Akira Kawashima has more than 20 years experience in the telecommunications sector, with international business development activities spanning firms across US and Europe such as France Telecom. Mr. Kawashima was AT&T Japan's (later spun-off as Lucent Technologies) business unit head and was instrumental in making it the leading solution provider in a highly competitive call centre market. He was also a country Manager/President for Rockwell International Consumer and Managing Director/President for a GPS start-up SnapTrack (acquired by Qualcomm).

Mr. Kawashima earned a Bachelor of Arts (Law) from Gakushuin University (Japan.)