Makoto Utsumi is president and chief executive officer of Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd in Tokyo. He was previously president at the Japan Center for International Finance from 2001 to 2004, and was a professor in the Faculty of Business and Commerce of Keio University in Tokyo, Japan from 1992 to 2000. Mr. Utsumi also worked for Japan's Ministry of Finance from 1957 to 1991 and held various positions including director general of the International Finance Bureau and vice minister of finance for international affairs. He also served as minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC, USA. During his career with the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Utsumi represented the Japanese government in various international negotiations including G7 meetings, the preparation of the Plaza Accord, US-Japan Structural Impediment Initiative, and the Latin American Debt Problem in the late 1980s. Mr. Utsumi graduated from the University of Tokyo with a B.A. in law in 1957.