Team Voice4u

Yumi Kubo

Yumi is founder and CEO of Spectrum Visions. Before founding the company, she has enthusiastically help community IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan), IEP (Individual Educational Program) and IET (Individual Educational Transition). Kubo also started several social groups to support children with development delays as well as did numerous public lectures in Japan and the U.S. She loves cooking, wine tasting, running 5-K race, and kids’ smiles. She was also introduced in San Jose Mercury News, “Autism Mystery – Family Finds Hope Silicon Valley”.

Also check out how she came up with Voice4u in the first place.

Sei Higuchi, Ph.D.

Sei is Head of Engineering for Voice4u. He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics & Astronautics from Stanford University in 2009. At Stanford, he developed complex computing algorithms to hold temperature variations as low as microkelvin (1 in 1,000,000) and experimentally demonstrated. While he was a Ph.D. student, he participated to numerous activities to support autism community. Immediately after completing his Ph.D., he joined Spectrum Visions and started developing the Voice4u AAC application, which won the Grand Prize on Android Application Award 2010-11 Winter. His primary responsibility at Spectrum Visions is leading the Voice4u development team and numerical analysis to provide superb user experience to our customers.

Sei received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Waseda University, Japan, MS & Ph.D in Aeronautics & Astronautics from Stanford University.

Edwin C. Duerr, Ph.D.

Edwin C. Duerr is the Advisor of Spectrum Visions. He is a Professor Emeritus, San Francisco State University, and co-author of Albaum and Duerr, International Marketing and Export Management, 7th Edition (Prentice Hall/Financial Times 2011). He holds a BS in Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, an MS in International Business from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in Business Administration (International Business) from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught international business at graduate institutions in Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the U.S., and has been a consultant for businesses in the U.S. and Denmark. He and his wife, Mitsuko, ran a successful importing company in San Francisco for 29 years.

Mitsuko S. Duerr, Ph.D.

Mitsuko Saito Duerr is the Advisor of Spectrum Visions. She is President of Satsuki-kai, Inc., was Director (now retired), U.S.-Japan Institute, San Francisco State University. She holds a BA from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, an MA in International Business from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in Business Administration from Golden Gate University. She served as one of 15 commissioned study members on a three-year study of Women’s Workplace Issues in Japan, the Philippines, and the U.S., visiting each country three times and making presentations in each. She has taught International Marketing at a graduate institution in Japan, and has given guest lectures in Spain, the UK, Hong Kong, Germany, the Philippines, and the U.S. She developed and taught the first regularly-offered university course on “Japanese Business Practice” in the U.S.

Koji Osawa, Ph.D.

Dr. Koji Osawa is the Advisor of Spectrum Visions. He is Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Global Catalyst Partners (“GCP”). GCP is a venture capital fund established in July 1999. They invest primarily in early stage companies active in the areas of IT sector. GCP has established three funds with a total amount of over $300M. GCP has offices in U.S. and Japan.

Dr. Osawa has extensive business development and investment experience in high tech industries in Japan, U.S. and Asian countries since 1985 while employed at Mitsubishi Corporation, the largest trading firm in the world. Dr. Osawa was Division Manager of Mitsubishi International Corporation from 1993 though 1999. During this period he invested in several private companies and arranged a wide range of strategic agreements with Japanese companies to the tune of several hundred million dollars of business per year.

Dr. Osawa also serves as Director of the Board of several NPOs, Global Catalyst Foundation, Digital Divide Data, Japanese Technology Professionals Association and Keizai Society.

Dr. Osawa received a BS in Electronics from Keio University, Japan and Ph.D. in Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan.