Featured Speakers
Akazawa Ryosei
Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan
Akazawa Ryosei
Minister
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan
Mr. Akazawa Ryosei was appointed Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on October 21, 2025.
He also assumes the positions of Minister in charge of the Response to the Economic Impact caused by the Nuclear Accident, Minister for Green Transformation, Minister in charge of Industrial Competitiveness, Minister in charge of International Exposition, and Minister of State for the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation.
Immediately prior to becoming METI Minister, Mr. Akazawa served as Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization and Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy. During his long career in public policy, Mr. Akazawa has served in several senior positions in the LDP and in government agencies. Notable roles in government agencies include State Minister of Finance, State Minister of the Cabinet Office and Parliamentary Secretary for Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Mr. Akazawa was first elected to public office in 2005, successfully winning reelection six times. He serves as a member of the House of Representatives representing Tottori Prefecture, 2nd Electoral District.
Prior to entering politics, Mr. Akazawa served as a public servant for about twenty years at Japan’s Ministry of Land of Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) and the Ministry of Transport, the predecessor agency to MLIT.
Mr. Akazawa is a graduate of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law and received an MBA from Cornell University. He was born in Tokyo on December 18, 1960.
George Glass
United States Ambassador
to Japan
George Glass
United States Ambassador to Japan
Ambassador Glass was confirmed by the Senate to be U.S. Ambassador to Japan on April 8, 2025. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Portugal from 2017 to 2021 during the first Trump Administration. Glass is a prominent American businessman with expertise in finance, investment banking, and technology. Most recently, he served as an advisor to Reltio, a data management company based in Redwood Shores, California. Earlier he was a partner in MGG LLC, an enterprise that developed apartment complexes and rental homes.
Mr. Glass was Founder, President and Vice Chairman of Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. He was also Director of Fixed Income and Institutional Sales, Gallagher Capital Corporation and U.S. Treasury and Agency Bond Trader for the Investment Division of U.S. National Bank in Portland. He has been recognized for contributions to higher education, in particular his roles as a Trustee to the University of Oregon and as a Trustee of the Oregon Health Sciences University.
Mr. Glass earned a B.S. from The University of Oregon. His honors include the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service, the Knighted Order of Prince Henry the Navigator presented by the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Knighted Order of Immaculate Conception of Vila Vicosa Portugal presented by the Duke of Braganca.
Doug Burgum
United States Secretary of the Interior
Chair, National Energy Dominance Council
Doug Burgum
United States Secretary of the Interior
Chair, National Energy Dominance Council
Doug Burgum is the 55th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Raised in Arthur, North Dakota, Burgum worked as a chimney sweep to help pay his way through North Dakota State University before earning an MBA from Stanford University. In 1983, Doug literally “bet the farm” to provide seed capital for a software startup called Great Plains.
Doug led Great Plains through a successful IPO and grew the company to over 2,000 employees before its acquisition by Microsoft. Burgum remained with Microsoft for six years as the Senior Vice President of Business Solutions.
Doug later co-founded Arthur Ventures and served as chairman for international software companies including Atlassian, SuccessFactors, and as a board member for Avalara.
In 2016, Burgum was elected to serve as North Dakota’s 33rd Governor. In 2020, he was re-elected in a landslide. Under his leadership, North Dakota passed the largest tax cut in state history and dramatically reduced red tape.
As a testament to Burgum’s leadership, Forbes named him “America’s Best Entrepreneurial Governor.” During his tenure, North Dakota experienced the highest growth in real GDP and had the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
Burgum has three adult children. He is married to Kathryn Burgum, a nationally recognized advocate for addiction recovery.
Chris Wright
United States Secretary of Energy
Vice Chair, National Energy Dominance Council
Chris Wright is the 17th Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy. A self-described energy nerd turned entrepreneur, Chris is a dedicated humanitarian with a passion for bringing the benefits of energy to every community in the world. This passion has inspired a career in energy, working not only in oil and gas but nuclear, solar, and geothermal. As Secretary of Energy, Chris is focused on unleashing American energy dominance, accelerating innovation and advancing all energy sources that are affordable, reliable and secure for the American people.
Chris completed an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and graduate work in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley and MIT. He founded Pinnacle Technologies and served as CEO from 1992 to 2006. Pinnacle created the hydraulic fracture mapping industry, and its innovations helped launch commercial shale gas production in the late 1990s. Chris was Chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before selling to Range Resources in 2006. Most recently, Chris served as Chairman and CEO of Liberty Energy, where his team helped to expand the shale revolution to include oil as well as natural gas. Chris has also participated in an effort to apply shale technology to unlock next-generation geothermal and helped to launch small modular reactors.
Chris was nominated by President Trump to serve as the 17th Secretary of Energy on November 16, 2024 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 3rd, 2025. He grew up in Colorado and currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Liz. He is a passionate father, grandfather, skier, cyclist, climber, and outdoor enthusiast.
Lee Zeldin
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Lee Zeldin
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Lee Zeldin was sworn in as the 17th Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on January 29, 2025.
