2024 Economics & Finance Forum: U.S. Presidential Election & Its Global Impact

Join us for the Economics and Finance Forum, where leading experts explore the current state of the U.S., Japanese and global economies and explore key trends in capital markets following recent political developments in the U.S. and Japan. The Liberal Democratic Party’s loss of its majority in Japan’s lower house election on October 27 has cast uncertainty around Prime Minister Ishiba’s future, while Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 U.S. presidential election may bring new layers of complexity. Both Japan’s Nikkei 225 and the U.S. S&P 500 have reached record highs this year, raising questions about the factors driving this growth and what the future may hold. What challenges and opportunities do experts anticipate for the global economy over the next year, especially in light of recent political changes in the U.S. and Japan? Featuring distinguished keynote speakers and dynamic discussions, this forum offers a unique opportunity to gain insights into the economic and financial landscape in the U.S. and Japan. Don’t miss this chance to hear from thought leaders and connect with peers as we navigate these evolving times together. 

Speakers

Keynote Fireside Chat 1:
Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury (Participating Virtually)

Presider:
Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D., President & CEO, Japan Society

Keynote Fireside Chat 2:
Jay Clayton, Senior Policy Advisor & Of Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; Independent Chair, Apollo Global Management; former Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Presider:
Eri Kakuta, Partner, PJT Partners; Member of the Board of Directors, Japan Society

Panel Discussion:
Joyce Chang, Chair, Global Research, J.P. Morgan Chase
R. Glenn Hubbard, Dean Emeritus; Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School; former Chairman, President’s Council of Economic Advisers
Takatoshi Ito, Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Moderator:
Merit E. Janow, Dean Emerita, & Professor of Practice, School of International & Public Affairs, Columbia University; Chair of the Board of Directors, Japan Society

Leadership Conversation:
John Zito, Partner and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Credit, Apollo Global Management

Presider:
Toby S. Myerson, Chairman & CEO, Longsight Strategic Advisors LLC; Member of the Board of Directors, Japan Society

Closing Keynote Session:
Nobumitsu Hayashi, Governor, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)

Presider:
 Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D., President & CEO, Japan Society

Agenda

10:00 – 10:20am: Keynote Fireside Chat with Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo
10:20 – 10:40am: Keynote Fireside Chat with Mr. Jay Clayton
10:40am – 12:00pm: Panel Discussion with Ms. Joyce Chang, Dr. R. Glenn Hubbard, Dr. Takatoshi Ito 
12:00 – 1:00pm: Networking Lunch Reception
1:00 – 1:30pm: Leadership Conversation with Mr. John Zito 
1:30 – 2:00pm: Closing Keynote Session with Mr. Nobumitsu Hayashi

Admission

This is a paid event with advance registration required. A designated number of tickets are available for free to our corporate members. (Corporate member code is required to register for the event. If you don’t know your corporate member code, please contact [email protected].) Please note that seating is limited and on a first come, first served basis.

About the Speakers

On March 26, 2021, Wally Adeyemo was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. As Deputy Secretary, Adeyemo serves as the Treasury Department’s number two official and chief operating officer. Adeyemo has taken a leading role in Treasury’s national security and economic inequality work, and implementation of some of the Biden Administration’s top policy priorities, while supporting the Secretary in driving the Department’s fundamental mission: promoting economic growth and ensuring the financial security of the United States. Adeyemo was responsible for Treasury’s implementation of the American Rescue Plan, which ensured federal resources reached underserved communities and led to the most broad-based economic recovery in U.S. history. Adeyemo also oversees Treasury’s implementation of the Inflation Seduction Act, which is the most significant investment in the economy, energy security, and climate change in a generation, as well as the biggest effort in decades to increase tax fairness and reduce the deficit. This is Adeyemo’s second tour at the Treasury Department. His first began in the early days of the Obama Administration, during the depths of the Great Recession. He also served as the first Chief of Staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. From 2015 to 2017, Adeyemo served in the Obama White House as Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. He also served as President Obama’s representative to the G7 and G20. After leaving government in 2017, Adeyemo served as the first president of the Obama Foundation, where he worked with the former president and first lady to help them continue giving back to the country as private citizens. Adeyemo also served as a Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at BlackRock. Adeyemo was previously a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, which promotes widespread economic opportunity and the competitiveness of America. He also served on the boards of Demos, a New York-based think tank focused on social, political, and economic equity issues; the Golden State Opportunity Foundation, which works to provide financial security to low-income working people throughout California; and Just Homes, a faith-based affordable housing initiative based in Washington, DC. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, Adeyemo immigrated to California’s Inland Empire as a young child with his parents, an educator and a nurse. He attended the University of California, Berkeley and Yale Law School.

