Noriko Ishizaka was born in Tokyo in 1972. After graduating from senior high school, she studied at an American university for a short time. In 1992, she joined Ishizaka Inc. founded by her father. When the media reported that crops near Tokorozawa City in Saitama Prefecture had been contaminated with dioxin, Ms. Ishizaka approached her father about taking over from him, saying, “I will change the company.” She became president in 2002 with the aim of establishing a company where employees would want their own children to work. Leveraging female sensibilities and innovative intelligence, Ms. Ishizaka transformed the industrial waste management industry based on an approach of “visualization, the five senses, and ISO.” Ms. Ishizaka has received numerous awards, including the Nikkei Woman of the Year Award in the Passionate Business Leader category, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun’s “35th Special Award” and “Excellent in Business Award,” Zaikai magazine’s “2018 Management Award” and the “Social Innovation Award” as part of AVON Awards to Women 2018. She is a member of the 2017 Expert Committee on the Promotion of Environmental Education (Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and serves as a director of the Saitama Environmental Industry Promotion Association.