Graham Davis joins the BCCJ Team as Senior Adviser

The British Chamber of Commerce in Japan is delighted to welcome Graham Davis as the newest member of our team!

From February 2020, Graham will be taking over in part the role of our Executive Director, Lori Henderson MBE who will soon be taking maternity leave.

Graham’s role as Senior Adviser includes advising on on the strategic direction of the Chamber and monitoring the overall performance of the team, which will be managed day-to-day by newly-appointed Associate Director, Sarah Backley.

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For over 15 years, Graham lived and worked in Tokyo, advising clients about economic and political developments that impact business and investment opportunities in Japan.

From 2002 to 2008 he headed the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Corporate Network executive programme in Japan, chairing its regular meetings and other conferences held in APAC. Following this role, he moved to the commercial side of the ECN business, heading Thought Leadership and Events for the region.

Graham served on the BCCJ Excom from 2010-2015, spending 4 years as Head of Events, and then Head of the Chamber’s Global Sporting Events committee, exploring B2B opportunities related to the RWC2019 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

In 2016, he moved to Yakushima, where he runs a hospitality business with his wife. Graham is originally from Haddenham in Buckinghamshire, and is learning the piano -about 50 years too late.

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We are very excited to have Graham onboard, and hope you get the chance to say hello to him and Sarah in person at a BCCJ event soon.

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Graham says:

It is great to be back with the BCCJ. I jumped at the opportunity to stand in for Lori while she goes on maternity leave, and to work with David and the Execuitve Committee and new colleague in the BCCJ office Sarah Backley.

I met a number of members at the Shinnenkai in January and look forward to many more opportunities over the next few months. As ever, there is a lot to do – we want to make sure our events programme is topical, timely, relevant and entertaining. There’s a strong backbone of themes to our programme around the three key areas of Diversity and Inclusion, Responsible Business, and Tech/Innovation. I’d expect us to find event opportunities around the Olympics and Paralympics; Brexit continues to rumble on; and our member companies and individuals continue to find opportunities to grow and develop in this great country. Our events programme thrives on your ideas and input so please keep your suggestions coming.

I took the role on knowing that I would have plenty to do. What I hadn’t thought about was COVID and its implications. You’ll see elsewhere in this newsletter the approach the BCCJ is taking. The situation is serious, and we`re taking the steps we feel are necessary and responsible. I imagine that all businesses are going through the same process of working out operational issues, business continuity planning and staffing implications; and then there are the implications for the economy and ongoing consumer behaviour. So we’ll be drawing on our experience and expertise to be active and useful here too. Again, if you have a need, or expertise to offer, do let us know.
But hopefully things will turn around – I’m not going to say when – and some kind of normality will return. That is the lesson I have learned from all the financial, climate, earthquake, terrorism, war, disease and other disasters (quite a few when I think about it) I have lived through in my career in the UK, Germany and Japan. Some things will change permanently as a result – hygiene issues in public places for example. For now though, we work through the turbulence and disruption, deal with the day to day, and look for your support and input into what we do.Do please look out for further updates from us over the next few days.

Graham, Senior Advisor

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More reading

Join a BCCJ event – book HERE

Sarah Backley joins the BCCJ team as Associate Director (Jan 17 2020) HERE