Joyce Chang is the Chair of Global Research at J.P Morgan Chase. She has spent 35 years working in Global Research, with expertise in Macro, Fixed Income, Emerging Markets, Geopolitical and Strategic Research. Joyce was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch and Salomon Brothers prior to joining J.P. Morgan Chase in 1999. She is the Executive Sponsor for J.P. Morgan Chase’s network for employees of Asian heritage (AsPIRE) and on the Executive Committee of the Corporate and Investment Bank’s Women on The Move network. She serves on the Board of Directors of the German Marshall Fund, Trickle Up and the Fixed Income Analyst Society as well as the Advisory Councils for the Bretton Woods Committee, Center of Financial Stability and Georgetown University’s Baratta Center for Global Business. Joyce holds an M.P.A. from Princeton and serves on its External Advisory Council for its Julis- Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance. She holds a B.A. from Columbia from where she was awarded the John Jay award for professional achievement and serves on its Board of Visitors and the Board of Directors for the Asian Columbia Alumni Association.

Jay Clayton’s activities involve the intersection of business strategy, corporate governance, regulation, and market developments. As Senior Policy Advisor at Sullivan & Cromwell, he advises various organizations on proactively navigating these issues. Jay also is the Independent Chair of Apollo Global Management, a Director of American Express, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and Co-Chair of Penn’s Institute for Law and Economics. He also shares his views on current issues through broadcast and print media, including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Jay Clayton served as the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 to December 2020. In that capacity, he also was a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Financial Stability Board and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. During Mr. Clayton’s tenure, the SEC focused on modernizing the regulation and oversight of U.S. equity (circa $50 trillion) and fixed income markets (circa $50 trillion), concentrating on the interests of longterm investors. Under his leadership, the SEC updated and improved dozens of rules and regulations, increasing efficiency, stability and investor protection. Mr. Clayton oversaw an investor-focused and impactful enforcement program, involving over 2,800 actions, resulting in $15 billion in financial remedies and over $3.5 billion returned to harmed investors. The SEC also addressed various market developments and emerging risks, including the COVID-19 economic shock, the Brexit and LIBOR transitions, and various cybersecurity matters. Mr. Clayton testified before Congress on numerous occasions and substantially increased the scope and quality of the Commission’s public reporting of its operations and initiatives. Prior to Mr. Clayton’s tenure at the SEC, he was a member of Sullivan & Cromwell’s management committee. He was a lead lawyer in an array of notable matters, including representing various financial institutions during the 2008 global financial crisis and the underwriters in the world’s largest initial public offering. Mr. Clayton was resident in the firm’s New York, London and Washington offices. Mr. Clayton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree in economics from The University of Cambridge and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Professor R. Glenn Hubbard is a specialist in public economics, managerial information and incentive problems in corporate finance, and financial markets and institutions. He has written more than 100 articles and books on corporate finance, investment decisions, banking, energy economics and public policy, including two textbooks, and has authored The Wall and the Bridge and coauthored Balance, The Aid Trap, and Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise.  Hubbard has applied his research interests in business (as a corporate director consultant on taxation and corporate finance), in government (as a former Chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and the OECD Economic Policy Committee, as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department and as a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and many government agencies) and in academia (in faculty collaboration or visiting appointments at Columbia, University of Chicago and Harvard).  He is co-chair the Committee on Capital Markets and Regulation and past chair of the Economic Club of New York and the Study Group on Corporate Boards. Hubbard is chair of the MetLife and BlackRock Fixed-Income boards and serves on the board of TotalEnergies.  His past board service includes ADP, Duke Realty, and KKR Financial Corporation, along with private firms.

Takatoshi Ito, Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, has taught extensively both in the United States and Japan since finishing his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in 1979. He taught at the University of Minnesota, Hitotsubashi University, and the University of Tokyo, and he was President of the Japanese Economic Association in 2004. Ito served as Senior Advisor in the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund, 1994-97, and as Deputy Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance of Japan, 1999-2001, and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, 2006-08. He is an author of Japanese Economy, 2nd Edition, and many other books and refereed journal articles. He was awarded the National Medal with Purple Ribbon for his excellent academic achievement in 2011 and the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2024.

Merit E. Janow is an internationally recognized expert in international trade and investment. She has extensive experience in business, academia and government, and has had life-long involvement with Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. She has been on the faculty of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and Columbia Law School since 1994, and served as Dean of SIPA from 2013 through 2021.  She remains on the Columbia faculty and teaches in SIPA & Law, co-directs a Asia-focused research center at Columbia Business School and co-directs a start-up program in digital entrepreneurship. Janow has had three periods of government service: at the WTO, the U.S. Justice Department and USTR.  Professor Janow currently serves as independent Chairman of the Board of Mastercard, as well as a Board member of funds within the American Funds/Capital group, and Aptiv. She is Chair of the Board of Japan Society and is also a member of the Board of the National Committee on US China Relations and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is on the global advisory council of MUFG. She has a JD from Columbia Law School and a BA in Asian Studies with honors from the University of Michigan.

