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Judging Team

Chief of Judges

Leonardo Fioravanti - President. Fioravanti S.p.A

Leonardo Fioravanti, has been one of the most distinguished personalities of car design for the past three decades. Fioravanti worked at Pininfarina for 24 years as director of design where he enjoyed a prominent position and played a role at the top of the company directing some of the most fascinating and intriguing projects the firm worked on. Under his design direction Pininfarina released a very long list of exciting cars, both for motor-shows and production lines. Although not all of them have been penned by Fioravanti himself, they were developed under his critical but constructive guidance. Some of Fioravanti's most outstanding and most famous personal projects include the Ferrari 365 GTB 4 "Daytona", 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer, the 308 GTB and GTS as well as the 288 GTO and the legendary F40. Fioravanti can be considered the best interpreter of Ferrari's body design ever. After Pininfarina he established Ferrari Engineering in Modena and briefly directed the design centre of the Fiat Automobile Group, until he decided to work on car concept, design and engineering at his own studio His company, simply called Leonardo Fioravanti, has developed a significant number of design and patented engineering innovations for the motor industry around the world, including the recent Ferrari SP1, owned by a Japanese Ferrari collector.

Judges (random order)

Shiro Nakamura - SVP. Chief Creative Officer of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Since he came on board Nissan in 1999, he immediately exerted leadership in driving the design team to create distinctive and innovative designs based on Japanese traditional aesthetics and contemporary culture. Nissan Cube, Fairlady Z, GT-R, Murano, Juke and LEAF as well as Infiniti M, FX and Essence are examples of Nakamura and his design team's recent accomplishments. In 2006, Nakamura decided to take on a new challenge to serve as a CCO. Since then, he has been in charge of managing both Nissan and Infiniti brands, parallel with his design responsibility with a clear-cut objective to enhance product attractiveness and value from a customer standpoint. Prior to joining Nissan, he held various senior level positions at Isuzu Motors including Chief Designer at Isuzu Europe and Japan. In 1985, Nakamura was assigned to work at General Motors Advanced Design Studio in Michigan, United States. He holds a BA in industrial design from the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, and a BS with distinction in transportation design from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Nakamura has been serving as a judge for numerous world renowned concours d'Elegance events such as Pebble Beach in the U.S., Louis Vuitton Classic in France, and Tokyo Concours d'Elegance in Japan. Throughout his career, he has won numerous prestigious awards. To name a few, he has won the Automotive News All Stars in both 2002 and 2003, "100 Most Creative People in Business" by Fast Company, an American magazine and "Lifetime Design Achievement Award" by Eyes on Design, a benefit for The Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, both granted in 2010. Nakamura was born in Osaka, Japan in 1950.

Kazunori Yamauchi - President of Polyphony Digital Inc. / Jury at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Video game producer Kazunori Yamauchi, is renowned for the “Gran Turismo” game series that has sold over 55 million units worldwide. Joining Sony Music Entertainment Inc. in 1992, he was involved in the startup of the Sony Playstation. In 1997, he produced the first of the Gran Turismo series, which sold approximately 10.85 million units worldwide. He established Polyphony Digital Inc. in 1998, of which he is President. He has been a member of the board for the Japan Car of the Year awards since 2001, and an Honorary Judge at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance since 2008. Other significant video game titles produced by Kazunori Yamauchi include “Omega Boost” and “Tourist Trophy”. He serves as Senior Vice President and Worldwide Studio Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. His latest work Gran Turismo 5 is scheduled to be released soon.

Ken Okuyama - President of Ken Okuyama Design

Okuyama graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 1986. For the following 3 years he was a visiting professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design. He worked for General Motors and Porsche helping design the new water-cooled generation Porsche 911 (aka 996) as well as the Boxster. He then worked for General Motors in the Advanced Concepts Center in California where he was in charge of designing the Camaro and the C5 Corvette. In May 2004 Ken Okuyama began work as Creative Director at Pininfarina supervising the design of the Enzo Ferrari. As Creative Director Ken oversaw projects which included the Ferrari 599, Mitsubishi Colt CZC, Maserati Birdcage 75th and Ferrari P4/5. In 2006 he left Pininfarina and set up his own design firm, Newton Design Lab. His work includes humanoid robots and furniture as well as the design of a small robot called Nuvo. In late 2007 Okuyama launched the Ken Okuyama Eyes collection, an eyewear collection manufactured in Japan. At the Geneva Motor Show in 2008, Ken Okuyama unveiled his first concept car under his own name - the K.O. 7 Spider, a carbon fiber and unpainted aluminum two-seater. He cooperated with the luxury watch producer TAG Heuer, fitting the TAG Heuer Grand Carrera at the dashboard of the car, the interior of which was inspired by the design of the watch. In 2008, Ken Okuyama's studio produced the first 20 models of the K.O. 7 Spider. His latest ventures include an interior store in Japan, Ken Okuyama Casa, selling contemporary Japanese and European interior goods, which opened in May 2010.

