Yoshihiko Miyauchi
Global Innovator Brings Deregulation to Japan, Ichiro to America
In the summer of 1958, Yoshihiko Miyauchi arrived in San Francisco after a two-week voyage across the Pacific on a Japanese freighter. He was 22 years old, had just completed his undergraduate studies in Japan, and was setting foot in the US for the first time – on route to Seattle and the University of Washington Business School.
"I was astonished by the gap between America and Japan at that time," Miyauchi recalls, "even though my own country had been steadily rebuilding its economy since the end of the war. I was amazed by the freeways and the number of trucks and cars — and also by small things, like disposable tissue paper and myriad flavors of ice cream."
"But perhaps I was most surprised," Miyauchi laughs, "by the excellent English everyone spoke."
Miyauchi was encouraged to attend the University of Washington by his father, who had imported lumber from Seattle before the war and retained many friends in the region. He was the youngest member of his MBA class, one of the few without work experience, and the only Asian student, but Miyauchi threw himself into his studies.
Upon completing his MBA, Miyauchi returned to Japan and soon joined a small startup with just 13 employees, Orient Leasing Co. Ltd. (now ORIX Corporation), that helped pioneer the lease financing of machinery and industrial equipment for Japan's booming manufacturing base. The company expanded rapidly during the 1960s and '70s, diversifying the range of its products and services to include ships and aircraft, along with real estate finance and development. Miyauchi became president and CEO of ORIX in 1980, a position he held until assuming his present post as chairman and CEO in 2000. He has overseen the growth of ORIX into one of Japan's top corporations — an integrated financial services powerhouse with more than 15,000 employees and a reputation for innovation and providing exceptional value to shareholders.
Miyauchi credits his education at the UW Business School for management insights that helped shape his extraordinary career. "What I learned in class during my experience in an entirely foreign culture formed the foundation of my philosophy as a businessman," he says. "Rather than relying solely on the discipline and unchanging business practices typical of Japan, I saw that our companies could develop new areas of growth by seeking out untapped opportunities and creating new forms of value."
One of Miyauchi's more adventuresome business decisions was his company's purchase of a Japanese baseball team in 1988. The investment paid some unexpected dividends when the ORIX BlueWave, as the team is called, drafted a fourth-round pitcher out of high school in 1992 by the name of Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro became a superstar in Japanese baseball and now for the Seattle Mariners.
In addition to being one of Japan's top corporate leaders, Miyauchi is proud of his reputation as "Mr. De-regulation." He's a strong advocate of regulatory reform and serves as president of the Council for Promoting Regulatory Reform, an advisory board to the prime minister of Japan. He serves as a director on the boards of many major corporations. He also serves on the UW Business School's Advisory Board, and is one of a select group of Asian leaders that advise UW President Mark Emmert on developments in that region. Last fall, Miyauchi was given the prestigious Alumni Leadership Award by the UW Business School for his career achievements and community service.