Eri Kakuta is a Partner in the Strategic Advisory Group at PJT Partners, based in New York. Ms. Kakuta has over 25 years of investment banking experience across a range of business sectors in the US, Asia and Europe. Ms. Kakuta joined PJT Partners after three years at Deutsche Bank, where she was the Head of Cross Border Coverage for financial services. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Ms. Kakuta held various leadership positions at Goldman Sachs including Global COO of the Financial Institutions Group and Secretary to the Investment Banking Division Client and Business Standards Committee. During her more than 10-year tenure at Goldman Sachs, Ms. Kakuta devoted a substantial amount of her time advising financial institutions globally on strategic M&A assignments and played key roles in a number of landmark transactions. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Ms. Kakuta was at Morgan Stanley, where she began her investment banking career as an Analyst. Ms. Kakuta was based in Morgan Stanley’s New York and Tokyo offices and was active across a wide range of investment banking businesses including M&A, equity & debt financing, risk management and principal real estate investing. Ms. Kakuta serves on the board and the Executive Committee of the Japan Society in New York City and is a member of the US-Japan Council. Ms. Kakuta has a BA from Sophia University (Jochi Daigaku) in Tokyo, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Longsight Strategic Advisors LLC founder, Toby Myerson, has had a career in law and finance spanning four decades. He founded Longsight in 2017 to pursue his passion for helping clients accomplish complex business deals and find solutions to high stakes disputes, governance issues, and other challenges. Today, his clients include global corporations, financial institutions, asset managers, significant shareowners, boards of directors and top executives. He advises on M&A transactions, proxy contests, activist campaigns, corporate governance matters, and resolving disputes. The work is global, involving matters and clients in various parts of the world. Among many other things, he devotes significant attention to clients and matters in Japan and advice to Japanese and Asia based institutions. In addition to his work for Longsight, Mr. Myerson served for six years as a member of the board of directors of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest financial institution, and he also served as lead outside director of MUFG Union Bank, Mitsubishi’s large U.S. commercial banking subsidiary. Mr. Myerson has also served as Senior Advisor to Apollo Global Management and Perella Weinberg Partners. Formerly, Mr. Myerson was a Partner, Co-Chair of the Corporate Department, and Co-Chair of Global Mergers and Acquisitions at the New York based international law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. During his tenure at Paul, Weiss, Mr. Myerson served as a member of senior management for 15 years. He was previously an investment banker and Managing Director at the boutique investment firm Wasserstein Perella & Co., Inc., heading the operations of that firm in Japan and Asia and providing financial, investment banking, and M&A advice. Mr. Myerson has served as an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School and the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California Berkeley. He has served as a member of the advisory board of the Harvard Law School program on Corporate Governance and has chaired bar association committees. He has frequently attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Myerson is also a board member and Vice Chairman of the Japan Society, Inc.of New York. Mr. Myerson received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

HAYASHI Nobumitsu is Governor of Japan Bank for International Cooperation, or JBIC. JBIC is policy-based financial institution wholly owned by the Government of Japan and conducts worldwide lending, investment, and guarantee operations, in order to support Japanese companies and the Japanese economy, and to contribute to the global community in its quest for sustainable development. Mr. Hayashi, a Japanese national, started his professional career at the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan upon graduating the University of Tokyo. Since then, he held various senior positions at the Ministry, in charge of economic policy, government finance, and international finance, including Director-General of the Finance Bureau and President of the Policy Research Institute, and finally was appointed Commissioner of the National Tax Administration in 2014. He also served as Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister of Japan and as Executive Director for Japan at the World Bank Group.

Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D., became President & CEO of Japan Society in December 2019. Previously, he worked at Eurasia Group, the world’s leading political risk analysis firm, where he served as global head of strategic initiatives and Japan in the Office of the President. Prior to that, he was CEO and president of the USA Pavilion of the 2017 World Expo in Astana, Kazakhstan; founding dean of the APCO Institute; and senior vice president of global programs at APCO Worldwide, a leading global strategic communications firm based in Washington, D.C. Before joining the private sector, he worked in numerous roles at various U.S. government agencies, including the State Department and the Defense Department.

He is Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, and professor of Leadership and the American presidency at George Mason University and the Reagan Foundation. He was also Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and co-founded the Yale Journal of International Affairs. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond, a master’s degree from Yale University, and a doctorate from Princeton University. Dr. Walker grew up in Japan where his parents still serve as missionaries, came to the United States when he was 18, and is bicultural and bilingual.

John Zito is a Partner and Deputy CIO of Credit at Apollo, overseeing the firm’s global Credit, Insurance and Real Estate Debt business and team. John is also a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team. Apollo’s platform spans the full financing universe across public and private markets, including corporate credit, direct lending, asset-backed finance and more. Prior to joining Apollo in 2012, John served as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Brencourt Advisors and previously spent five years as a Portfolio Manager at Veritas Fund Group. John is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder and he graduated cum laude from Amherst College with an AB in economics.

Business & Policy Forum is generously supported by Japan Society Global Leaders & Corporate Partners.

Global Leaders

Corporate Partners

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.