Kumi Sato, President and CEO
Kumi Sato took over the reigns of COSMO in 1987 and gave the company an international focus. Today, a majority of its clients are global firms.
In 2011, Ms. Sato was recognized by the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards, winning the "Outstanding Individual Achievement" award. This was followed up with another win at The Gold Standard Awards 2011, where she won "The Prospect Gold Standard Award for Professional Excellence".
In 2010, Ms. Sato became the first Japanese to be recognized by Campaign - a major trade publication - as its Asia-Pacific Agency Head of the Year at the prestigious PR Week Awards in Hong Kong.
In July 2000, Business Week featured Ms. Sato as one of its "Stars of Asia - 50 Leaders at the Forefront of Change". In April 2000, the Star Group selected Ms. Sato as one of the “50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World."
Ms. Sato is an active member of several committees and boards in Japan. She is currently Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) and also Co-Chairman of the Asia Society Global Council, headquartered in New York. Ms. Sato is the author of a book comparing views on CSR in Japanese and American companies entitled Aisareru Kaisha no Joken (2007).
From 2005 until 2010 Ms. Sato was a professor in the Department of Management at Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business, teaching corporate branding and corporate-social responsibility (CSR).
Ms. Sato is a graduate of Wellesley College, with a B.A. in East Asian Studies. Prior to joining COSMO, Ms. Sato worked at McKinsey and Company in New York from 1981 to 1983. She was born and raised in Japan and is fully bilingual in Japanese and English.
Paul Hasegawa, Chairman
Paul Hasegawa has spent more than 30 years in marketing, advertising and market research, both with corporations and agencies.
Before joining COSMO, he was president and representative director for ACNielsen Japan. Earlier, he was director in charge of international accounts at I&S (now I&S/BBDO) and second-in-command at Ogilvy & Mather Japan.
Mr. Hasegawa's career began at Pepsi-Cola Japan as a creative services manager. He later became Pepsi-Cola brand manager for Japan, marketing manager for Southeast Asia, and marketing director for East Asia.
Ryuji Kondoh, Chief Operating Officer
Ryuji Kondoh oversees COSMO's healthcare division. Mr. Kondoh has more than 20 years experience in the public relations industry and expertise in crisis communications and issues preparedness, media relations and editorial management.
He has worked on corporate public relations programs for many international pharmaceutical and medical clients. He serves as Secretary-General of the Medical Journalists' Association of Japan, founded in 1990, which has over 300 members.
