Kazumi Mechling brings 25 years of marketing and public relations experience to her role as executive vice president at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, where she leads the Consumer Practice which represents clients including T-Mobile, Canon, Amazon and Microsoft Home Server. Kaz is also a member of the agency’s Asia Pacific (APAC) leadership team, directing Japan-related business in country and in the United States. During her career, Kaz has managed accounts in key U.S. markets including Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, as well as internationally with nearly a decade in Japan and the APAC region.
Previously, Kaz was at Blanc & Otus, a Hill & Knowlton company, where she was senior vice president and general manager of the Austin, Texas, office. Before working in Austin, Kaz was head of business development for the Internet technology agency Niehaus Ryan (NRW), where she was responsible for developing new business and expanding the agency’s domestic presence with a number of clients including CMP Media, Cantor Fitzgerald, Vignette and Yahoo!
Kaz spent the majority of the ’90s in Japan, where she founded her own boutique agency, MediaWorks, with clients ranging from IBM to The Gap and Disney Stores. She subsequently sold MediaWorks to Edelman Worldwide while remaining as general manager. Her focus has been in consumer products and technology, having developed and executed regional and global PR programs including market entry, product launches, crisis management, spokesperson training, executive profiles and brand management campaigns. Past clients include Ericsson Mobile, Disney Stores, The Gap Inc., Tag Heuer, Bulgari, Fiat Motors, Remy Martin, Saks Fifth Avenue, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, Toshiba, Apple Japan, National Semiconductor, AST Computers and IBM.
She was born in Yokosuka, Japan, where she spent her early years. She attended Delta College and the University of Hawaii and began her career in marketing and public relations in 1981 with Fujitsu in Santa Clara, Calif. She is married with a son, Lukas Ichiro, and is based in Seattle.