role: Directors

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College, the Naval War College, and the National Defence College, with BSc, MSc and MPhil degrees under his belt, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, AVSM & Bar, VSM, is currently the Director-General of the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, which is India’s foremost resource centre for the development and advocacy of strategies for the promotion and protection of India’s maritime interests.   

The admiral retired on 30 November 2013 after an illustrious four-decade-long career in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy.  He has had a rich and varied naval career, which included a three-year deputation to the Government of Mauritius, where he set up and commanded the Mauritius National Coast Guard.  He has been the principal evaluator of the Navy’s battle-tactics, the Head of the Naval Training Team at the Defence Services Staff College, and the Principal Director of Naval Operations.  

His sea-going service incorporates command-appointments on four occasions, including the guided-missile frigate, INS Brahmaputra, and, culminating in his command of the aircraft carrier, the Viraat.  As a Flag Officer, he was the Navy’s first Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation & Intelligence), where he conceptualised and executed the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).  

As a Vice Admiral, he has been Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command; and was, in his last naval appointment before retirement, the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy (Ezhimala).  He has been commended three times by the President of India for sustained distinguished service. 

Admiral Chauhan has remained active after retirement and is a much sought-after thought-leader, leadership mentor, and an outstanding orator.  Apart from being on the visiting faculty of the higher-command establishments of all three of India’s defence services, as also tri-service establishments such as the College of Defence Management, Hyderabad and the National Defence College, New Delhi, he has also been advising the government through his interaction with the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Navy), the Ministry of External Affairs, the National Security Council Secretariat, and the Joint Intelligence Committee.  

He is, in addition, a prolific writer with over 85 published professional articles and papers, and, a respected Adviser and Fellow of several important think-tanks including the Ananta-Aspen Centre; the Forum for Strategic and Security Studies; and, the Centre for Advanced Strategic and Security Studies.

Mr. Rubinstein’s involvement with defense and aerospace programs in the Asia-Pacific Region is based on lengthy experience as a planner, negotiator, and manager.  During twelve years as a Foreign Service Officer he worked on US-Japan defense and trade issues in the US Embassy, Tokyo (1974-78) and the State Department’s Office of Japanese Affairs (1980-82).

At the Department of Defense Mr. Rubinstein served in the Defense Security Assistance Agency and returned to Tokyo on assignment to the Embassy’s Mutual Defense Assistance Office (1983-86).  In these positions he was responsible for resolution of policy and management matters related to major Japanese acquisition programs as well as joint R&D projects.

After leaving government service Mr. Rubinstein became Director of Policy and Planning in the Washington office of Grumman International, where he focused on government relations, program planning, and joint venture projects.  He has since been employed as a consultant on security policy and defense industrial programs in the Asia-Pacific region and is currently Director of GAR Associates.  Mr. Rubinstein has also served as an advisor to the Department of Defense on Japan programs.

He was educated at the University of Chicago (B.A, 1972), Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (M.A., 1974), and Jochi University, Tokyo. He has written numerous articles on US-Japan security relations, co-authored studies for DoD on armaments cooperation with Japan, and worked on defense acquisition reform proposals for Taiwan.

Mr. Rubinstein is currently an Adjunct Fellow on Japan security matters at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  As a member of the National Defense Industry Association’s International Committee he contributes to government-industry projects on defense acquisition, foreign military sales, export control, and defense industrial cooperation.

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.  

Mr. Nishiyama joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) in 1971 and worked on missile system development (air-to-air missile and air-to-ship missile).

He worked on SAM-X study in 1975, which would replace NIKE-J surface-to-air missile. In 1985, he worked for Patriot system introduction to Japan, which was licensed production program from Raytheon.

In 1988, MHI contracted for WESTPAC (Western Pacific) TMD (Theater Missile Defense) Architecture Study from U.S. DOD and he took a major role on study in Japanese industry team. He became a director for Japan Patriot program and Theater Missile Defense program of MHI in 1997.

He became a General Manager, Guided Weapon Systems Department, Aircraft and Special Vehicle Headquarters, MHI in 1998.  Then he became a Deputy General Manager, Aerospace Headquarters, MHI in 2004, being responsible for defense systems, such as fighters, helicopters, guided missiles, torpedoes, shipborne systems and BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense). Then he was a Senior Advisor in 2007.

Mr. Nishiyama retired from MHI at the end of September 2011, and is currently serving with non-profit and government agencies:

Vice President, Japan Institute for Space and Security (JISS)
Auditor, Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS)
Visiting Researcher for the House of Representatives (Lower House)
Senior Advisor, Advanced Accelerator Association Promoting Science and Technology of Japan (AAA)
Visiting Scholar, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

Others:
Advisor, The Policy Alternatives Research Institute, Tokyo Univ., (Feb. 2009 – Feb.2016)
Committee member, Next Generation Deep Sea Exploration System, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), (Jan. 2016 – July 2016)
Committee member, Defense Equipment / Technology Policy Experts Committee, ATLA (Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency), (Feb. 2016 – )
Committee member, Expert Committee of Strengthening Innovation Policy for “Safety and Security”, Cabinet Office (Dec. 2018 – ) 

Education:   
Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Hokkaido University (1969)
Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Hokkaido University (1971) 

Mr. Nishiyama joined Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) in 1971 and worked on missile system development (air-to-air missile and air-to-ship missile).

He worked on SAM-X study in 1975, which would replace NIKE-J surface-to-air missile. In 1985, he worked for Patriot system introduction to Japan, which was licensed production program from Raytheon.

Awards:
“Outstanding Achievement Award: BMD Japan Cooperative Program” from U.S. National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in 2007.
“JSME Medal for Outstanding Paper: Study on the fluid dynamics in a shear flow” from “The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)” in 1973.

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.