The U.S.-Japan Business Council has named Henry...

The U.S.-Japan Business Council has named Henry Wendt, chairman and chief executive of SmithKline Beckman Corp., as the new chairman of the business advisory group. He succeeds the late James E. Olson, chairman of AT&T.;

“We are at a crucial juncture in U.S.-Japan relations,” said Wendt, who early in his career lived in Japan while setting up SmithKline’s business there. “The nature and direction of the economic dimension of this important bilateral relationship is of supreme importance to the healthy future of both countries.”

The council is composed of about 70 high-ranking executives of American companies involved in a wide range of business activities with the Japanese. The council includes a Tokyo-based group of Japanese executives, headed by Norishige Hasegawa, director and counselor at Sumitomo Chemical Co.