Mark Kennedy - Profile and Journalist Details
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Mark Kennedy
Verified
Contributor, Japan Insider
Japan
Beats
Biography
Based in Japan, Mark is currently the Country Head - Business Development, Nexdigm, Japan. Nexdigm is an employee-owned, independent, global organization serving clients from more than 50 countries. Harnessing multifunctional and digital capabilities across Business Services and Professional Services, Nexdigm provides customers with integrated solutions navigating complex challenges. From 1993 until 2019 Mark held various positions of increasing responsibility at global healthcare manufacturer Hollister Incorporated in Chicago and its wholly owned subsidiary in Japan, Hollister Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, which Mark helped to establish in 1996. Mark worked in sales, marketing and general management while spending approximately half of his career as a line manager in Japan. As general manager in Japan he had full P & L responsibility and oversaw every aspect of the business including sales, marketing, HR, finance, logistics and quality assurance. Mark also held product management and product portfolio management positions in Global Marketing with worldwide responsibility where he helped to manage new product introductions, product life-cycle and product rationalization. Before Hollister and after completing a year-long Fulbright grant at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, Mark worked as an executive assistant to the president of Nikken Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Corporation, which is a leading construction equipment rental service in Japan. Mark is a 2007 graduate of the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.A. where he earned an MBA with a focus on healthcare. Mark is a 1990 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, U.S.A. where he earned a BA in both History and the Japanese language. During college Mark was an exchange student at both Waseda University and Nichibeikaiwagakuin in Tokyo where he studied intensive Japanese. Mark speaks business level Japanese and intends to remain in Japan indefinitely where he has lived for a total of more than 20 years. He writes weekly in English for the on-line media resource Japan Insider (https://japaninsider.com/) and founded the Real Gaijin Substack (https://realgaijin.substack.com) for which he typically writes about business-related issues, the unique culture of Japan and travel. Mark is passionate about hiking, bicycle touring and marine sports—particularly sailing and windsurfing. He documents his sporting excursions via Country Roads Japan (https://www.countryroadsjapan.com) and his two YouTube channels called Country Roads Japan (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtR7l2eZlPKH7uPPNkC2Mw) and Coastal Sailing Japan (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4yloIcq_MvOJspqQKqTXvg).
and working in japan.commentary and analysis from the perspective of a long-term expat with 30+ years living studying
Sports, entertainment, the Kardashians.
Content
Company Info
Japan Insider
Insider Insight to Japan: Japan Insider is a Tokyo-based media platform that provides an up-to-date flow of unique news and cultural insights into what's happening in Japan today.
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