Mike Tatsugawa (born 1968) is a Japanese-American CEO of Pacific Media Association, the parent organization which produces Pacific Media Expo (PMX). [1] [2]
He was one of the four founders of Cal-Animage Alpha (CAA) at the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.[ citation needed ] Tatsugawa was the chairman of AnimeCon in 1991, the event that later evolved into Anime Expo. [3] In 1992 he founded Anime Expo and the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the non-profit behind the convention where he was CEO. [4] [5] [6] [7] He chaired his last Anime Expo in 2000. [5] While CEO of SPJA, Anime Expo added another event in New York City. [8]
In 2003, Tatsugawa voiced concerns over SPJA's finances and staff conflicts of interest. [5] SPJA strongly denied these claims and retained attorneys. [9] [10] Tatsugawa resigned from Anime Expo in 2004 and founded Pacific Media Expo, the first large North American Asian-Pacific pop culture convention. [1] [4] [11]