Robert Walter Roche | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 7, 1962 Oak Lawn, IL |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Illinois State University, University of Denver |
| Occupation(s) | President, Roche Enterprises; CEO and Chairman, Acorn International |
Robert W. Roche is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist active in the U.S., China and Japan.
Roche grew up outside of Chicago, Illinois. He received his bachelor's degree in Economics and Japanese Studies from Illinois State University in 1985 and a J.D. degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 1988. [1] [2]
Robert Roche is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Acorn International Inc., a media and branding direct sales company based in Shanghai, China. He is also the co-founder, Executive Chairman, and President of Oak Lawn Marketing, Inc., a Japan-based company that engages in the TV home shopping business. [2] [3] Roche founded Oak Lawn Marketing in 1993 and helped it to become one of Japan’s major infomercial and direct marketing companies. [1] NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s dominant mobile carrier, acquired a 51% stake in the company in 2009. [4] [5]
In 2013, Roche co-founded IS Seafood, a company that imports Icelandic fish to China. [6] and also co-founded Cachet Hotel Group. The company is based in Hong Kong and was created with a focus on "building new distinctive hotel brands." [7] Under Roche, in 2014, Cachet acquired URBN Hotel in Shanghai [8] and JIA Shanghai. [9] [10] [11] Roche developed an award-winning golf and residential community in Hurricane, Utah. [12] and is developing a carbon-neutral manufacturing complex in Gallup, New Mexico.
Roche is a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and served as Chairman in 2010. [13] He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. [14] [15]
In September 2010, Roche was appointed by President Barack Obama as a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. [16]
Roche co-founded and serves on the board of trustees of Business Forward, an organization of business leaders that advise politicians on ways to accelerate the economy. [17] He also serves on the board of advisors of the Center for New American Security [18] and is Vice Chairman of the Quad Investors Network,a non-profit that facilitates investments, joint ventures, and licensing in emerging technologies across the Indo-Pacific.
In 2005, Roche endowed a chair at Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan, establishing The Roche Chair for Interreligious Research. [19] [20]
Roche founded the Roche Family Foundation, [17] which has supported organizations like U.S.-China Strong, an organization that works to strengthen U.S.-China relations through youth education and exchange programs. [21]
In 2010, he made a joint gift with the Roche Family Foundation of $3 million to the University of Denver Sturm College of Law to establish the Roche Family International Business Transactions Program. [19]
Starting in 1991, Robert became one of the organizers of the American Business Community Nagoya (ABCN), which later became the Chubu Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce Japan (ACCJ), and initiated the Nagoya Walkathon and International Charity Festival. [22] Roche has served as a trustee for the Center for American Progress [23] [24] and was listed as a supporter under the $100,000 to $499,999 category. [25] He also served on the board of directors of Cara Chicago. [26]
During 2010, Roche joined the board of Americans Promoting Study Abroad. [27]
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city proper with a population of 2.3 million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the third-most populous metropolitan area in Japan with a population of 10.11 million. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and most populous city of Aichi Prefecture, with the Port of Nagoya being Japan's largest seaport.
The Jin Mao Tower, also known as the Jinmao Building or Jinmao Tower, is a 420.5-meter-tall (1,380 ft), 88-story landmark skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, China. It contains a shopping mall, offices and the Grand Hyatt Shanghai hotel which starts from the 53rd floor, which at the time of completion was the highest hotel in the world. Along with the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower it is part of the Lujiazui skyline seen from the Bund. It was the tallest building in China from its completion in 1999 until 2007, when it was surpassed by the Shanghai World Financial Center which is located close by. The Shanghai Tower, a 128-story building located next to these two buildings, surpassed the height of both these buildings in 2015, creating the world's first trio of adjacent supertall skyscrapers.
The Bund is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River in the eastern part of Huangpu. The area along the river faces the modern skyscrapers of Lujiazui in Pudong. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. This region has a significant European influence, with the style of many structures most comparable to that of European cities, particularly Gothic, Baroque, Neoclassical, Romanesque, Art Deco, and Renaissance architecture. Additionally, some of the city's top eateries are located there. From the 1860s to the 1930s, it was the rich and powerful center of the foreign establishment in Shanghai, operating as a legally protected treaty port.
Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 and a geographic area of 5,172.92 square kilometres (1,997.28 sq mi) with a population density of 1,460 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,800/sq mi). Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture to the north, and Shizuoka Prefecture to the east. Nagoya is the capital and largest city of the prefecture.
