Leadership

Our Team

William E. Grayson

Commissioner General

In his role as the United States Commissioner General at Expo 2025 Osaka, Japan, Ambassador William (“Bill”) E. Grayson leads the USA Pavilion and serves as the senior U.S. government representative to the Government of Japan for Expo 2025 Osaka.

Ambassador Grayson is on sabbatical from his current role as Managing Director and Founder, The Grayson Group at RBC Wealth Management, where he advises company founders, significant families, endowments, and foundations. Previously, he founded and served as the National Director of the family practice office at AllianceBernstein, and held similar senior roles at J.P. Morgan, BancAmerica Securities and a major U.S. hedge fund. Additionally, Ambassador Grayson practiced law for ten years as a law firm litigator and corporate and government general counsel.

Ambassador Grayson has a long history of public service. He has held presidential appointments in five U.S. administrations, including at the Department of the Army, the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, Chairman of the Presidio Trust, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Ambassador to Estonia. He has also served on numerous investment committees and boards of trustees, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, National Park Foundation, University of Hawaii Foundation, and UC Berkeley’s Institute for Governmental Studies.

Ambassador Grayson is a graduate of Saint Ignatius College Preparatory; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of San Francisco School of Law; and is a recipient of a Defense Policy certificate from Harvard’s Kennedy School. He and his wife, Laurie, live in San Francisco and Rancho Mirage, CA, and have three wonderful daughters and a rescue dog.

Tom Hwei

Deputy Commissioner General

Tom Hwei is a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, currently serving as the Deputy Commissioner General for the USA Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.

Before his assignment in Japan, Mr. Hwei served multiple tours at U.S. Embassy Islamabad, most recently as the Coordinator for Economic and Development Assistance. In that role, Mr. Hwei was recognized by the State Department as the worldwide runner up for the prestigious Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs for his efforts related to planning and implementing U.S. civilian assistance programs in Pakistan.

Mr. Hwei has also held overseas assignments in Caracas, Toronto, and Hong Kong, as well as domestic roles in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 2011, Mr. Hwei worked as both an attorney and in the Napa Valley wine industry. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a J.D. from the University of California, Davis. He speaks Mandarin Chinese.