Hirofumi Katase

Hirofumi Katase currently serves as Executive Vice Chairman, Director General of Industrial Science and Technology, and a member of the Board of Directors of I-Pulse since December 2017. Mr. Katase is also President of I-Pulse Japan Co., Ltd., I-Pulse’s operating subsidiary in Japan, since January 2018. Prior to these roles, he most recently served as Japan’s Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of the Economy, Trade, and Industry (“METI”) from June 2016 to July 2017. He held numerous management positions in trade, energy, and industrial policy at METI since joining in 1982. During his time at METI, Mr. Katase served in multiple Director General positions, including for the Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau and Trade Policy Bureau, where he led efforts that contributed to the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, among other international agreements. He also was previously Deputy Secretary-General of the Secretariat of Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy at the Cabinet Office, where he helped establish the Office of National Space Policy — the headquarters responsible for Japan’s development of space policy and deployment of space infrastructure. He also was Director of the Oil and Natural Gas division at METI, where he led Japan’s upstream hydrocarbon policy for four years. Also at METI, he was Director of the Aerospace and Defense Industry division where he worked on launching the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) program and cultivated international partnerships for the development of aircraft and aircraft engines. He has been a director of MinebeaMitsumi, a manufacturing company, since June 2021. Mr. Katase earned a Bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Tokyo and a Master’s degree in applied economics from the University of Michigan. Mr. Katase resides in Kanagawa, Japan.