JCIE USA is pleased to announce two new members of our Board of Trustees as of October 1, 2024, Ms. Lyric Hughes Hale and Mr. Andrew Saidel. JCIE USA Chair Peggy Blumenthal welcomed them, explaining, “We are excited to have both Lyric and Andy join the JCIE/USA Board. Andy spent many years in Japan and has a depth of experience in working at the intersection of business, technology, public health, and policy, while Lyric not only brings expertise on Japan and China, but also extensive experience achieving media impact.” She also noted that JCIE USA will benefit from the wide range of their connections to relevant stakeholders of US-Japan relations in the private and public sectors in various regions of the United States. “We look forward to working with both of them as we prepare to celebrate JCIE/USA’s 50th anniversary next year.”
Ms. Hale is editor-in-chief of EconVue, a publisher of independent economic news based in Chicago. She was founding publisher of China Online and has served as consultant to major US firms in Asia as director of research at Hale Strategic, focused on geopolitics and technology. With her husband David Hale, she co-authored What’s Next? Unconventional Wisdom on the Future of the World Economy for Yale University Press and articles on China for Foreign Affairs and many other publications. A writer, speaker, and frequent moderator, Ms. Hale is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and has studied in Iran, Europe, and Japan. She serves on the board of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bretton Woods Committee, and the Reform Club. She hosts a monthly podcast, The Hale Report® focused on global economic issues.
Mr. Saidel, who has served as president and CEO of Dynamic Strategies Asia since 1996, assists US, Japanese, Israeli, and European executives with business development, investment strategy, and alliance management across a variety of sectors. He first visited Japan in 1987 to study Japanese poetry and began his career as a policy aide to 21 members of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party. After returning to the United States, he consulted with the Institute for Defense Analyses and then worked as an analyst on East Asia in the US government. Mr. Saidel has served as a member of the first International Collaboration Advisory Council at the University of Tokyo, a member of the Administrative Advisory Council at RIKEN, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. He is currently a Trustee of the Japan-America Society of Washington DC. He earned a BA from Colgate University, a Certificate with Honors from Kansai University of Foreign Studies in Osaka, Japan, and an MA from Stanford University.
