Ken Shimabuku

Ken is the West Japan Manager for CDS Executive and heads the Osaka office. He has worked in the Kansai region for more than thirteen years and six of those have been in executive search. He spent a number of years as the Kansai Director of Operations for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ). Prior to coming to Japan, he worked at the US subsidiaries of Canon and Mitsubishi as a project manager focused on logistics and sales operations.

Though Kansai is the second largest economic region outside of the Tokyo area, it often presents a challenging landscape for talent acquisition into companies operating in the Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Ken has a proven track record of identifying, sourcing and securing proven bilingual leaders for his clients who quickly add to the organization's bottom line. His understanding of local environment and direct "in the market" experience enables Ken to provide a strategic, logical and realistic consultative approach to achieve overall project objectives. He has successfully completed senior functional and middle to top management positions such as Country Manager, General Manager, Sales & Marketing Director, Engineering Director, Logistics Director, CFO, etc. within a broad range of industry sectors. Some of the clients he has worked with include Diesel Japan, Barry Callebaut, Akzo Nobel and Nestle.

Ken participates in the Osaka Foreign Business Network, and has been invited by JETRO and other Osaka foreign direct investment groups to advise on the Kansai region's human resources market.

Originally from California, Ken holds a B.A. degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and speaks fluent Japanese.

Ken loves basketball and plays whenever he gets the chance.