My contribution to a board
I would bring a customer's reading of the company to a board. Directors see revenue, margins and complaint totals. They rarely see the advertisement, the cost schedule or the explanation a customer relied on before buying, and that is where many complaints and reputational problems begin. In my current role I have learnt to trace a complaint back to the sentence that created the expectation, and to show executives what it costs to correct the sentence rather than keep handling the complaint. On a board, I would ask how the company knows that what it tells customers matches what they receive, particularly where customers are older, new to Japan or buying from abroad. I would also bring experience of decisions where honest disclosure reduced short-term volume, and of explaining that trade-off to colleagues with sales responsibilities. I have presented to our board since 2021 but have not served as a director, and I would expect to learn the collective responsibility of the role from an experienced chair. My strengths are in marketing, customer evidence and conduct. I would rely on colleagues for capital allocation, audit and financing, and I would say so when a question is beyond my experience.
Capacity and preferences
- Time available
- 24 days per year
- Current directorships
- 0
- Sectors
- Regional transport groups with property and tourism interests · Housing and services for older people · Hospitality serving overseas visitors
- Company type
- Listed Japanese company on the Standard or Growth market with a consumer-facing business and no material dealings with my employer
- Company stage
- Changing how it presents prices, conditions or services to customers, or entering a new customer group
The seat I am pursuing
I am seeking one outside directorship at a listed company whose customers rely on what it tells them before they buy. I would like to join a committee that reviews customer conduct, complaints or sustainability disclosure, and I would not seek to chair one during a first term. I am not looking for a seat offered mainly to change a board's gender balance or to add a marketing title to its list of skills. Before going further, I would want to understand why the board wants a director with customer experience and what it would ask of me in the first year. Japan's Corporate Governance Code expects outside directors to bring perspectives independent of management, and I would want the company's own independence criteria applied to my circumstances before any decision was made.
Judgement in practice
01Asking what would get worse first
When I proposed withdrawing let homes on the day of application, the board's first question concerned enquiries, and it was the right question. A board should see the immediate cost of a conduct decision and the measure that will show whether it worked. I presented the expected fall in enquiries alongside the conversion rate we expected to improve, and we agreed to review both after two quarters. As a director, I would ask for the same pairing whenever management proposes a change that protects customers at some commercial cost: what will deteriorate first, how long the board should wait, and who decides whether to continue. I would also want to hear from the managers who disagreed. Their objection about branch performance measures was useful, and it changed how we reviewed branches.
02Owning a forecast that customers rely on
The resort decision meant accepting slower sales and losing an agency's active support. A board facing a similar choice is choosing between risks, not between a careful option and a careless one. A projected return might have sold the apartments faster and might even have proved accurate. The concern was that the company would own the statement if occupancy fell in a poor season. As a director, I would ask who bears the consequence of a forecast that customers rely on, whether the company could defend it in a bad year, and what disclosure would let customers form their own view. I would not substitute my judgement for the sales team's on pricing, and I would expect legal advice on the representation rules that apply. The board's task is to make the trade-off explicit and owned.
My first year on a board
I would spend the first months reading the company as a customer before speaking as a director. With the chair's agreement, I would go through its advertising, contracts and complaint summaries in the order a customer meets them, and visit a branch or service desk with management's knowledge. I would then ask how the board currently receives customer information: which measures it sees, how often and with what commentary. I expect to learn far more about financial reporting, audit and capital allocation in that year than I contribute, so I would ask for time with the audit committee chair and the finance team early on. By the second quarter I would agree with the chair one or two areas where my experience is most useful, perhaps conduct risk in customer communications or the evidence behind entry into a new customer group. At the year end I would ask the chair for direct feedback, and I would want the board effectiveness review to consider whether my contribution has justified the seat.
Conflicts and their management
Kumoribashi manages homes, brokers sales and markets resort property across Nagano Prefecture, and it deals with landlords, builders, inspectors, municipalities, overseas agencies, lenders and welfare organisations. I would not join the board of a company that competes with us in Nagano property, or one that is a significant supplier or customer, because the relationship would compromise my judgement in both roles. Before accepting any seat, I would give the prospective company a list of our main counterparties to compare with its own, and I would obtain my president's written consent, which my employment terms require. Where a board matter touched a Kumoribashi relationship, I would declare it and leave the discussion. If that happened often, I would conclude that the seat was wrong for me. Confidential information from either company would stay within it. I would also be candid about my calendar: our resort season runs from December to March, and our annual results are prepared in April and May.
My independence statement
I hold no other position, shareholding or advisory role at another company. Because I am an executive of Kumoribashi Estates, whether I can be independent for a particular seat depends on that company's dealings with my employer and on my family's interests. I would give a full account of both and accept the prospective company's assessment against its own criteria and the exchange's standards for independent officers.
Committee contribution
Chair and member readiness| Capacity | Committees |
|---|
| Ready to join | Customer conduct and compliance · Sustainability and disclosure |
|---|
Board and committee exposure
Presented to the Board or a committee
Kumoribashi Estates
Board of directors
April 2021–present
Presents marketing plans, listing-standards results and complaint analysis twice a year as an executive officer; not a director.
Reported to a committee
Kumoribashi Estates
Compliance committee
October 2021–present
Reports quarterly on listing-accuracy audits, advertising complaints and corrective actions.
Governance learning and readiness
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered
India keeps the IICA Independent Directors' Databank for people seeking independent seats on Indian boards. That register plays no part in appointing outside directors in Japan, where I intend to serve, so I have not registered with it, and this status records only that fact.
- I completed an outside-director preparation course for executives in 2025, covering directors' duties under the Companies Act of Japan and the expectations of the Corporate Governance Code.
- Since 2021 I have presented listing-accuracy and complaint reports to Kumoribashi's board twice a year and reported quarterly to its compliance committee.