Invited Speakers

Dr. Okada obtained his Ph.D. in sociology of economic development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in1981. In 1994 he was appointed as a professor of the Department of Comparative Culture (now Faculty of Liberal Arts) of Sophia University. In 2002 he became Director of the Institute of Comparative Culture, and in 2009 the Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Dr. Okada is actively involved in various international activities with organizations such as the World Bank and the UN University. He is also involved in a comparative research project on Japan, the United States and Europe at the University of Wisconsin. Since 2002 he has been an editorial board member of the Socio-Economic Review published by Oxford University Press. Since 1997 he has been conducting the "Business and Development" seminar annually at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID). In the past he has also held seminars on a range of other topics, such as "Cooperation between Companies and NGOs" and "CSR and Development" for trainees from companies, NGOs, and aid organizations. He currently conducts a seminar entitled "Corporations and the Eradication of Poverty (Base Of Pyramid)" which includes on-site study in the Philippines, and India as part of the program. He is also involved in various research and educational activities as a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, Cambridge University and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, Max Plank Institutes in Germany (Cologne), Carleton University and the University of Victoria in Canada, Helsinki School of Economics and Business in Finland, the University of Indonesia, and De La Salle University and the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines. Dr. Okada also publishes numerous papers in both Japanese and English.