Tamao Sasada serves as vice chairman of Japan Investment Banking. She is responsible for senior client relationship management and coverage effort of Japanese financial institutions as well as certain corporations, with primary focus on advising and assisting clients with various strategic needs, particularly on capital raising, funding diversification and cross border M&A opportunities.

Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 1998, Sasada worked at Skadden Arps and Milbank Tweed as a corporate lawyer in New York for three years, where she engaged in various finance and corporate finance transaction projects for Japanese banks, as well as international financial institutions.

Sasada is a member of the New York Bar Association and a solicitor in the state of New South Wales, Australia. She was chosen to be one of the Asia 21 fellows by the Asia Society, and was named one of the Asia-Pacific New Leaders of 2009 by Generation 21. Sasada is a council member of the BAML APAC Diversity Committee, and also serves as a member of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.

Sasada has a BA in law from Keio University and Sydney University.