Sam is an serial entrepreneur, designer and inventor with a perennial curiosity about how best design and business practices can help turn ideas into successful brands. Prior to founding Diligent Rocket, Sam was the founder and CEO of Mindjot, an angel-funded mobile marketing startup in NYC based around an innovation he patented. Before that, he lived for 10 years in Tokyo and ran international communications for Japan’s largest brain science institute, including leading the organization’s successful rebranding efforts.

His master's thesis, titled Managing a New Basic Science: A dynamic model for moving towards pareto-optimal innovative output through strategic integration of multiple climates, based on interviews at fifteen of the world's top research institutes, helped define the institute's renewed interest in the links between innovation and internationalization.  Prior to that, Sam was the founder and President of HAI Development Services, which was an educational training and consulting company in Tokyo that worked with clients such as Toray, Asahi, and Mizuho Bank, as well as a number of prominent intellectual property firms.

Sam has a BS in Finance from Cal State Sacramento and an MBA in International Business from the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal. He also has additional graduate studies in entrepreneurship and visual art at the MFA Designer as Author Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and innovation at MIT. In his off time, Sam splits his time between sailing, snowboarding and triathlons and recently finished his first ironman. When he's not buying more books, he also tries to read the ones he has and writes and speaks about design and entrepreneurship, guest lecturing at institutions such as the Pratt Institute and American University.

A Toronto native, Ken has 25 years experience, 15 internationally, in creating, growing and managing a variety of businesses. Most recently as Japan's Country Manager and Representative Director for InterfaceFLOR, he lead the organization’s successful turnaround and brand development efforts. Ken’s experience includes sustainability, design, architecture, and construction, as well as retail, manufacturing, hospitality, B2B, and B2C markets. His excellence in corporate strategy, sales, marketing, and people management have made him a go-to person for clients including 20th Century Fox, Disney, VISA, Saatchi & Saatchi, and various financial institutions. He has an MBA in International Business from McGill University and spends his time between Tokyo and Bali.

Joseph is a designer, educator, and entrepreneur with a focus on using design and technology to help people communicate better. 

Joseph has spent his career working at some of the worlds leading branding and design firm such as Pentagram, Siegel + Gale, and McCann Erickson. There he created, managed, and implemented extensive branding programs for a range of domestic and international clients including global corporations, government agencies, cultural institutions, and tech start-ups. With his global experience he has helped companies in diverse fields like biotech, government, education, cultural institutions, telecommunications, transportation, health care, renewable energy, media, banking, law, software, and search technology. 

Joseph received his BFA in Graphic Design from Indiana University. He attended graduate school at The School of Visual Arts in New York City where he earned a MFA in Design.

 Joseph is on the faculty at New York University and Queens College, where he teaches design courses on topics like branding, interaction and interface design, user experience, and design presentation. He lectures across the country on topics like the tangible vs. intangible, intuitive design research, and branding in the 21st century.

Prof. Michael Miller is President of Tokyo-based, MILLER TAKEMOTO & PARTNERS (MTP), a consultancy partnership in medicine and bioscience training and communications, and teaches in the University of Tokyo postgraduate departments of medicine and biology. After reading English & European literature with Italian as an undergraduate, Michael Miller joined the Royal College of Art, London, where he studied design education for an MA(RCA).

A growing interest in the design bases of neurological systems, based originally on study of renaissance anatomical drawing, led via the Open University to research at the University of Oxford in the laboratory of physiology and department of human anatomy. He was a Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, from 1991-1996, senior tutor and dean of a postgraduate institute in Japan, from 1991-1995, and carried out research as a JSPS Fellow on animal-human homology before moving to the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI), Japan, in 1998. In association with the Exploratorium, San Francisco, he designed a public museum for BSI, BrainBox, which opened in 2001. He was senior adviser to the institute before leaving in 2005 and setting up the MTP partnership.

In addition to postgraduate teaching and consultancy work Michael Miller is a professional artist. He held a first exhibition in London in 1977 at the AIR Gallery, Shaftesbury Avenue, and continues to show work on a regular basis in Tokyo.

Berkeley comes to us with a nearly 20 year history of work in strategy, planning, marketing research, and competitive intelligence. He has worked at both an executive level with Fortune 500 companies as well as serving on the front lines as an interviewer and as a political pollster. He holds both an Economics degree and an MBA in Finance from McGill University in Montreal. He continues to serve McGill as an advisor to their MBA program.

During the past few years Berkeley returned to the vendor side of business working for Harris Interactive (HPOL) and TNS-Kantar (WPP). Here he focused on servicing clients more immediate business needs and bridging the gap between the traditional l research model and the more perceptive forward looking insights clients are looking for. In this regard, he created and trained new teams at both employers performing this function. In addition, he created a highly profitable and industry leading insurance segment at TNS and while at Harris he created a lucrative consumer electronic and video gaming group.

Over the years some of his research clients have included; Microsoft, Google, PayPal, Electronic Arts, Sega, Levis, StateFarm, Farmer’s, Allstate, Geico, Mass Mutual, The Hartford, Fidelity, Citibank, Citibank Private Banking, JP Morgan, Ameriprise, State Street, John Hancock, William Jones, Credit Suisse, Jardine Fleming, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Avaya, Monster, Microsoft, AMEX, Visa, MasterCard, Ford, GM, Saturn, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, and Mitsubishi.

Scott has 25 years of experience in IT infrastructure, project management, and consulting having led multiple large-scale engagements for P&G and EDS. He also brings strategic startup experience having helped develop several projects in the online space. Some of the projects he managed include: built and transitioned Deutsche Bank Y2K and EMU Tokyo Project Management Office; developed the market plan to drive EDS’ entry into the Japanese life insurance policy administration market by leveraging the Canadian subsidiary, Solcorp; managed the help desk for the General Motors and Delphi accounts; led the Cross-Platform Services team for the GM Asia Pacific-wide outsourcing proposal; served as a Business Continuity Consultant for the Merrill Lynch account; and led several pursuit teams as the Business Development Manager, including proposals for complete IT outsourcing across 5 Asian countries for Otis, Carrier and Pratt & Whitney; for complete desktop outsourcing for Ericsson Japan, and for installing cell-phone-based communications in Coca-Cola Japan’s 902,500 vending machines.

Scott holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of South Florida College of Engineering, where he served as the President of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, the Vice-President of the IEEE Computer Society. He also has an MBA in Finance and International Business from McGill University in Montreal.

Masato has over 30 years experience in marketing and has held senior positions with some of the world's largest companies including Unilever, Buena Vista, and Warner. After graduating from Japan's Gakushuin University in 1975, Masato held a number of positions in marketing before moving to Unilever. There, as brand manager of the shampoo Timotei, he was instrumental in making it the No. 1 shampoo in the Japanese market. Subsequently, he held senior level marketing positions at Phillip Morris Japan, Avia Japan, and United Brands (Chiquita) before turning his sights to the entertainment industry.

Masato served as Executive Director of Buena Vista and then became Managing Director of Warner Vision Japan, a division of AOL / Time Warner. In his time at Warner, Masato led the introduction of DVDs into the Japanese music video market and helped increase sales for the company 8 fold during his time as MD. Masato also has his own consultancy business specializing in advice on market entry, market analysis, and joint-venture introductions. www.sigma-international.net

In his free time Masato likes going skiing with his family or hanging out in his custom built home theatre listening to the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, and many other classics.