Lakeland's Japan campus preps for positive changes
A well-known Sheboygan County business leader has agreed to a new role with Lakeland University at its Tokyo, Japan, campus.
Cory Bouck, global director of business & culture integration at Johnsonville Sausage, has been named chairperson of LUJ Management, the Lakeland-owned Japanese corporation responsible for ensuring a location for Lakeland’s Tokyo campus and compliance with Japanese laws.
Lakeland, one of just two U.S. universities with a Japan campus, offered its first courses in Tokyo in 1991. Primarily a two-year campus for much of its existence, numerous LUJ graduates have completed their bachelor’s degree at Lakeland’s Sheboygan County campus.
Bouck is a 21-year veteran with Johnsonville Sausage who previously served eight years as Johnsonville regional business director/general manager of the Asia Pacific markets, which included broad international general management experience, especially in Asian markets.
Bouck was named to the Lakeland Board of Trustees in 2021 and will continue in that role.
“Cory has been a terrific leader for our board and his insights into the Asian market make him an ideal fit to lead LUJM,” said Lakeland President Beth Borgen. “As we continue to expand our presence in Asia, Cory will be instrumental in those efforts.”
Bouck joins an impressive list of chairs, following Lakeland President Emeritus David Black and Waseda University (Tokyo) Professor Emeritus Paul Snowden.
A U.S. Navy veteran, Bouck is also an author and keynote speaker. In 2013, he authored “The Lens of Leadership: Being the Leader Others WANT to Follow,” distributed in four languages across several countries.
“I am so pleased to get to serve Lakeland University in this role,” Bouck said. “Lakeland represents the best of American values and tenants of higher education in the country of Japan and has the rare opportunity to bring global students together to build their minds, their character, their leadership skills, and to become the cross-cultural leaders of tomorrow.”
Bouck is a graduate of and former leadership instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and former Naval flight officer/mission commander. In addition to his work at Johnsonville, he led award-winning brand and event marketing teams at General Mills and Newell-Rubbermaid.
He previously served two terms as an elected Sheboygan city councilman and is currently president of the Kohler Public School board. He received an MBA with a finance concentration from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and a master’s certificate in executive management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In addition to the leadership announcement, Lakeland has been approved to offer some new academic programs in Tokyo.
Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has approved allowing LU to offer its master of business administration (MBA) and master of science in leadership and organizational development (MSLOD) degrees at its Tokyo campus. In 2021, MEXT approved allowed Lakeland to offer four-year bachelor’s degrees in Tokyo.
“We are excited to receive approval to now offer graduate programs to students attending LUJ,” Borgen said. “As we attract more students from all over the globe, offering more programming at all levels is important to deliver the options our students are seeking.”
