S. Gene Kawaratani

Gene Kawaratani serves as Chief Executive Officer of VistaNet, Inc., an Security & Cloud Service Integrator in Japan. He once belonged to Sojitz Corporation (http://www.sojitz.com/en/index.html), one of the leading general trading companies in Japan with $40 billion sales as Senior Vice President & General Manager of IT Business Development Office from 2007 through 2013. He started IT business at Sojitz in 2007 and grew the division to more than $500 million business through some international investments and business development activities.

Before he joined Sojitz in 2007, he founded Entrepia Ventures, an IT-focused venture capital based in the US (http://www.entrepia.com/en/index.html) and served as CEO for 10 years with investment track record for 50 companies both in the US and Japan. He spearheaded the VC operation in structuring the unique value-addition model through North America-Japan business development with his business relationship to Japanese OEM and service providers when he realized a number of IPO as a seed and mid-stage investor. Gene originally joined in Nissho Iwai Corporation in 1979 and went through investment, business development and management of start-up in IT Communications and Media industry for nearly 15 years.

Gene holds a bachelor's degree in law faculty from Tokyo University and an MBA from Columbia University in New York.