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Takashi “Chris” Bamba, Executive Vice President, South Region
 Takashi
“Chris” Bamba has been with KWE for over 30 years, starting in Japan in
1973. He has held numerous positions, initially as a liaison for shipments between Japan and the USA.
Bamba has spent a total of twenty years working at KWE USA
with positions as Assistant Terminal Manager in San Francisco, Terminal (Branch)
Manager in Philadelphia and Boston, and Regional Vice President in charge of the
central region USA stationed in Chicago. Mr.
Bamba has worked a total of ten years at KWE in Japan most recently as Deputy
General Manager in charge of sales.
KWE proudly welcomes Mr. Bamba back to the USA as First Senior Vice President of the USA South Region, Deputy General Manager of the Americas Region, and his responsibilities also include airline negotiations and purchasing. Mr. Bamba is a graduate of the Tsuda business school. He and his wife have one daughter.
Gerard Berger, Vice President, Operations
 Gerard "Gerry" Berger began his transportation career with KWE in 1983 at the Cleveland Office. Gerry has held numerous positions at KWE over the past 20 years including Operations Manager and Terminal Manager of the Cleveland Office, Assistant Vice-President of the Central Region, Vice-President of the Trans-Atlantic Region, and his current position as Vice-President of Operations.
Since being appointed as VP Operations, Gerry has focused his efforts towards the implementation of KWE's new global computer system throughout the KWE/USA network, operations standardization, and gateway operations.
Gerry is a graduate of Cleveland's St. Ignatius High School and holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on International Marketing from Cleveland State University.
Nelson T. Coe, Senior Vice President, East Region
 Nelson T. Coe is the VP of the East Sales Region and a member of the Board of Directors. Nelson has had over 18 years of Logistics and industry related experience most of which has been on the International side dealing with Imports and Exports, both air and ocean.
Currently Nelson is responsible for all Import, Export, Customer Brokerage, Sales and Operational activities for the East Region. This Region covers from Texas all the way east to the Carolinas and south to Florida. In addition, he is responsible for the terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Latin America Gateway Terminal in Miami.
Previously, Nelson spent 3 years as Assistant Vice President for Kintetsu's Central Region and Terminal Manager of the Cleveland office. He was also the Terminal Manager in Cincinnati for 3 years and before that was based out of the JFK Office for 4 years as Sales Manager in the Air Export Department.
Before Nelson joined Kintetsu he worked for other service providers such as Emery Worldwide and BAX Global, in a Sales capacity, covering areas mostly in New York and Connecticut.
Nelson spent several years proudly serving our country in the United States Marines. He achieved several commendations as well as meritorious promotions in his seven plus years in the Marines. Nelson was Honorably Discharged in 1984 with the final rank of Staff Sergeant.
Dave Cohen, Vice President, Corporate Sales & Marketing
Mr. Cohen currently serves as Vice President of Corporate Sales and Marketing for the Americas. A 27 year global logistics veteran, Mr. Cohen began his career in 1979 with Emery Airfreight, and after various sales and operations assignments there and at several other logistics service providers, joined KWE in 1995 as Corporate Compliance Manager. In 1997 he became Director of Compliance and Corporate Customs Officer, overseeing the operations and sales of the company's Customs Brokerage and Regulatory Compliance products.
Mr. Cohen assumed his current position in 2004, with primary responsibilities for the sales and management of KWE's Global Strategic Customers (GSC), including the development of specialized solutions to meet the exacting requirements of today's global enterprises. The Corporate Sales and Marketing Group also manages the RFQ response and process, updates the KWE USA website, prepares sales presentation materials and issues the KWE Industry Update, a monthly bulletin containing timely information for KWE clients.
Mr. Cohen holds a Bachelors degree in International Relations from UCLA and a Customs Broker License from the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
Tsutomu "Tomo" Ikeda, Vice President, Ocean
 Mr. Ikeda has been with KWE U.S.A. since 1982. During his years in the US, Mr. Ikeda has worked at the San Francisco, Denver, Portland and Los Angeles terminals. He has proven success in sales and operations, especially as they pertain to Japan and Far East countries, in various North American markets. In January 2002, Mr. Ikeda was appointed Vice President of Ocean. His current responsibilities include OTI business for KWE U.S.A., compliance with FMC rules and regulations, engagement in service contracts with ocean carriers and development of ocean products and logistics business.
