Jacques Meon, a French national, was actually born in Sweden where he pent most of his youth. After returning to France to further his higher education (studies in Economics) and after fulfilling his compulsory military duties in the French Liaison Office with the U.S. Army's European Headquarters in Heidelberg, he moved to Japan in 1970 and joined the Berlitz Schools of Languages initially as a teacher of French before being selected as management trainee.

After filling various positions such as school, District and Regional Director, he became in December 1976, the country's Managing Director overseeing eight centres. The rest of Asia was added to his responsibilities in 1978 and eventually by 1993, the Asia division grew to a total of 70 centres with over 1000 employees including 700 teachers, yielding yearly revenues of over $100 Million. It was at that time and by far the largest and most profitable division in the group.

In 1993, following Mr. Robert Maxwell's death (owner of Berlitz's parent company Macmillan), Berlitz International's majority interest was sold to Fukutake Publishing. (The balance of the stock equity is publicly traded on the New York stock exchange). Jacques Meon subsequently left the company and joined as President and Representative Director, CIC-Victor Video Co. Ltd., a 3 way joint-venture between Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and JVC. The company was engaged in marketing and selling in Japan and in packaged form the studios' pictures as well as JVC's acquisitions. It was CIC's largest foreign subsidiary with 1997 revenues in excess of $179 Million. This position brought him closer to the Japanese market place with a first hand experience of the Japanese distribution system and of using various key suppliers. Being the head of an important U.S.-Japan joint-venture, he found himself exposed daily to culture differences with a duty to help closing the gaps.

Jacques Meon brings 28 years of living experience in Japan, working all that time for U.S. based companies. He also traveled extensively in the region (Hong-Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia) to oversee the company's operations and open new subsidiaries.

The fact that both Berlitz International and CIC were U.S. owned companies also brought much contact and inter-action with U.S. management with regular trips to the U.S. for reporting and business meeting. He was in both cases a member of their management committees. Their international networks gave him in addition continuous and extensive exposure and inter-action with managers of different nationalities covering th five continents.

In 1998, Jacques Meon moved back to Europe joining to Richard Lewis Communications as a Consultant and Trainer in the area of Cross-cultural issues facing the company's international corporate clients. He is based in the company's main office in the U.K. but travels extensively according to the client's requirements.