Kyoko ITO is an Associate Director of Digital Services Innovation Division who oversees digital marketing, new digital business development, international digital news services, and advertising. She started her career at a major internet provider services company as a planner/developer of new digital contents. In 2001, she moved to The Asahi Shimbun and has since built her career as a digital/mobile services producer, web marketer, digital ads developer and ads sales strategist. Her career includes a stint at the paper’s San Jose office in Silicon Valley in 2003, where her duty included the global coordination of digital news distribution, reporting on IT affairs and the management of computer servers. In 2015, she won a prize in an essay contest held by the Japan Newspaper Association with her entry entitled “Newspapers Readers Are The Source of Business and The Realization of Marketing Automation for Internet Users.” A highly-skilled administrative professional and business planner, she concurrently serves as a director of the Japan Interactive Advertising Association (JIAA). She graduated from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies with a major in Russian and East European studies.