Jurgen Lewandowski - Motor Jounalist

While at university in Germany Jurgen was the Co-Manager of the then famous Jagermeister Max-Moritz Racing-Team (Drivers: Manfred Schurti, Jacky Ickx, Jurgen Barth etc.) driving Porsche Carrera RS / RSR, 934 and 935 from 1973 to 1978. Also while still at university he worked for auto, motor und sport as a free lance-Journalist. From 1977 until March 1979 he was motor editor at HOBBY, a then well known technical magazine. From April 1st 1979 until December 2000 he was senior motor editor at Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany's largest serious daily newspaper) . since then he has been a Freelance writer for Neue Zuricher Zeitung (CH), Ganske Verlagsgruppe, ADAC-Motorwelt as well as TV programmes and movies and the author of about 80 books on cars, car history, etc. He has more than 30 years experience as a member of the Car of the Year jury, member of the Engine of the Year Jury, 16 years as President of the German Motor Presse Club (MPC), 10 years as a member of the Jury at Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este and Organizer of his own concours event in 2009, Schloss Bensberg Concours.

Sandra Button - Chairman. Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Sandra Button has played a key role in orchestrating the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance for over 25 years. After serving as the event's first full-time Executive Director, she was named Concours Chairman in 2002. She has also been involved in the creation and growth of related events such as the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance, Pebble Beach RetroAuto, and the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic. Sandra is a very active participant in automotive events around the globe. She and her husband, Martin Button, have acquired and adore an eclectic collection of automobiles ranging from a 1901 De Dion vis-a-vis to a 1937 SS100 Jaguar to a 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta to a 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 coupe. They regularly participate in driving events such as the Mille Miglia, the 100 Millas Sport Argentina, and the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Sandra also attends and often officiates at numerous car shows, rallies and tours each year. Sandra is a member of the Royal Automobile Club, the Classic Car Club of America, the Motor Press Guild, and the Society of Automotive Historians.

Marco Reverdito - Representative Director of Citi Cards Japan

Marco Reverdito was appointed as Representative Director, President and CEO of Citi Cards Japan Inc. in February 2010. Prior to his current assignment, Marco served as Chief Operating Officer for Citi International Cards at Citi's headquarters in New York. In this role, he oversaw strategy and performance management for Citi's credit card businesses in over 40 markets worldwide. Before joining Citi International Cards, Marco served as Chief Financial Officer for Citi Taiwan Consumer Bank. He played a critical role in the senior management team supporting the business through the 2006 credit crisis and the 2007 acquisition of the Bank of Overseas Chinese, which added 55 branches and 1 million customers to the franchise. Marco began his career at Citi in Europe in 1995, where he managed the launch of the credit card business in Portugal and Italy. He subsequently joined the Finance organization, serving as Head of Planning, Analysis & Reporting for Citi Spain & Portugal Consumer Bank. After a brief assignment in International Cards Finance in NY, Marco moved to Singapore as Chief Financial Officer for Citi Asia Pacific Cards. Marco holds a BA degree cum laude from Universita Luigi Bocconi (Milan, ITALY) and an MBA from London Business School (London, UK). As an Italian he says he was raised dreaming of beautiful cars.

Valentino Balboni - Former chief test driver of Automobili Lamborgh

Valentino Balboni is the former chief test driver of Lamborghini,. He retired in October 2008, after having served the company for 40 years. Balboni started working for Lamborghini in 1968 as a mechanic apprentice. Eventually he was personally asked by the founder of the company, Ferruccio Lamborghini, to test-drive the newly built cars. Valentino Balboni has driven about 80% of all Lamborghinis ever built. In July 2009 to pay tribute to him on the occasion of his retirement, Lamborghini announced a special edition run of 250 Gallardo LP550-2 "Valentino Balboni edition" supercars; the company stated that the new car was to be rear-wheel driven in accordance with Balboni's preference for the thrill of cornering a rearwheel driven vehicle.

Kenji Sasamoto - Representative Director of NEKO Publishing Co., Ltd.

Kenji Sasamoto is representative director of Neko Publishing, and editor in chief of “Car Magazine” Sasamoto has successfully organized many classic car events, and contributed to promoting automobile culture as an avocate. Besides taking part in the jury for the Concour d’Elegance, Sasamoto himself has entered his own cars in the Concour for events in the past.

Aritune Tokudaiji - Automotive Critic

Works driver for Toyota during the early days of Japanese Motor Sports. Later, enjoys success as a free lance writer/editor. He made his debut as an automotive critic with his work, "Car choosing is full of mistakes", which became that years best seller. He continues to produce that on an annually basis, as well as writing series for "Best Car", "Navi", and "Engine". In addition he publishes several automotive reviews every year. He has influenced many current day automotive critics.

Hideyui Kataoka - Financial advisor, The Classic Car Club of Japan

Hideyuki Kataoka is a financial adviser of The Classic Car Club of Japan, a pioneering organization of classic car fans, which was founded in 1956. Kataoka is also an enthusiast who possesses immense knowledge of classic cars.