role: Strategic Advisors

Dr. Tim Haffner is an International Relations Specialist with U.S. Forces Japan where he focuses on Alliance Transformation and Force Posture aimed at providing for the defense of Japan and the maintenance of regional security. He is a retired Air Force Reserve officer with his last assignment as a Political-Military Affairs Strategist with U.S. Forces Japan. He has been living in Japan since 2016 and enjoys training in Aikido and other samurai legacy martial arts.

Prior to moving to Japan, Dr. Haffner was a counternarcotics program analyst with U.S. Africa Command, providing law enforcement assistance to a variety of security forces in the North, West, and Central subregions. As an Air Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, he supported ground combat operations in Iraq (2007) and Afghanistan (2008) and was awarded a Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge. Before joining the Air Force reserve in 2000, he served in the Army and National Guard Infantry units, from 1989 to 1999, specializing in small unit scout and sniper operations.

In his early civilian career, Dr. Haffner was a law enforcement officer at the municipal and county levels, a criminal investigator, an undercover drug agent, and SWAT team leader, in addition to serving with the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona. He graduated from both the Southwest Florida Criminal Justice and U.S. Border Patrol academies with academic and firearms distinction awards and was also a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Squadron Officer School.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, a Master’s in Strategic Intelligence, and a Doctorate in Political Economy with a concentration in crisis cycles and scenario planning.

Tetsuzo (Ted) Matsumoto has nearly 62 years of business carrier mainly in Information, Communication and Media business in Japan, US, and some other countries, and is still active in Japanese business community. Presently, he is serving as Chairman and CEO of ORNIS Corp. (Ocean Radar Network Information Services), Chairman and CEO of SAUFAL Inc. (Swarming Autonomous Underwater Fleet Architectural Laboratory) and Representative Director of HIQA, a non-profit organization for the Certification and Support of High IQ people.

In October 2006, Matsumoto joined Softbank Mobile Corp., as a member of the Board, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, according to the strong request of Masayoshi Son, Founder and Chairman of SoftBank Group. He served for the company for nearly 6 years, mainly responsible for the engineering strategy, government relations and international business development. During that period, the company recorded a dramatic growth.

Number of the mobile subscribers, which was 15.22 million (market share 16.5%) in March 2006, grew to 42.18 million (market share 29.8%) in March 2013, and EBIT, which was JPY 76.3 billion, grew to JPY 517.1 billion (6.8 times). During this period, he was also instrumental for the global cooperation of the mobile communication industry. He served as a member of the Board of GSMA (London) and GTI (Beijing) to play leading roles in these organizations for the technological innovation. Prior to joining the Softbank group, Matsumoto worked for Qualcomm for more than 10 years, commencing as a consultant, and, subsequently, serving as President and Chairman of Qualcomm Japan, which he established in March 1998, as well as Senior Vice President of its HQ in San Diego. During the time he served for Qualcomm, he was successful to change the political climate of Japanese mobile communication industry and make the system Qualcomm proposed one of the Japanese 3G standards.

Before that, Matsumoto worked for a Japanese conglomerate, Itochu Corporation for 34 years, occupying the positions such as Senior VP of Electronics Division of Itochu America, and General Manager of Telecommunication and Multimedia Business of its Tokyo HQ. Among many achievements he made during the time he served for Itochu, one of the remarkable was his contribution to the merger of the two competing satellite communication companies, which saved the industry from the serious over supply of the capacity, and the creation of the concept of the world’s first “Platform-based” Direct Satellite Broadcasting Service. Matsumoto received a Bachelor of Law degree from Kyoto University in 1962. In 2013 and 2014, he served as a Special Visiting Professor for Graduate School of Global Business at Meiji University.

Through his carrier, he wrote many books. In late 2017, he published a book titled “The Day AI becomes God” in Japanese and Korean. English version of the same book was published in 14 countries in the end of 2018, and the Chinese version was published by the Publishing Department of Tsinghua University in early 2019.

