Greetings from Outside Director Ayumi Furui

Director Ayumi Furui

Transition from Systems Engineering to Operations Management

I currently work for Google as a partner manager, and I take care of operations strategy formulations for the company. Since I started my career, I have always been interested in working for a small-sized companies where I could take on a bigger role. After working as a systems engineer for a financial company, I transitioned to the technology industry. And when I joined Google, it was still a small-sized company, and many of us played multiple roles to support rapidly growing business.

I got to know about Ito Corporation when I was a student at Columbia Business School in New York. There were only two Japanese students in our class; the other Japanese classmate was Mr. Ito, who is now the CEO of Ito Corporation. He told me of his passion to lead business transformation for the company with 60+ years of history, and I found his vision fascinating. Later, the company reached out to me with an offer to be a part of the Ito team, and I happily accepted. That is how I became an outside director for the company back in 2013.

Investment in Human Resources

My role as an outside director is to provide unbiased options to the Ito Corporation's management team so I can make sure that the company's management team is doing what is good for the company, its employees, and customers. I also ensure effective corporate governance at Ito Corporation, so the company can control risks, assure business compliance and achieve its long-term goals. In many companies, the most important resource is its employees. This is especially true for a trading company where the staff's services create value for the customers. I think it is important for Ito Corporation to continue its investment in human resources.

Each employee's growth will drive Ito Corporation's evolution

To continue to grow its business, Ito Corporation needs to evolve in the ever-changing business environment. The company's management team believes that providing an environment for employees to continue to grow and perform their best is the key driver for such evolution. For this reason, on top of investing in it's human resources development, Ito Corporation also fosters a company culture that empowers employees to perform their best regardless of gender, age, tenure, or nationality.