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Robert Roche is an entrepreneur, attorney and investor who has been an active business and civic leader in China, Japan and the U.S. for more than 30 years. Roche is the founder and President of Roche Enterprises, an organization that invests in consumer sectors, real estate, energy, logistics and a broad range of industries in the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific. He co-founded Oak Lawn Marketing in Japan in 1993, and currently serves as the company’s Executive Chairman and President. Robert Roche is also the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Acorn International, a major media and branding company in China. Roche is a leading entrepreneur and investor in China, and his portfolio includes URBN Hotel Shanghai, China’s first carbon-neutral hotel, Cachet Hotel Group, an international hospitality branding company and IS Seafood, a company that imports Icelandic seafood to China. As one of China’s leading ex-pat investors, he has been involved in creating and growing investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Robert Roche is a civic leader in the U.S. and Asia. He was a founding member of the American Business Community Nagoya (ABCN), an organization that later grew to be the Chubu Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce Japan. He later served on the Chubu Chapter Board of Governors. Roche was the Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai Board of Governors in 2014. In 2010, he was appointed to the Representative’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations under President Obama, a position he served until 2014.
Robert Roche co-founded Business Forward, an organization that helps American businesses advise legislators on policies related to job creation and business growth. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for New American Security (CNAS), a bipartisan organization that develops research and policy recommendations on security and defense policies, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Center for American Progress. Roche also serves on the Board for the U.S.-China Strong Foundation and Organization for Action. He founded the Roche Family Foundation which has donated to prominent organizations including the Clinton Foundation and the University of Southern California. Through the Foundation, he also endowed the Roche Chair for Interreligious Studies at Japan’s Nanzan University and the International Biusiness Transactions Program the the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
Robert Roche has a degree in economics and Japanese Studies from Illinois State University and a Juris Doctor from University of Denver Sturm College of Law.