CEO Carlos Ghosn: How Nissan Grows Despite Global Financial Turmoil and Natural Disasters

The New Normal – Driving Change Through Crisis

 

Thursday, November 17, 2011, Noon, at Japan Society

危機を乗り越えての変革～カルロス・ゴーン氏をお迎えして～
 

New York, NY – Natural disasters, currency fluctuations, supply chain disruptions and hyper competitiveness are no longer reserved just for crisis anymore; they are the new normal. As the world’s number two Japanese automotive manufacturer, Nissan has learned to drive change through myriad challenges and not only survive—but thrive.

 

In The New Normal – Driving Change Through Crisis, Nissan’s president and CEO Carlos Ghosn discusses how the company has operated through several years of crisis—from the “Lehman shock” to natural disasters that have included earthquakes and tsunami and now the Thai floods. Moderated by Wilbur Ross, Chairman & CEO, WL Ross & Co., LLC, and Japan Society Chairman, the discussion takes place Thursday, November 17 at Japan Society.

 

Agenda: Noon, registration and reception; 12:30, luncheon; 1-2 lecture and Q&A

 

Admission: $65 lunch and lecture/$15 lecture only. Japan Society Corporate Members are entitled to a designated number of FREE admissions based on their company's membership level. Discounted rates are available for additional Japan Society Corporate Members, certain individual members, government officials and academics. To register or for more information, please email register@japansociety.org, visit www.japansociety.org/corporateevents, or call 212-715-1208.

 

Throughout the tumult of recent years Nissan has had the added complication of a strong yen and stiff competition across the globe. Yet the company continues to experience profitable growth and has laid out an ambitious mid-term plan called “Nissan Power 88,” which aims for 8 percent global market share and 8 percent return-on-sales by 2016.

 

Carlos Ghosn is the president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., a global automotive company with more than 200,000 employees and $70 billion in revenue. Mr. Ghosn joined the company as its chief operating officer in June 1999, became its president in June 2000 and was named chief executive officer in June 2001. He was named president and chief executive officer of Renault in May 2005 in addition to his current responsibilities at Nissan. In May 2009 he was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault. As head of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Ghosn is responsible for two separate companies with a combined annual global sales of 6 million vehicles.

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. is Chairman and CEO, WL Ross & Co. and Chairman, Invesco Private Capital. Ross has assisted in restructuring more than $200 billion of corporate liabilities. Well known as a skilled negotiator and as an expert in the bankruptcy process, he Ross has worked on a variety of complex bankruptcy proceedings in a broad range of industries. In 1999, President Kim Dae Jung awarded Mr. Ross a medal for his help during Korea's 1998 financial crisis.  He is a former Chairman of the Smithsonian National Board.  Earlier, President Clinton had appointed him to the Board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund, and he served as privatization advisor to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Ross serves on the Executive Committee of the New York City Partnership and is a member of the Chairman’s Circle of the U.S.-India Business Council.  He is a member of the Business Roundtable and a Board member of the Yale University School of Management, which has presented him with its Legend of Leadership Award.  He is also a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. In 2010, Ross was appointed Chairman of Japan Society’s Board of Directors.

 

Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a world-class, multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd St.) For further information call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.

 

With support from Citigroup Inc.; Deloitte; Mizuho Securities USA; United Airlines; Toyota Motor North America; and WL Ross & Co., LLC.

 

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Media Contacts:

Shannon Jowett, 212-715-1205, sjowett@japansociety.org

Kuniko Shiobara, 212-715-1249, kshiobara@japansociety.org