Masayoshi Shimizu, Distinguished Alumni 2000
In 1973, Mr. Shimizu took over his family's industrial furnace factories in Japan. Since that time, he has capitalized on new technologies found around the world to improve titanium nitrate coating applications and other manufacturing processes and operate successfully in locations as seemingly disparate as Taiwan and Garland, Texas.
Mr. Shimizu completed the UTD Executive MBA pro-gram in 1996, while commuting between Tokyo and Dallas. He later hosted a group of EMBA students and UTD faculty on a trip to Japan and Hong Kong. The arrangements he provided included tours to local businesses, meals with local dignitaries, and social events.
"In our EMBA class, Masayoshi was the most seasoned executive in the group and made a real contribution by sharing Japanese culture with the class," says former EMBA director Mr. Fowler. "The quality of our trip to Japan was really based on his network of contacts, and he worked with some of the other EMBA students to put together a dynamite itinerary."
Mr. Shimizu lives in Garland and keeps his eye on new manufacturing processes. The latest is a French technology that improves the surface hardness and toughness of steel in half the time and without the detrimental environmental impact of methods most often used.
The education Mr. Shimizu received at UTD has helped him in his business ventures. "I found out the way to communicate, especially in business. My career has been drastically changed because of the classes." (For more on Mr. Shimizu, see "Beyond Borders," Management Volume 2, No. 1 Autumn 1998, 24-27.)
-- Management Vol. 3 No. 2 Spring 2000, by Laura Schieber
