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About - Our Team
Mark E. Foster
Mark E. Foster is a business attorney, corporate leader and C-Level officer operating domestically and internationally. Clients in Silicon Valley and worldwide rely on Mark’s vast business and legal knowledge, skill set, and experience. Mark has a proven track record as both inside and outside General Counsel. He’s a recognized leader to startups, law departments, inventors, businesses, and investors.
Mark is dedicated to being general counsel for tech startups and growing companies. In over a dozen companies, Mark’s been lawyer and management team member at every stage from founding through acquisition or public offering, and in several cases as GC after the IPO.
Mark’s been General Counsel to Silicon Valley public med tech companies (Natus Medical Inc.; Protocol Systems Inc.). For a decade he was President, General Counsel, and CFO of Volumetrics Medical Imaging LLC, inventor of real-time 3D ultrasound medical imaging. His leadership in planning & executing the largest global patent infringement enforcement campaign ever in the medical device sector produced a substantial return to inventors, employees, and investors including Duke University.
Mark’s solid leadership in Silicon Valley spans over three decades. As lawyer in Japan for the AEA and EIA, comprising the entire US high-tech & telecom Industries, Mark was the first US industry lobbyist in Japan. As Chairman of the Silicon Valley Association of General Counsel, Mark’s been commended for leadership by his peers, the General Counsel of publicly traded Silicon Valley companies.
Mark served with distinction as Special Counsel to the U.S. Embassy, Tokyo, and to four Presidential Administrations as a high-level international trade policy negotiator and adviser. His international trade policy and negotiating skills have earned him the respect of business and government leaders, clients, and peers in the U.S. and globally.
For a more expanded look at Mark’s career, download his full CV.
Education
Accolades
Publications
Lectures
Education
Education
- J.D., University of California Hastings College of Law of Law
- Japanese Language, University of California –Berkeley, California
- Japanese Language Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo
- Fellowship Recipient, Rockefeller Foundation/National Council of Churches. Geneva, Switzerland; Berlin, Germany; and Tokyo, Japan
- B.A., Alma College – Alma, Michigan
Accolades
Selected Accolades
- Appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative (Bush & Obama Administrations) to the Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC) representing the high-tech sector, advising them in formulating U.S. international trade policy. Read here.
- Silicon Valley Association of General Counsel, Award for Exceptional Support, Inspiration and Leadership by more than 100 GC’s of Silicon Valley public companies.
- American Law Institute Member. Nominated by former U. S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and U.C. Hastings Chancellor and Dean Mary Kay Kane. Read here.
- Special Counsel to the U. S. Embassy in Japan, appointed to Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige’s team (Reagan Administration). Trade lawyer in Japan for U.S. telecom, electronics, food products, medical device sectors. Read here.
- President of Trustees, U.C. Hastings School of Law 1066 Foundation from 2005-07.
- Letters of Commendation from Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige for work as Special Counsel advancing U. S. exports & eliminating trade barriers in Japan. Read here.
- Deloitte & Touche Northwest Real Estate Conference award for FDI.
- Distinguished Alumnus 2006, Alma College. Highest alumnus award given by undergraduate college in Alma, Michigan. Read here.
- Senior Fellow, Conference of World Regions, a forum for public and private sector leaders to exchange ideas on market-based economic development issues. CWR is endorsed by the OECD, the U.S. Council for International Business, the World Bank, the U.S. Council of State Governments, and the European Commission.
- Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Japan: former member, RCR Council (Radio Wave Regulations Council). First ever non-Japanese member.
- Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan: former member, INSTAC (Information Network Standardization Council). First ever non-Japanese member.
Publications
Select Publications
- A Guide to Mandatory Technical Standards and Product Certification Procedures under Japan’s Electrical Appliance Law, 1985, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce
- Japanese Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Certification and Procedures, 1984, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce
- Medical Device Certification in Japan: A Guidebook, 1985, published by U.S. Department of Commerce
- The Japanese Industrial Standards System: An American’s Viewpoint, 1994, published in the Meeting Notes of the Annual Quality Congress by the American Society for Quality Control.
- Mark Edward Foster, Analysis of the Newly Amended Commercial Code of Japan, 15 Case W. Res. J. Int’l L. 587 (1983).
- Numerous articles and treatises concerning Japan’s government regulatory system, technical standards and certification system, industrial policy, and various market sectors; published in East Asian Executive Reports; Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law; etc.
- Mark Foster’s research is cited extensively in academic literature and books by his teacher and mentor Professor Chalmers Johnson, including: MITI, MPT, and the Telecom Wars: How Japan Makes Policy for High Technology; and Politics and Productivity: The Real Story of Why Japan Works, by Chalmers Johnson and Laura Tyson, University of California Press.
Lectures
Selected Lectures and Presentations
- Republican National Lawyers Association 2007 Election Law School: Initiatives and Judicial Elections. Plenary Session Moderator, New Orleans, Louisana
- U.S. Department of Commerce, United States & Foreign Commercial Service and the University of Southern California IBEAR MBA program. Frequent lecturer on “Breaking Down the Barriers to Japan’s Market” at Asia-Pacific Forum, and “Doing Business in Japan” intensive graduate MBA classes.
- Conference of World Regions, Global Economic Forum, Brussels, Belgium. Keynote Speech: “Rise of Regions in the Global Economy – Telecommunications and Information Technologies: Enabling Global Entrepreneurship and Regional Economic Development”
- ISO (International Standardization Organization) and JSA (Japanese Standards Association) Joint Conference, Tokyo, Japan. Keynote Speech (in Japanese): “The Japanese Industrial Standards System from an American’s Standpoint.”
Akiko Foster
Akiko Foster manages the firm’s business. Akiko draws upon her remarkable set of achievements as Diplomat for Japan, engineering scholar at Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Accenture management consultant, and Japanese champion swimmer.
As a Diplomat for Japan, Akiko served as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Botswana. Akiko was public information and culture officer (diplomat) in charge of Japan’s official English language communications within Botswana. Akiko coordinated Japan’s bilateral and multilateral treaties with Botswana and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Regional Economic Community for southern Africa comprising 16 Member States. Akiko previously served as Consular Affairs Officer for the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit, Michigan, Japan’s largest Consular presence in the world by value of local investments.
Akiko was awarded a full fellowship to Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan; established 1827) producing her Master’s in Engineering thesis (in Swedish and English) on a novel management method to improve success of large-scale macro-engineering projects.
Akiko served as a Management Consultant at Accenture, handling major client projects in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Europe.
A world class swimmer and runner, Akiko holds the All-Tokyo Women’s 200-metre breaststroke record and swam with Japan’s National swim team during two Olympic cycles. Akiko is fluent in Japanese, English and Swedish and reads Spanish and Russian.
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