Dr. Snow is a strategic communications and global influence expert who specializes in messaging, speechwriting, public speaking and opinion writing on all things national interest. She is engaged in NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia and its journal, Defence Strategic Communications. She holds a doctorate from what Foreign Policy magazine identified as a Top 10-ranked International Relations program in the world, American University’s School of International Service in Washington, D.C..

She has published fifteen books in six languages on marketing foreign and defense policy. Snow was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Freiburg after graduating summa cum laude in political science from Clemson University. She holds Professor Emeritus faculty rank at California State University, Fullerton. She has held three faculty appointments in Japan as Pax Mundi Distinguished Professor of Public Diplomacy at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Abe Fellow and Visiting Research Professor at Keio University, and Fulbright Professor at Sophia University. Snow was founding faculty in two of the world’s leading public diplomacy master’s programs at Syracuse University and the University of Southern California.

She was a Presidential Management Fellow at the State Department and the U.S. Information Agency during the Clinton administration. Snow has served as a visiting professor in Israel, Malaysia, Korea, China, as well as Japan, where she holds residency.  

David is CEO of Russell Communications, Inc., a bilingual specialist in global strategic communications who has lived in Japan for over 30 years. During that time, he has done communications work for the Japanese Government, the Bank of Japan, the Japan Olympics Committee, and many major corporations. He is a well-known author, with over a dozen published books to date, including KEIRETSU: Inside the Hidden Japanese Conglomerates (McGraw-Hill), voted “Best Business and Management Book of the Year” in the US, an award never given before to a book about Japan.

He also penned scores of magazine articles, including a landmark piece for the Harvard Business Review about Japanese manufacturing. In addition to book-writing, Mr. Russell helped to write speeches for both the Prime Minister and leading corporate CEOs, created advertising and marketing materials for commercial companies, and authored reams of PR and IR text for issues and circumstances.

David started his career at a major Japanese securities company, where he worked and studied for five years before moving on to the Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) business news group and later the Toyo Keizai group. While at the latter, he served as Editor of the Sumitomo Group’s global PR magazine. In 2000 he started his own firm, with a mission to help Japanese companies improve the quality and scope of their global communications.

Over the next two decades he helped develop communications strategies and materials for companies as diverse as Toyota, Sony, NTT, DoCoMo, Fast Retailing, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Dentsu, Canon, Nomura Holdings, Tokyo Gas, ORIX, Tokyo Electric Power, and others. He provided strategic communications services to the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, METI, Ministry of the Environment, and other organizations. In 2015 he was asked to serve as Director of Communications for Japan’s first global Cybersecurity Summit. A few years later he was sent to NY to host a government-sponsored event featuring then-prime minister Abe.

Much of the early corporate demand for his skills focused on Investor Relations, which he showed clients should be an integral part of a comprehensive global communications strategy. Long before Japanese companies were paying serious attention to social media, he gave an SRO presentation (in Japanese) to members of the Japan IR Association about the role of social media and proactive corporate messaging. Thereafter he addressed 130 members of the Osaka Stock Exchange about how to improve stakeholder engagement. He has taught hundreds of Japanese executives how to re-think, re-energize, and turbo-charge their global communications.

Award-winning author, editor, teacher, lecturer, executive consultant, media trainer, and much more — Russell is one of Tokyo’s leading exponents of integrated, high-impact strategic communications for both public and private organizations.

 

Dr. Nanae Baldauff is an Associate Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS (Bruges, Belgium) and Senior Researcher at Keio Research Institute at SFC (Shonandai, Japan). She recently completed a Ph.D. in Political Science (Ghent University, Belgium), and holds a master’s degree in European Governance (University of Luxembourg). She has a certificate of International Law from the Beasley School of Law (Temple University, Japan Campus). Her Ph.D. focused on Japan’s defense cooperation with strategic partners from the perspective of Japan’s national security objectives. The research examined the purposes of Japan’s defense engagement in the areas of defense equipment and technology cooperation, military exercises and capacity building. She is a recipient of the Japan Foundation fellowship. She has been a guest lecturer at the University of Luxembourg, Trier University (Germany), and Ghent University.

