Michael King

Mr. King first set foot in Japan in 1987 when he served as a missionary in Hokkaido for two years before returning to the United States to complete his undergraduate degree in Business (BS) from Brigham Young University in 1992. Following graduation he worked as a legal, compliance and settlement analyst for Morgan Stanley in Japan for three years before enrolling at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business to major in Finance. Mr. King joined Thomas White International as a Japanese equity analyst while he was earning his MBA at the University of Chicago and continued to work there after graduation in 1997. In order to have the opportunity to engage with Japanese management more frequently, Mr. King moved to Liberty Wanger Asset Management to cover the Japanese small/mid-cap equity market. While working for the Acorn Funds and managing over $600 million, Mr. King developed a strong expertise in running Japanese small-cap equity portfolios and emerged as one of the premier Japan portfolio managers by displaying a strong ability to discover unloved and undervalued smaller-cap Japanese securities and to help companies identify their core strengths and areas for improvement. Over the course of his frequent visits to Japan, Mr. King met with the senior management teams of hundreds of small and mid-cap companies and was able to glean valuable insights into Japanese corporate culture and the competitive landscape in Japan. Mr. King was also able to establish relationships with senior management of many Japanese corporations.