Terrence is Executive Chairman of cross-border strategy and sustainable development advisory Tenso Barterre Group in California. A senior US diplomat, top market strategist, senior executive and Harvard University alumnus, Terrence has worked closely with key decision-makers of complex and entrepreneurial entities worldwide and within local communities. Through public and private sector service, with intercultural diplomacy and strategic alliances as cornerstones of his professional experience and vision, he has brought disparate peoples, communities and enterprises together towards lasting outcomes of sustainable peace and prosperity.
Bicultural, born in Japan, Terrence was raised in Tokyo and California by his African American father, a civilian manager at the US Department of Defense, and his Japanese mother of familial lineage preeminent in ancient and pre-war Japan. As a child, he lived immersed within an elegant traditional community of venerable families in an outskirt of Tokyo experiencing a post-war ambiance of vibrant hope and renewal. He often explored the flora and fauna of his neighborhood shrine, remnant of an ancient evergreen forest. His Tenso Jinja, meaning Shrine of Heavenly Ancestral Reverence, has been protected over eons as one of the most sacred ancient sites of pre-feudal Japan. The shrine embodies ancestral tree worship dedicated to Peace and Nature. Returning often over the years, he has continued to hold spiritual kinship with his Tenso Jinja neighbors.
In his youth, Terrence thrived in the Sierra oak foothills of Northern California. As a high school foreign exchange student to Germany, he lived with a family of eleven on the Baltic Sea. At a nearby farm monastery, he would often play his Moeck blockflute for his deeply spiritual host mother and her faith community who bonded with likeminded women in rural northern Japan. These experiences framed his commitment to peace and intercultural diplomacy that he cultivated at Harvard as he earned his MBA and Honors AB in East Asian Studies and Economics. He maintained lifelong friendships with his mentor professors who had recruited him including Edwin Reischauer - President Kennedy's US Ambassador to Japan, Ezra Vogel - renowned sinologist and President Clinton's chief advisor for East Asia on the US National Intelligence Council and Ray Goldberg - the premier strategy advisor to US and global food and agribusiness CEOs, including related sustainability innovators.
Throughout his career as a cross-border sustainable development strategist and intercultural diplomat featured in numerous global media and conference venues, Terrence has worked with diverse communities to build lasting bridges among business, technology and higher education counterparts worldwide. He has generated breakthrough sustainable growth outcomes by mobilizing strategic market alliances and capital sources throughout the Asia Indo-Pacific, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas. Sector emphases include health/wellness, controlled environment agriculture, clean/green technology systems, water purification/desalination, renewable energy, regenerative land and built-environs, advanced transportation infrastructure, higher education and high value intercultural markets, including sustainable community development as lasting solutions for peace. On a personal note, Terrence enjoys the arts, writing poetry and playing electronic wind instruments and indigenous American, Asian and African wood flutes.
Select Professional Experience:
- Governor's Representative and Managing Director of Asia, based in Japan, directing California State Offices of International Trade in Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai/Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo where he led sustainable market alliances advancing environmental remediation, water purification, controlled environmental agriculture and healthcare systems technology among other collaborations
- Executive Director and Special Senior Foreign Service Officer appointed by the US Secretary of Agriculture to lead the official US food and agriculture market development missions in Japan, forging strategic alliances in America's top export market, directing US Agricultural Trade Offices designing and funding multi-million dollar market development programs throughout Japan
- Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Evaluation and Compliance for the US Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington DC by Presidential appointment, guiding multi-billion dollar trade finance guaranty and market development resources globally
- Vice President, Chief International Officer and University Professor of Global Sustainable Community Development at Alliant International University in San Francisco where he launched and oversaw campuses and programs in Japan, the Asia Indo-Pacific, Latin America, Near East and Africa
- President and CEO of medical foods innovator RiceX in El Dorado Hills, California where he led alliances abroad, including collaborations addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa
- Principal Consultant to the California Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Development and New Technology and the California Senate Special Committee on the Pacific Rim in Sacramento where he spearheaded bipartisan economic and community development legislation signed into law
- State Director of Small Business Programs at the California Community Colleges Economic Development Network in Sacramento integrating technology, trade and workforce development
- VP/Manager of Mitsubishi Bank's M&A strategy team at Bank of California in San Francisco, building alliances in wine/beverage, organic foods, pharmaceuticals and technology sectors
- Senior Financial Engineer/Strategist at the Boston-based strategy arm of the Central Agricultural Banks of Europe, advising top food, agribusiness and health sector clients and heading the biotech practice
- Harvard East Asian Legal Studies Program Fellow at elite Ebihara Law Offices in Tokyo
- English instructor at the Royal Thai Air Force in Bangkok, teaching airmen and officers and traveling with students to their rural home communities applying intercultural immersion pedagogy
Group Leadership
