Takeshi Niinami at TEDxSendai (English)

Mr. Takeshi Niinami is President & Chief Executive Officer of Lawson, Inc., the second largest convenience store chain operator in Japan with over 10,000 store outlets in Japan, China, Indonesia, and the US. A native of Yokohama, Takeshi has had a long career in the private sector and in the food and retail businesses. He began his career in 1981 at Mitsubishi Corporation, and in 1995, he founded Sodex Corporation (current LEOC Co., Ltd.), a medical food service joint venture between Mitsubishi and Sodexho in France, and served as its CEO. In 2000, at Mitsubishi he started the Lawson Project Management Dept. & Food Service Business Dept.

He was appointed President and CEO of Lawson in 2002 and has grown the company over the last nine years. In 2005 he was awarded the "Outstanding Manager Award" by Keidanren and the "Excellent Manager Award for Communication" by the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs. In 2006, he got the "Best Dressed Award" from Japan Men's Fashion Unity. He is Vice Chairman of Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives), Chairman of its Committee on Agricultural Reforms. Mr. Niinami is active in the local and international business community and is active on a number of boards and with the World Economic Forum. He is a member of the Asia Business Council and the Trilateral Commission.

Mr. Niinami was an exchange student at Stanford University and received his Bachelor of Economics degree from Keio University and his MBA degree from Harvard Business School.

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