BDTI's Director Training Programs

English Director Boot Camp

The course is taught by the person who proposed Japan’s corporate governance code. This one-day intensive program teaches participants key legal and corporate governance knowledge they need to responsibly serve on, report to, or analyze boards of Japanese companies, both public and private. The course consists of short lectures interspersed with time for interactive discussion and Q&A about real-life situations that occur on boards, and how to handle them. The course is usually good fun for everybody, since we learn from each others’ experiences, as well as from BDTI. The course covers topics such as:

• Intro to corporate governance; the role of directors and the board
• What is legally required of directors under the Company Law?
• Important corporate law and securities law topics
• Legal and liability issues, and how to handle them
• Director duties and conflict-of-interest situations
• Statutory auditors, internal control, and the audit process
• The role of the board in strategy and risk management
• Best practices, committees, and succession planning
• Japan’s new corporate governance code
• Changing “corporate governance culture” in organizations
• The global wave of ESG investing

Please contact us at info@bdti.or.jp if you are interested.

Register

Learn from the experiences of a diverse, high-level group of participants, both foreign and Japanese.

Click here to read what participants say about BDTI’s “Director Boot Camp”!  Past participants of the Boot Camp or our Japanese director training program include*:

• George Olcott, independent director at The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company (8750), Denso Corporation (6902), and Kirin Holdings
• Mackenzie Clugston, independent Director of NGK Spark Plug (5334), Kameda Seika (2220), Idemitsu Kosan (5101), and Sapporo Holdings (2501); former Canadian Ambassador to Japan
• Christina Ahmadjian, independent director at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011), JPX (8197, Sumitomo Electric (5802), and Asahi Group Holdings (2502); Professor at Hitotsubashi University
• Rochelle Kopp, independent director at MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings (8725), and Managing Principal, Japan Intercultural Consulting
• Michael Alfant, CEO at Fusion Systems and independent director, Healios (4593); ACCJ, President Emeritus; multiple past outside director positions
• Tom Eastling, Director, Representative Director and Chief Financial Officer at GNI Group (2160)
• Laurence Bates, Director at Panasonic; formerly CLO at LIXIL Group Corporation, and General Counsel, GE Medical Systems Asia.
• Bill Wilder, Director at Morningstar Japan, formerly External Director and Member of the Audit Committee, Monex Group (JPX8698); President and CIO, Nikko Asset Management, and President, Fidelity Investments Japan
• Gerhard Fasol, CEO & Producer at Eurotechnology Japan KK; former Director and Member of the Audit Committee at GMO Cloud KK (3788) (2014-2018)
• Debbie Howard, Chairman of Carter JMRN K.K. and President Emeritus, The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ)
• Catherine O’Connell, Partner at Catherine O’Connell Law, former Division Counsel, Global Micro Products Division and Regional Counsel APAC North, Molex Japan Co., Ltd; Audit & Supervisory Board Member, Fujitsu 

* including past positions as well as recent, post-training positions.

Your instructor, Nicholas Benes:

Representative Director, BDTI President and Representative Director, JTP Corporation, K.K. Chair, Growth Strategy Task Force, ACCJ  Recent positions – Adjunct Professor, International University of Japan (MBA program); Lecturer, Hitotsubashi University  Mr. Benes received his B.A. in political science from Stanford University, and a JD-MBA degree from UCLA, after which he worked at JP Morgan for 11 years. He is an inactive member of the bar in California and New York, and is certified as a securities salesman in London and Japan. He was twice-elected Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) and was long-time Chair of its FDI Committee; and presently chairs the Growth Strategy Task Force. In the past, he was active for many years as a member of the Experts Committee of the Japan Investment Council, an advisory committee to the Japanese Cabinet on FDI policy. He has served as an independent outside director at Alps Mapping, the listed company Cecile Ltd., Livedoor Holdings (post-scandal), and IMAGICA GROUP (TSE6879). In total he has 12 years of experience as a director of various Japanese corporations and currently is an independent director at ADVANTEST CORPORATION (TSE6857).  In 2010, he was a member of the Financial Service Agency’s Corporate Governance Liaison Committee, which had been formed to provide private sector input to the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Affairs Advisory Council regarding amendment of Japanese Company Law. In 2013, Mr. Benes proposed that the LDP promulgate a Corporate Governance Code under the oversight of the FSA, a policy that was subsequently adopted as the foremost “pillar” of the government’s growth strategy. He then advised members of the diet and the FSA with regard to the drafting process and content of the corporate governance code. He is a Regional Governance Partner for the International Center for Corporate Governance.   How Japan’s Corporate Governance Code was Born
「コーポレートガバナンス・コードの提案者から企業へのアドバイス」  「コーポレートガバナンス・コードが効果を発揮するために」 「上場企業が目指すべきベスト・プラクティスの行動基準を」

BDTI Director Bank

Those who have taken one of BDTI’s intensive one-day programs will be able to have their career information listed in the BDTI Director Bank. Their CV information will be available to Corporate users. See more about BDTI’s Director Bank here.