110th Anniversary “Award of Honor Gala” & Concert

October 17, 2015

Awarding Marc Benioff, Haruo Murase and Nobuyuki Tsujii

This year the Japan Society of Northern California (JSNC) celebrated its 110^th Anniversary. It all began with a San Mateo attorney Henry Pike Bowie, Stanford University president David Starr Jordan, and San Francisco Consul Kisaburo Ueno, who founded the Japan Society on October 7, 1905 to spread knowledge about Japan and promote U.S.-Japan cooperation.

On October 17, 2015, JSNC held its 110th Anniversary “Award of Honor Gala” & Concert in San Francisco, California. JSNC recognized two exceptional global business leaders with the Award of Honor: Mr. Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce and Mr. Haruo Murase, Chairman of Canon Marketing Japan Inc. This award is our Society’s way of recognizing the tremendous personal achievements of our honorees in the service of this most important of bilateral relationships, and the very special relationship between Japan and the U.S., and especially the state of California. We also featured a performance with world renowned pianist and composer Nobuyuki Tsujii, winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

The Recipients

Award of Honor

Marc Benioff
Chairman & CEO
Salesforce

Award of Honor

Haruo Murase
Chairman
Canon Marketing
Japan Inc.

Pianist

Nobuyuki Tsujii
Van Cliburn
Gold Medal Winner

Schedule

Nobuyuki Tsujii Piano Concert | 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Award of Honor Gala
Cocktail Reception & Silent Auction | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Dinner, Live Auction & Awards Presentation | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Venue

Piano Recital
- Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102
- Parking and directions to the Herbst Theater

Award of Honor Gala
- The Palace Hotel, 2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California, 94105
- Parking and Directions to The Palace Hotel

Award of Honor Recipient: Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff is chairman and CEO of Salesforce. A pioneer of cloud computing, Benioff founded Salesforce in 1999 and revolutionized the enterprise software world with new models for technology, business, corporate philanthropy and management. Under his visionary leadership, Salesforce has grown from a groundbreaking idea into the fastest growing top ten software company in the world and the #1 CRM platform.

Award of Honor Recipient: Haruo Murase

Haruo Murase has been the Chairman of the Board of Canon Marketing Japan Inc. since March 2009 after serving the President for 10 years. Prior to this, he had been in North America for more than 28 years at Canon USA and Canada respectively. From 1993 through 1999 he was the President & CEO of Canon USA Inc. where he was responsible for Canon’s business for North & South America as well as the Caribbean Markets. Since 1991 till 2001, he also was the Director of Canon Inc., the parent company. He graduated from Keio University, Tokyo, in Economics Degree.

Pianist: Nobuyuki Tsujii

Blind since birth, Nobuyuki Tsujii was joint Gold Medal winner at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. An inspirational musician with a formidable technique and a natural gift for pianistic colour, he has earned international recognition for the passion and excitement he brings to his live performances. Nobu has given recitals in major cities across North America including Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in New York, Washington D.C, Boston, Vancouver and he frequently appears at Europe’s most prestigious venues including London’s Royal Albert Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie.