Jon Metzler is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). He is also a Continuing Lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches on strategy for the networked economy; international business, including business in Japan; and innovation and entrepreneurship. Jon teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Research interests include 5G and wireless infrastructure; sharing economies; aging and longevity; and regional clusters, including semiconductor clusters. Jon is also associated faculty for the UC-Berkeley for Center for Japanese Studies. He has received research support from the Center for Japanese Studies, from the UC-Berkeley Center for Long-term Cybersecurity (CLTC), and the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab (BRSL). Jon has taught at Haas since 2014. Jon is a faculty mentor at Berkeley SkyDeck, the accelerator for Berkeley-affiliated startups. He is also a Faculty Fellow and a member of the faculty advisory board at the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab (BRSL). He is currently researching Japan’s reinvestment in its semiconductor industry.

Prior to returning to campus to teach, Jon founded Blue Field Strategies, a consulting firm helping infrastructure clients accelerate service innovation, via market research and entry support; market and policy advocacy; and direct and indirect investment sourcing, due diligence and post-investment operationalization. Jon has supported new business launches in media; edtech; wireless infrastructure; geolocation; events; services and more. Prior to that, Jon was Business Development Director at Rosum Corporation (acquired by TruePosition), a pioneering location technology company augmenting the reach of GPS indoors. At Rosum he drove business development in telecom, defense and IoT markets, and also was responsible for government affairs, public relations and standards.

Jon completed his MBA/MA-Asian Studies at the Haas School of Business. There he co-founded the Berkeley Asia Business Conference, and authored a thesis comparing the startup ecosystems in Silicon Valley and Japan. His interest in clusters and regional advantage stems from this experience. Jon also has a B.A. from the University of Michigan. Jon is a member of the board of directors for the Japan Society of Northern California, a 120-year-old non-profit fostering connections between Northern California and Japan. Jon served as board chair from 2017 to 2020, where he focused on board development and organizational culture. Jon and his family make their home in the San Francisco area.