In addition to her academic carrier, Nanae has extensive professional experience at the United Nations University headquarters in Tokyo as governing board and legal administrator. She has a wealth of experience in the area of institutional strategy development and partnerships linking government ministries, education/research industries, and commercial companies. She has managed large budgets, off-shore offices, and oversight of a range of portfolios including drafting and negotiating agreements, donor relations, planning and management of board meetings, administration and liaison support. Prior to that she worked for major US investment banks in the compliance and risk management administration.

Her area of interest is Japan’s foreign and defense policy, Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific regional vision and security community, geopolitics and geoeconomics in the Indo-Pacific, defense industry cooperation, cybersecurity and security of the space domain.

Geoff Newman has been active in Asia-Pacific since 1980, when he became Columbia
University’s first exchange student to Peking University. He established the Collins
Aerospace (Hamilton Standard) business office in Hong Kong in 1985, marketing
aerospace products in China and Asia Pacific. In 1991 he expanded to Japan, opening
their business office in Tokyo, and has been working in Japan and the region since.
Currently, he is an international business development leader for Silicon Sensing, which
is a Collins Aerospace (UK) joint venture with SPP (Sumitomo Precision Products) for
sensors and inertial measurement.

Geoff’s mission has been to develop and maintain relationships with key customers and
suppliers while pursuing new business relationships, primarily through partnership,
across the aerospace and industrial markets for Collins Aerospace. He has been with
Collins since 1985 and has built a broad background in the aerospace industry and
international marketing. He has held various positions in international marketing,
business development and program management for products ranging from propellers
and engine accessories to fuel cells and equipment for space.

A speaker of both Chinese and Japanese, he has experience working and living in
Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, India, and the Middle East.

Geoff has a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s in Chinese
sociology, both from Columbia University. He has attended several strategic leadership
and professional development programs at Oxford University and Wharton.
He currently resides in New England with his family.

Andrew has forty years’ experience of the defence and security sectors working in the public and private domains, both nationally and internationally. 

Andrew’s experiences cover a wide spectrum of functional areas in government and business, majoring on: Strategy, Policy, International Relations, Finance, Operations, Purchasing, Business Development, Marketing and Export Controls.   

Andrew is currently a Senior Advisor at Renaissance Strategic Advisors. Prior to that he was an Executive Director of the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC).

Andrew can combine his substantial knowledge and experience to develop a full understanding of end-to-end effects and provide actionable insights and advice for both industry and government partners. Andrew’s principal clients have been the Defence Growth Partnership companies, the wider UK Defence and Security value chain, government partners and the UK military community. Andrew’s international priorities have been focused on, but not limited to, 5-Eyes, NATO, Indo-Pacific, and MENA, with emphasis on capability alignment, market growth strategies, market entry criteria, business-winning strategies, international collaboration opportunities, and technology sharing. During his time at the UKDSC Andrew led on the creation of a unique market intelligence capability across government and industry and developed a Joint Economic Data Hub for government and industry.

Andrew joined the UKDSC in 2015, initially on secondment from BAE Systems. In August 2018 he became a direct hire at the UKDSC. Whilst at BAE Systems, Andrew also spent four years (2010-2014) as Vice President US/UK Relations based in Rosslyn, Virginia and eighteen months as Director US/UK Relations at Warton, England. Whilst at BAE Systems Andrew also performed the roles of President of the BAE Systems Taiwan office and President of BAE Systems International.