Administrator Zeldin has dedicated much of his life to public service. He served 22 years in the military, having deployed to Iraq in 2006 while serving as a paratrooper with the Army’s Elite 82nd Airborne Division. The Administrator retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve in May 2025. He also served in the New York State Senate from 2011-2014 before getting elected to Congress representing New York’s 1st District from 2015-2023.
Under Administrator Zeldin’s leadership, the Trump EPA launched the Powering the Great American Comeback initiative, focusing the agency’s work on its core mission while heeding the economic demands of the American people. In just his first 9 months on the job, Administrator Zeldin traveled to all 50 states to hear directly from the residents, business owners, and elected officials most impacted by agency policies.
On the 100th, 200th, and 300th days of President Trump’s term in office, Zeldin released lists of the top 100 environmental wins during each 100-day period. These include binational agreements with Mexico to urgently and permanently end the Tijuana River Sewage Crisis, the completion of a historic wildfire cleanup in Los Angeles in under 30 days, increasing water quality standards for the Delaware River Basin, cracking down on the import of illegal pesticides, and advancing land remediation.
At the same time, the Trump EPA is pursuing the largest deregulatory effort in American history, while also pursuing operational savings at the agency that now adds up to roughly $30 billion.
At just 23, Lee became the youngest attorney in New York State at the time.
Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Lee and his wife Diana are proud parents to their twin daughters, Mikayla and Arianna.
Ben Black
Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Development Finance Corporation
Ben Black
Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Development Finance Corporation
Ben Black serves as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 7, 2025.
He brings nearly two decades of success building businesses and managing a broad range of transactions bolstered by his extensive experience in international investment, leadership, and legal expertise. His knowledge of capital structure, financing, restructuring, and liability management is crucial to his role along with his commitment to advancing the corporation’s mission of fostering economic growth and strengthening U.S. foreign policy objectives through strategic investment.
Prior to joining DFC, Black was Founder and Managing Partner of Fortinbras Enterprises LP. While there, he led the firm’s strategy in identifying and advancing investment opportunities across the capital structure as well as strategic investments in various industries across the globe. Black previously served as Senior Portfolio Manager at Knowledge Universe Holdings managing liquid credit, private credit, and special situations investments. He also worked in private equity at Apollo Global Management and as an attorney focusing on corporate M&A at Sullivan & Cromwell.
Black is a former member of the Advisory Board at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership, served on the Global Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson Center, and has been a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also served on the board of the Naval War College Foundation. In honor of his grandfather, Ira Ressler, a highly decorated WWII veteran, he and his family founded the Black Family Fellowship to provide higher education financial support and professional opportunities to U.S. veterans and active-duty military.
Black holds a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University, an LLM in Taxation from New York University School of Law, and graduated cum laude with a BA in History from the University of Pennsylvania.
John Jovanovic
President and Chairman
Export - Import Bank of
the United States
John Jovanovic
President and Chairman
Export-Import Bank of the United States
Mr. Jovanovic serves as the President & Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He brings to EXIM extensive experience in financing, investing, and business building across energy and critical infrastructure industries within the private sector and U.S. government.
Prior to EXIM, Mr. Jovanovic served as Chief Strategy Officer at Asplundh, the largest provider of critical infrastructure services across North America. While there, he led the company’s growth initiatives and digital innovation while overseeing Corporate Development (including mergers and acquisitions) and External Affairs.
During his prior U.S. government service, Mr. Jovanovic was Regional Head and Managing Director for the Aegean & Western Balkans at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), America’s $60 billion development bank, opening DFC’s first ever overseas office. At DFC, he participated in countering Chinese and Russian malign influence by helping provide American-led financing alternatives in the region. He also led the implementation of President Trump’s historic Washington Agreements on Economic Normalization between Kosovo and Serbia.
Prior to his government service, Mr. Jovanovic was Investment Director at Mercuria Energy Group, where he managed investment and business building efforts across North and South America.
Mr. Jovanovic holds a degree in Politics from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with a double major in Finance and Management.
He is married and has four young children.
Thomas R. Hardy
Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer
U.S. Trade and Development Agency
Thomas R. Hardy
Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer
U.S Trade and Development Agency
Thomas R. Hardy serves as the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), performing the duties and responsibilities of the Agency’s Director. The Trump Administration appointed Mr. Hardy as USTDA’s Acting Director in January 2025, before he transitioned to his current role in November 2025. Mr. Hardy leads the Agency’s global efforts to advance high-quality infrastructure projects that strengthen U.S. national security, create export opportunities for U.S. goods and services, and support U.S. job creation. USTDA is the U.S. government’s first mover on critical infrastructure development abroad, advancing the shared strategic priorities of the United States and its overseas partners by deploying U.S. technological expertise.
He was previously appointed by President Trump to serve as USTDA’s Acting Director from 2017 to 2020, where he helped transform the Agency to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global environment. Mr. Hardy has also held multiple leadership positions at the Agency including Director of Policy and Program Management, Chief of Staff and Country Manager for the East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa regions.
Additional speakers will be announced soon.