Akiko serves as Executive Vice President in the firm’s Tokyo office. Ms. Kosuda brings extensive experience in the consumer, luxury brand and retail industries. She has successfully completed numerous C-level and other executive level assignments, and is also an expert in succession planning and executive assessment.

Prior to joining DHR International, Ms. Kosuda spent her professional career as an HR Vice President and/or a Country Head of HR at various global companies, such as British Airways, CIGNA, UK Prudential, and McDonald's.  Most recently Ms. Kosuda served as the HR Director for recruitment, succession planning, labor relations, performance management, assessment and selection, and organization development.  Within McDonald’s, Ms. Kosuda also established the women's leadership network in Asia as an executive member of the steering committee.  In addition to her HR roles, she served as chairman of the in-house health insurance association and expanded its membership throughout the franchisee's group.
 
Ms. Kosuda began her career at British Airways as a Reservation Executive and became the first female Sales Director in the airline industry, in Japan. In that role, she built relationships with major companies in all industries and as a result, she led her team to achieve the top market share.  As a part of British Airways global strategy, she was transferred to the HR function where she developed innovative HR practices and successfully introduced a global strategic HR management framework.  In 1999 she joined a 50/50 joint venture between US CIGNA and Sompo Japan where she was responsible for cross-cultural communication, recruitment, training & development, and benefit and compensation. Following the completion of the successful launch of the joint venture, she moved to UK Prudential as the HR Vice President, and established the HR and in-house University for the firm.
 
Along with her global HR management experiences, particularly people and organization development under the cross-cultural environment, she was capable of taking on challenges of business growth and development.  Her skills and experiences in assessment and selection of over 700 people adds value to the businesses of multinational companies.