoto
Director, Japanese Business Services at GBQ Partners LLC
Phil Barth
Former Honorary Consul General of Japan in Ohio
Yoshihiro Hidaka
President/CEO at Hidaka USA, Inc.