“Over 50 professionals drawn from a wide spectrum of places”

Slate is a microcosm of the world we live and work in. Our more than 100 professionals draw from a wide spectrum of places, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds -our only prejudice is against mediocrity. What we share in common is our pursuit of excellence as professional recruiters and a common passion to be a leader in the human capital industry.

While we are known for our pioneering use of technology in identifying, assessing, recruiting and developing industry leaders, these tools do not replace our focus on customer service. Slate has grown through a deep understanding of people, organizational dynamics and business strategy, and it is through this knowledge that we deliver premium customer service and consistency of results.

Ray Pedersen - CEO

A spirited entrepreneur, Ray Valdemar Pedersen was selling gardening equipment door-to-door at the age of 10. Driven and persistent, Ray has founded several startup enterprises over the years ranging from software development to film production to lumber trading.

Ray is the Chairman of Slate Global Singapore, which has subsidiaries in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Manila and Bucharest. In the near future, he will spearhead new Slate operations in Dubai and London.

Born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1971, Ray attended high school in Utsunomiya, Japan, and graduated from the Faculty of Geography at the University of Winnipeg in 1993. He lives in Tokyo with his wife and children.

Brent Spencer - Financial Services

Brent Spencer is Slate's Principal responsible for the Financial Services Industry in Asia. Fluent in Japanese, Brent has been working successfully within Japan's financial markets as a recruiter since 2004.

Brent graduated with distinction in Japanese Studies from the University of Victoria and earned a scholarship to attend Meiji University on an exchange program.

Brent was born in British Columbia and has resided in Japan for more than 10 years. He lives near Tokyo with his wife and child.

Pam Thai - Professional Services

Pam Thai has almost five years experience in the executive search industry in Tokyo and leads a very strong team of recruiters in the area of professional services, which includes IT, finance and accounting, human resources and legal services. Pam has great connections within her specialist fields, strong communication skills and is a natural leader.

Pam is of British-Chinese origin and is a native speaker of both English and Cantonese. She also speaks French. She attended university in Leeds in the U.K. and holds a degree in commerce.

Pam has been in Japan since 2000 and lives in Tokyo with her family.

Frank Henderson - Principal, Life Sciences

Frank leads the Life Sciences team as the Industry Principal. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Frank has lived in Japan since 2001. Frank works intimately with many of the world's leading pharmaceutical firms in Japan, as well as start-ups wishing to grow their operations in Japan by actively assisting them in developing their talent acquisition strategy for the Japan market. Since 2002, Frank has placed close to over 100 executives in Japan in the Life Science industry, and has become recognized as one of the top recruiters in the field with his wide span of contacts and connections to key decision makers which enable him to provide a smooth hiring process, as well as access to the best opportunities in the market for his candidates.

In addition to his work in leading the Life Science team at Slate, Frank is also involved in providing strategic input into steering HR, financial and business planning activities for the organization.

Ryan Marshall - Principal and COO

Ryan Marshall is the Chief Operating Officer of Slate and has a strong background in corporate governance and business process engineering. He previously worked for a U.S.-based recruiting firm and has close ties with the North American and Asian markets.

Ryan is the driving force behind Slate's Pan-Asian expansion and the growth of the Slate Group globally.

Born in Alberta, Canada, Ryan has a degree in history from the University of British Columbia. He has lived in Asia since 2002 and splits his time between Manila, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Akira Yasuda - Corporate Advisor

Akira Yasuda is Senior Advisor for Slate Consulting K.K. and was formerly President and Representative Director of NSG Vetrotek K.K. (a Saint Gobain company). He has also served as the president of a number of other industrial companies in Tokyo.

As the leader of the Industrial Team, Yasuda-san brings a wealth of industry knowledge and management know-how to the company.

Born in Tokyo, Yasuda-san graduated from Nihon University's Faculty of Law. He and his wife divide their time between Tokyo and the Japan Alps.