Before joining BAE Systems, Andrew spent thirty years with the UK Ministry of Defence (UK MOD) working on several major programmes, including: F35, Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and Typhoon. Andrew also acted as the Head of the Anglo-Italian contracting organisation for the EH101-Merlin ASW helicopter. During his time at the UK MOD, he held three overseas positions: at the British Embassy in Washington DC as Counsellor for Defence Equipment (2005-2009); on assignment to NATO in Munich, Germany (1996-2000); and working at the US Naval Sea Systems Command, Crystal City, Virginia (1990-1993).

Andrew has a BA (Portsmouth) and a Diploma in Purchasing & Supply (London). He has completed the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Andrew has also undertaken strategic leadership programmes at the UK National School of Government and Cranfield University. He has been certified in US congressional operations.

Andrew is also a Defence Enterprise Export Programme (DEEP) mentor for Cranfield University students. DEEP is aimed at executives on a fast-track career path with the potential to move into senior management in their organisations. 

Earning a Ph.D. in Astronomy at Kobe University Graduate School of Science and Technology, Yuske started his professional career joining Hitachi Solutions where he was engaged in systems engineering and then to international sales of Interactive Whiteboards for the Oceania region.

After working at Dell as sales for the government of Japan and YSI/Nanotech as a sales engineer for water quality instruments and doppler flow meters, he came back to the space industry and joined JAMSS (Japan Manned Space Systems) to become an instructor for Astronaut and Flight Controller training and inter-agency coordination for scheduling astronaut training.

Yuske later was transferred to JAXA to provide training support for the JAXA Astronauts, especially Norishige Kanai, in preparation for his mission on board the International Space Station (Exp 54/55). Yuske decided it was time for him to return to the private sector, and after working at Astroscale at Sales & Marketing, next at Space BD for business development in North America and Oceania, and then GITAI Japan as the first sales representative, he joined Axiom Space in November 2022 as the APAC Sales Manager.

Lisa Landau, presently CEO and Co-Founder of an international stealth startup in Cybersecurity solutions, has spent two decades driving startup growth and holding key leadership roles in Strategy, Strategic Planning, Security Services, Professional Services, and Customer Excellence.

She holds degrees in International Relations and South East Asian studies, specializing in Japan, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), where she received several honors awards. Additionally, she completed a specialized Japan studies program at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan under a scholarship.

Prior to her academic pursuits, Lisa served in the Intelligence Directorate of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, she is an Israeli citizen who has been based in Tokyo since 2013.

She was a founding member at Cybereason Japan, where she developed the entire post-sales framework, ranging from SOC to advanced strategic security consulting. Lisa’s most recent role was Cybereason Inc.’s Global EVP of Security Services Strategy & Planning, where one of her missions was the development of their global Incident Response practice while driving growth and profitability.

Passionate about mentoring, Lisa is committed to nurturing talent and helping individuals reach their potential. She is particularly focused on bridging the gap in cybersecurity talent in Japan and allied nations, encouraging and facilitating entry into the field for enthusiastic candidates.

Ken Mamizuka is a strategic advisor with over a decade of experience at the intersection of international business development, digital strategy, and security-driven innovation. His background spans the technology sector—particularly SaaS—where he has supported both private enterprises and public institutions in Japan and internationally.

Ken is recognized for his ability to forge trusted partnerships between Japanese industry and global players, with a focus on defense and emerging technologies. At Meltwater, he played a leading role in securing the company’s first contract with Japan’s Ministry of Defense (JMOD), helping to advance their digital media analytics capabilities. Through this work, he trained more than 200 JMOD personnel on navigating misinformation, disinformation, and strategic communications in complex information environments.

Before joining ISIC Japan, Ken held senior positions at Meltwater, where he helped organizations leverage digital intelligence through publicly available data—from web news to social media and online search behavior. He now advises technology startups and multinational firms on go-to-market strategies, stakeholder engagement, and digital transformation across regulated industries.

Fluent in both Japanese and English, Ken is committed to fostering international collaboration that strengthens Japan’s security ecosystem, contributes to Indo-Pacific resilience, and supports long-term global peace.