Mr. Ikeda earned his B.S. degree from San Francisco State University in International Business with an emphasis on International Business Environmental Analysis, Management of Multinational Business Operations and International Law. Additionally, he has also participated in several advanced seminars and various managements courses pertaining to the transportation industry.
James Kagawa, Vice President, IT Solutions
 Mr. Kagawa began his transportation career with KWE in 1981 in sales and operations for the newly opened San Diego Terminal. In 1983 he became the Terminal Manager of the SAN office. After serving as the Terminal Manager of the San Diego office and then Cleveland office for 6 years, Mr. Kagawa was transferred to Dallas to establish a new terminal and target customers in the Texas market. From his role as Assistant Regional Manager in Dallas, James Kagawa was transferred to the East Region in 1991 to serve as that region's Vice President. Two years later, Mr. Kagawa was assigned to the reorganization of the Information Technology Department.
Since 1995 Mr. Kagawa has been serving as the Vice President of Information Technology. In 1996 he relocated to the Carson office where he manages worldwide IT investment in the Unified Projects on a global scale to standardize and unify IT systems, applications and infrastructure. Mr. Kagawa was nominated to the Board of Directors in 1998.
Dennis Keenan, Vice President, Sales Development
 Dennis Keenan has been with KWE U.S.A. for over 21 years. Mr. Keenan started his career at the Philadelphia Terminal where he became Terminal Manager. Before joining the Corporate Sales and Marketing Department to develop sales to Multinational Corporations, he served as the East Region Assistant Vice President. Currently, Mr. Keenan is head of sale development and is spearheading the initiative to increase KWE's customer base in the Pharmaceutical and Medical industries.
Mr. Keenan earned his B.S. degree in Marketing from Drexel University. He completed intensive sales and operations training including the Dun & Bradstreet Sales Seminar and other industry certified programs. Dennis is a member of the World Trade Organization of Philadelphia.
Bill Leakos, Vice President, Auditing
Bill Leakos started his Kintetsu career in the accounting field when he joined KIU in 1990. After a brief departure, he returned to KWE where he continues to serve in the financial arena.
His current auditing responsibilities are diverse in nature, ranging from standard financial and operational audits of various entities to restructuring of the entire accounting department, including implementation of key accounting software. His background includes over five years in the internal audit and cost accounting at Hughes Aircraft Company. He also has work experience at Teledyne Systems.
Bill Leakos received his B.S. degree in accounting from California State University, Northridge. He has a CPA certificate from the state of California and also holds an US Customs brokerage license.
Kat Nanto, Senior Vice President, Central Region
 Mr. Nanto has been in the transportation industry for over 19 years. Before becoming the Vice President of the Central Region, Mr. Nanto served as the Senior Director and Terminal Manager of the Chicago Export Terminal. During this time, Mr. Nanto accrued expertise in airfreight sales and profit maximization. Additionally, Mr. Nanto served as the management representative for ISO 9002 Certification for the Chicago Terminal. Currently, he is responsible for the management and operations of 8 terminals.
Kat Nanto attended Minnesota State University where he earned his Masters Degree in Business Administration.
Thomas B. Smith, Senior Vice President, West Region
 Thomas "Tom" Smith has extensive experience in International Forwarding and Logistics business, having joined KWE in 1983. Smith also worked as a District Manager for Pandair, a major European based forwarder, acquired by Air Express International in 1987.
Mr. Smith has held numerous positions at KWE over the last 19 years, including Sales Manager and Terminal Manager positions in San Diego, National Account Terminal Manager in San Francisco, Assistant Vice President of the West Region, V.P. of Multi-National Accounts-West, Vice President of Corporate Sales and Marketing and finally his current position in Los Angeles, CA as Regional Vice President of the West Region. As the RVP of West Region, Mr. Smith overseas operations at our Los Angeles Export, San Franciscio Export, San Diego, Portland, Seattle and Denver terminals.
Smith was elected to KWE U.S.A.'s Board of Directors as a member in March of 2002. He holds an Associate Degree in Flight Operations, and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Economics from San Diego State University.
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