January Leadership Forum - Takeaways

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2016

Time: 7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Venue: Tokyo American Club (TAC), Manhattan Room (Lower Level)
Next Meeting: Monday, February 1 @ Tokyo American Club (7:30 - 9:00 a.m.)

Best Practices

Committee leaders are asked to find opportunities to cooperate with other committees'
activities to increase inter-committee collaboration.
Please attend New Member Orientations (NMOs) to welcome new members (let Andrew
Silberman know if you're able to make it to future NMOs).
Committee leaders should consider using member companies as informational resources.

Opening Remarks
- The Leadership Forum schedule will change this year. The Leadership Forum will be used as a
sounding board for issues that will be discussed at Board of Governors meetings (Leadership Forum
meetings will be scheduled before Executive Committee and Board of Governor meetings of that
month).
- The Leadership Forum welcomes first-time attendee Nancy Ngou (Treasurer, ACCJ).

President's Remarks
- The Chamber is in a very strong position: there are more members and more CSMs than in the past,
and women constitute 30% of the membership.
- The President looks forward to discussion with leaders on how to make the Chamber even better.
- The Chamber regrets to inform that former ACCJ leader Ira Wolf has passed away.

Executive Director's Remarks

- Committee coordinators will be attending future Leadership Forum meetings and will be on-hand
in an effort to provide closer support to leaders.
- The Chamber is still looking for an External Affairs Manager. Please feel free to circulate the
following job description:

http://accj.or.jp/images/External%20Affairs%20Manager.pdf
- The 2015 Treasurer has advised from 2016 to allocate consumption tax to event fees given the
Chamber's complicated tax structure. It was decided that 6% is an appropriate amount.
***Post-meeting update: The plan for a 6% fee has been nixed until further feedback can be
considered.***

Embassy Remarks
- The Embassy is looking for a list of ACCJ events that Ambassador Kennedy will be asked to attend
this year.
- The SelectUSA Road Show will take place with seminars in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. The
SelectUSA Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. in June.
- The Embassy will be partnering with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and
Transportation (MLIT) on a joint infrastructure event on March 15.
- TPP remains on the forefront and encompasses numerous areas.
- Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stefan Selig and Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Commerce for Global Markets Holly Vineyard will be visiting Tokyo in February. Secretary of
Commerce Penny Pritzker is expected to visit Tokyo, as well.

Strategic Planning Discussion

Highlights of President Christopher LaFleur's proposed priorities for 2016.

One area of focus will be improving communication in the Chamber and better
understanding members' needs.
There are currently 74 CSMs (with Google being the most recent addition), and the target is
to have 80 CSMs by the end of 2016. Two of the 74 CSMs are Japanese (Nanzan Gakuen and
Teijin). If you know of any potential CSMs, please let Laura Younger know.
Another important focus area this year will be on SMEs, and exploring advocacy
opportunities that would improve the business environment for SMEs in Japan.
The Chamber will continue to focus on women in the workplace, and as a new goal, the
Chamber will aim to have 30% of leadership positions held by women. If there are no female
leaders on your committee, please look for someone who may be a potential female leader.
Networking remains a pillar of the Chamber, and there's an opportunity in connecting
successful leaders (e.g. C-suite executives) with members. The CEO Forum leaders will
support this effort.

TPP is an important priority this year. Though Japan is expected to move forward with
ratification this year, the situation in the U.S. is unclear.
The Chamber will be sending a survey to members to identify issues that aren't covered by
TPP but are relevant to U.S.-Japan bilateral discussions.
The Chamber hopes to increase activities and cooperation with Japanese business
organizations and to develop more consistent relations with Keidanren and Keizai Doyukai.
There will be a town hall meeting on February 18 (details TBA).
There will be changes to the ACCJ website, social media presence, and event surveys
(transitioning to a one-page survey format). The President is open to finding vehicles to
highlight companies better through the ACCJ's online presence.

- Please feel free to email the President at clafleur@accj.or.jp.