Hirofumi Katase currently serves I-Pulse as Executive Vice Chairman, Director General of Industrial Science and Technology, and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Katase is also President and CEO of G-Pulse and I-Pulse Japan, I-Pulse’s operating subsidiary in Japan.

He most recently served as Japan’s Vice Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) since June 2016. He held numerous management positions in trade, energy, and industrial policy at METI since joining in 1982. During his time at METI, Mr. Katase held multiple Director General positions, including for the Trade Policy Bureau and Industrial Science and Technology and Environment Bureau, where he was responsible for the government industrial technology policy and the decarbonization of the economy.

He previously served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Secretariat of Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy at the Cabinet Office, where he led the establishment of the Office of National Space Policy – the headquarters responsible for Japan’s planning and execution of Japanese space policy, as well as the development and deployment of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, a Japanese global positioning satellite system. He was also Director of the Oil and Natural Gas Division at METI, where he oversaw Japan’s upstream hydrocarbon policy for four years. Additionally, at METI, he was Director of the Aerospace and Defense Industry Division, where he worked on launching the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) program and cultivated international partnerships for the development of aircraft and aircraft engines.

Mr. Katase earned a Bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Tokyo and a Master’s degree in applied economics from the University of Michigan.