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Takashi “Chris” Bamba, President and COO
 Takashi "Chris" Bamba joined KWE Japan in 1973. Since beginning his career as a liaison for shipments between Japan and the United States, Mr. Bamba has spent 27 of his 37 years with the company working in the United States.
Mr. Bamba first came to the United States as Assistant Branch Manager in San Francisco, and later served as Branch Manager in Philadelphia and Boston. He then spent 9 years as Regional Vice President in charge of the Central Region stationed in Chicago, was reassigned to Japan for several years, and then returned for assignments as Regional Vice President for the Northwest Region, based in San Francisco, and for the South Region, based in Dallas. In 2009, he was promoted to his current position as President of KWE USA and Board Member for KWE Japan.
He and his wife have one daughter.
Nelson T. Coe, Senior Vice President, South Region
 Nelson T. Coe is Senior Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of KWE USA. Nelson has over 25 years of logistics and industry related experience, primarily on the international side dealing with imports and exports, both air and ocean.
Currently Nelson is responsible for all import, export, customs brokerage, sales and operational activities for the South Region, including Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas and other Southeastern states, as well as Puerto Rico. Corporately, he oversees airline management and negotiations as well as the Americas Region global sales teams.
Nelson's previous assignments at KWE include RVP for the East Region, Assistant RVP for the Central Region and branch manager assignments in Cleveland and Cincinnati. He originally joined KWE as Sales Manager in the company's New York City branch. Before joining KWE, Nelson worked in a sales capacity for Logistics Providers BAX Global and Emery Worldwide, covering the New York and Connecticut territories.
Nelson is a proud seven year veteran of the United States Marines Corp, where he achieved several commendations as well as meritorious promotions. Nelson was Honorably Discharged in 1984 with the final rank of Staff Sergeant.
Kat Nanto, Senior Vice President, Central Region
 Mr. Nanto has been with KWE since 1983 with brief internship works for his MBA with KWEMSP in 1981/82. Before becoming the Senior Vice President of the Central Region, Mr. Nanto served as the Senior Director and Terminal Manager of the Chicago Export and Detroit Branches in the 1990s. He also worked in the sales department of Chicago and Cleveland Branches in the 1980s. 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 overseas 8 branches in Central Region and is a member of the Board of Directors.
Kat Nanto attended Minnesota State University where he earned his MBA, 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 25 years, including Sales Manager and Branch Manager positions in San Diego, National Account Branch Manager in San Francisco, Assistant Vice President of the West Region, V.P. of Global Strategic Customers, Vice President of Corporate Sales and Marketing and finally his current position in Rancho Dominguez, CA as Senior Vice President, West Region. As the Regional VP of the West, Mr. Smith oversees operations at our Los Angeles Export, Los Angeles Import, San Francisco Export, San Francisco Import, San Diego, Denver, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco Ocean, Long Beach Ocean, Rancho Dominguez Logistics, and Santa Fe Springs Logistics branches.
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.
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.
Dave Cohen, Vice President, Business Management
 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.
Sean Evans, Vice President, Business Development
 Sean Evans started his career at Kintetsu World Express Chicago in 1990 as an Account Executive. Sean remained at the Chicago branch for next ten years, working in a number of different sales and management capacities.
Sean was transferred to a regional sales position in 2000. Sean's primary responsibility at the regional level was handling/growing a key account for KWE. In addition to handling the aforementioned key account, Sean was also responsible for managing the Central Region sales team. This sales team included sales staff in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis.
In 2006, Sean was transferred to KWE Singapore tasked with supporting the USA sales growth in South East Asia. Sean traveled to Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and while stationed in Singapore. Sean found this first hand cultural experience invaluable to understanding Asian business practices.
Sean attended the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana.
Harry Hayashima, Vice President, Air
 Yasunori "Harry" Hayashima is the VP air freight at KWE. Harry has over 25 years of air export & import and logistics sales experience. He has worked at the Japan sales offices (Tokyo & Osaka), US (trainee), Hong Kong, Asia Oceania regional headquarter and both the forwarding and logistics department at Japan headquarter. Now based in New York, he makes joint sales at branch offices within the US. His priority mission is to expand the US - Asia business for KWE.
