Biography of Koichi Naruse

Koichi Naruse, one of most experienced and well-known executive search consultants in Japan, has 20 years of executive search experience and as the Partner of Spencer Stuart, he has supported major global companies extensively over 10 years for the top executive roles across the industries.  

• At Spencer Stuart, Koichi was a member of the firm's Life Sciences Practice and has led Life Science Practice in Japan. He has assumed various leadership roles including Regional Leader of Life Sciences Practice, Asia Pacific, and Managing Director of the Tokyo Office. He has a successful track record of completing searches for C-level executives across the industries and key functional roles including Commercial Leaders, CHRO, CFO, Head of Legal etc. for a wide range of global, regional and local clients. He was Chairman of the Tokyo Office most recently. 
• Before Spencer Stuart, Koichi was a partner at another leading international search firm in Tokyo, where heled its healthcare services, media and entertainment, consumer and retail, technology and industrial practices. 
• Prior to this, he worked with Mitsui & Co., one of Japan’s top Sōgō Shōsha (conglomerates). During his tenure, Koichi was responsible for new business development and involved in venture capital investment and strategic planning in New York. There he initiated a plan to establish a joint venture among NBC Network, TV Tokyo and Mitsui in Japan.
• Koichi also contributed to start up Savoy Picture Entertainment (in New York) with Mitsui’s investment and later served on the Board of Directors of Savoy after IPO at NASDAQ. After returning to Mitsui’s HQ in Japan, he again contributed to start up new Digital TV services and was a member of the team behind the successful launch of Pay Per View service as an affiliate of Sky PerfecTV! Koichi, as Head of Programing and Contents Acquisition, negotiated with all the major Hollywood Studios and obtained the first Pay Per View rights in Japan successfully.

Koichi holds both a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Waseda University.