James Wallace Heisig is a philosopher who specialises in the field of philosophy of religion. He has published a number of books on topics ranging from the notion of God in analytical psychology, the Kyoto School of Philosophy to contemporary inter-religious dialogue. His books, translations, and edited collections, which have appeared in 18 languages, currently number 90 volumes.
Chubu Centrair International Airport is an international airport on an artificial island in Ise Bay, Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture, 35 km (22 mi) south of Nagoya in central Japan. The airport covers about 470 hectares of land and has one 3,500m runway.
Spring Airlines Co., Ltd. is a low-cost carrier headquartered in Changning, Shanghai, China. While the company adopted the English name "Spring Airlines", the Chinese name literally means "Spring–Autumn Airlines."
The pharmaceutical industry is one of the leading industries in the People's Republic of China, covering synthetic chemicals and drugs, prepared Chinese medicines, medical devices, apparatus and instruments, hygiene materials, packing materials, and pharmaceutical machinery. China has the second-largest pharmaceutical market in the world as of 2017 which is worth US$110 billion. China accounts for 20% of the world's population but only a small fraction of the global drug market. China's changing health-care environment is designed to extend basic health insurance to a larger portion of the population and give individuals greater access to products and services. Following the period of change, the pharmaceutical industry is expected to continue its expansion.
The Astor House Hotel, known as the Pujiang Hotel (浦江饭店) in Chinese from 1959–2018, was described as once "one of the famous hotels of the world". Established in 1846 as Richards' Hotel and Restaurant (礼查饭店) on The Bund in Shanghai, it was located at 15 Huangpu Lu, Shanghai, near the confluence of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek in the Hongkou District, near the northern end of the Waibaidu (Garden) Bridge, from 1858 on. The hotel closed on 1 January 2018, after being purchased by an undisclosed local business. It was converted to the China Securities Museum, which opened in December 2018.
The University of Hawaiʻi Press is a university press that is part of the University of Hawaiʻi.
Nanzan University is a private, Catholic and coeducational higher education institution run by the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) in the Shōwa Ward of Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious private universities in the Chūbu region.
Aichi University is a private university in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Its campuses are located in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Toyohashi and Higashi-ku, Nagoya.
Okura Hotels & Resorts is an international hotel chain with locations mainly in Japan. The original Hotel Okura opened in Tokyo in 1962. The Okura Hotels & Resorts worldwide chain includes Okura Hotels in, among other places, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Honolulu, Macau, Bangkok and Taipei. Okura Hotels also owns the Hotel JAL City and Hotel Nikko chains.
The Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture is one of the largest centers in the world devoted to scholarly research on the interface of philosophy and religions within the East and West. Founded in 1976 on the campus of Nanzan University, it has established itself in Japan and around the world as a center of academic excellence through its publications, conferences, and team of permanent researchers.
Shanghai Tower is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073 ft) megatall skyscraper located in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai. It is the tallest building in China and the world's third-tallest building by height to architectural top. It is the tallest and largest LEED Platinum certified building in the world since 2015. It had the world's fastest elevators at a top speed of 20.5 meters per second until 2017, when it was surpassed by the Guangzhou CTF Finance Center, with its top speed of 21 meters per second. Designed by the international design firm Gensler and owned by the Shanghai Municipal Government, it is the tallest of the world's first triple-adjacent supertall buildings in Pudong, the other two being the Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Its tiered construction, designed for high energy efficiency, provides nine separate zones divided between office, retail and leisure use. The US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat cites it as "one of the most sustainably advanced tall buildings in the world."
URBN Hotel Shanghai is a boutique hotel located in Jing'an District in Shanghai, China. It is the first "carbon neutral hotel" in China: to be declared such, it is a part of the Cachet Hotel Group.
Enderun Colleges is a private non-sectarian undergraduate college situated at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Legoland Japan Resort is a theme park in Nagoya, Japan. Opening on 1 April 2017, it was the first Legoland theme park in Japan and the second in Asia, and the eighth worldwide. Upon opening, the park was projected to attract over two million visitors every year.
Cachet Hospitality Group (CHG) is a lifestyle branding and management company based in New York.
Duncan Ryūken Williams is a scholar, writer, and Soto Zen Buddhist priest who is currently professor of religion and East Asian languages and cultures at the University of Southern California. He also serves as the director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture. His research focuses on Zen Buddhism, Buddhism in America, and the mixed-race Japanese (hapa) experience.