Harry holds a Bachelors degree from Keio University. As a hobby, he competes in the dragon boat race as a still paddler. In the Japan Championship he has won 3 times in the mixed category and 5 times in the senior category. He has also won 4 times in the World Championships at Shanghai, Berlin, Sydney and Prague. He now belongs to the New York Wall Street Dragons, a silver medalist at the Philadelphia, Toronto and Ithaca races in 2010.
Tsutomu "Tomo" Ikeda, Vice President, Ocean
 Mr. Ikeda has been with KWE USA singe 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 USA, 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, 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. Afterwards, he was transferred to Cleveland in 1986 as Terminal Manager, 1989 to Dallas as regional manager for Texas and in 1991 to New York as East Regional VP. In 1993 Mr. Kagawa was assigned for reorganization of the Information Technology Department as Asst Vice President at US Corp. HQ in NY.
After successful reorganization and new system and infrastructure project completion, Mr. Kagawa was promoted to Vice President of Information Technology. In 1996 he relocated to the Los Angeles office where he manages America’s region IT organization and worldwide IT investment and strategies.
Mr. Kagawa has held varying management capacity within KWE during his career. He is a graduate of California State Univ., Fresno with B.A. degree in Geography.
Dennis Keenan, Vice President, Sales Development / Healthcare
 Dennis Keenan has been with KWE USA since 1981. Mr. Keenan started his career at the Philadelphia Branch as an Account Executive, Sales Manager and became the Branch Manager in 1986. Before joining the Corporate Sales and Marketing Department he served as the East Region Assistant Vice President. Currently Mr. Keenan is VP of Sales Development and is spearheading the initiative to increase KWE's customer base in the Healthcare market.
Mr. Keenan earned his B.S. degree in Marketing from Drexel University.
Bill Leakos, Vice President, Auditing
 Before joining KWE in January of 1991, Bill Leakos was the accounting Controller of KIU, a subsidiary of KWE based in Los Angeles. KIU was a US Customs Brokerage firm that had earned a solid reputation of being one of the most efficient and notable brokers in the field.
Bill started his career with the internal auditing department of Hughes Aircraft Company in 1983 where after 3 years of honing his auditing skills, was given a cost accounting position in one of the major divisions of the Company. He also brings to KWE skills from his work experience at Teledyne Systems. At KWE, Bill has managed the accounting department and has been responsible for its successful restructuring including implementation of key accounting software. Bill's current responsibilities include financial and operational audits.
A licensed CPA in the State of California, Bill graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting from California State University, Northridge. He also holds an US Customs brokerage license. His military includes active four years in the infantry branch of the US Army.
Shigeo "Stuart" Mori, Vice President of Finance
 In April 1986 Mr.Mori joined KWE/Japan, and was assigned for a member of accounting department. He experienced various tasks such as general accounting and revenue accounting during 4 years.
In June 1990, Mr.Mori was transferred to KWE/UK to assume the position of Manager of Accounting department. He had a responsible for the finance statement of KWE/UK which had to comply with the stringent regulations of the British government. With his increased knowledge of accounting and its related services, he had other additional post of the general administrator of the "The Europe Region Headquarters" (the former The Europe, Middle East & Africa Region) in 1994. He had assisted establishment of entity in Ireland, Switzerland and Italy.
Upon his return to Japan, in December 1999, Mr.Mori was assigned to Corporate Planning Department as Assistant Manager and to be a project member for applying to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Market for listing KWE/Japan's share. Since the project completed in 2002, he had been engaged drafting the group strategy to achieve the corporate vision described in the KWE Group mid term plan.
In KWE/USA, Mr.Mori has been assigned for Vice President of Finance since June 2010, and responsible for supervising revenue and general accounting, consolidated financial statements, J-Sox internal control, assisting external audit, tax declaration, transfer pricing documentation, and other related services.
Mr.Mori , through his assignment with KWE group, acquired not only managerial level experience but developed and extensive knowledge of accounting and freight forwarder business. He graduated from Nihon University in Japan with a Bachelor's degree in Economics in March 1986.
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