History

OakBridge was originally founded in Tokyo in 1981, under the name Oak Associates, by American entrepreneur, Charlotte Kennedy-Takahashi. The company was one of the first foreign-owned, independent, and incorporated businesses in Japan, and was at the forefront in developing executive search and HR consulting services for foreign firms in Japan, as well as for Japanese companies operating globally.

Based on client needs for services beyond Japan, Oak Associates expanded to the United States in 2001, and then to Europe in 2002, under our global name, OakBridge. OakBridge and Oak Associates are now a unified, global organization which can seamlessly assist clients around the world, in seven focused industry practice areas, as well as with other organization development and HR consulting needs.

Owners

OakBridge, worldwide, and Oak Associates (Japan) share the same ownership. Currently there are eight Partners, who are all active, working leaders in the organization:

    Charlotte Kennedy Takahashi (U.S.A.)
    Andy Levine (U.S.A.)
    Carolyn Gaskins (U.S.A.)
    Susan Shultz (U.S.A.)
    John Weeks (United Kingdom)
    Seiji Komori (Japan)

Management

The overall organization is centrally managed by a global executive committee, the Managing Partner Group, which includes both regional and Practice Group representation. This group has the main responsibility and oversight to assure consistency of performance, standards and ethics across all markets.

Our Practice Groups are organized globally in a matrix structure in order to work most effectively across borders. Each Practice group, with consultants from our three main regions, meets regularly to work together to support clients from one market to another, providing efficiencies and exceptional resources for Clients within our Practice team approach.

Offices

We have established wholly-owned offices in Europe, North America and Asia to support our clients in the markets relevant to their business needs. This allows us to provide seamless support and search experience across borders, and assures consistent and reliable service clients can depend on.

Employer

We are a company that believes that how well we perform depends on our own people. We select employees, not only for professional credentials, but also for their integrity and desire to be a team player. We make extensive efforts to build on the individual capabilities of both our management and employees.

Throughout the last 25 years we have also been pleased to attract excellent professional international talent. We currently have 15 nationalities represented among our employees, and almost every member of our firm has worked in a market outside their home country at one point in their career.