Management
Team
Management Team
-
Hiroyuki Sato cofounded kaonavi in 2011. With the employment of the Co-CEO system since 2022, he has been Representative Director, President & Co-CEO. Prior to kaonavi, as HR and Development Group Manager at Simplex, he worked on personnel affairs. He also worked for fast growing startup, Link and Motivation where he served as a sales representative of the Organization Reform Consultation Division.
-
Hiroki Yanagihashi founded kaonavi in 2008 and was appointed Representative Director & President. With the employment of the Co-CEO system since 2022, he has been Representative Director & Co-CEO. Prior to kaonavi, he worked in HR at istyle Inc. as the head of the HR Division. He also worked for Accenture where he worked on the development of operational infrastructure and large databases in operational restructuring projects of government offices.
-
Kimitaka Hashimoto joined kaonavi, inc. in 2018 and he has been Director since 2019. Prior to kaonavi, he worked for Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. where he has served in various roles in investment banking - M&A advisory services and funding, etc. He also worked in the Financial Affairs Division at Sanyo Electric where he was responsible for funding and negotiations with financial institutions.
-
Tatsuya Hiramatsu joined kaonavi in 2017. After serving as General Manager of the Product Division, he has been CPO since 2022. Prior to kaonavi, he worked on marketing and business alliances at the New Development Division of a game development company. In the meantime he has an experience in mobile website development, he was also placed in charge of the operation and development of platforms at COLOPL.
-
Takeshi Uchida joined kaonavi in 2017 and he has been Executive Officer & Head of the CEO’s Office. Prior to kaonavi, he served in business development at a healthcare company. And he worked in business development consultation at a consulting firm. He also engaged in HR consulting and data analysis at SHL-JAPAN.
-
Asumi Mogami joined kaonavi in 2015. She took part in the establishment of the inside sales team, and formulated a customer success team and reinforced them. She was appointed as COO in 2024. Prior to kaonavi, she worked in HR at a real estate company centering on recruitment and also in new customer acquisition at Gurunavi.
-
Yuko Somano joined kaonavi in 2018 and she took part in the development of the internal governance system in preparation for getting listed. She has served as General Manager of the Corporate Division since 2019. Before that, she worked for IT start up company and a apparel company in which she was engaged in legal affairs, including contracts, intellectual property rights, and corporate governance.
-
Junya Shinozaki joined kaonavi in 2016 and he is responsible for marketing strategies. He has served as General Manager of the Marketing Division since 2020. Prior to kaonavi, he worked in advertising at GREE. and also Glossom. Also he worked at Hakuhodo in sales targeting foreign manufacturers and domestic car manufacturers, he worked on the promotion of athletes and sports teams.
-
Yoshiro Takahashi joined kaonavi in 2015 and he worked to launch SRE organization. He was appointed as General Manager in July 2023. Prior to kaonavi, he worked for an IT startup company as an engineer and he also worked for social game development at COLOPL.
-
Yusuke Owaribe joined kaonavi in 2019 and he worked to formulate an engineering organization and lead to develop new features under VPoE. He was appointed as General Manager in July 2023. He worked as a system engineer in a system integrate company, then he worked for development of social game in one of the group companies of Cyber Agent.
-
Naoto Kashiwazaki joined kaonavi in 2018. He has experience in launching customer success team and he worked to execute various plans for the user community and systematize process. He was appointed as General Manager of the Customer Engagement Division in 2024.
-
Morio Takaoka joined kaonavi in 2019. He served as field sales and he worked to build business partnerships and strengthen business alliance with the alliance companies. He was appointed as General Manager of the Alliance Division in 2024. Prior to kaonavi, he worked in sales at Canon Marketing Japan Inc. and IT startup company.
-
Ken Fukuda joined kaonavi in 2015. He has served as VPoE since 2019, and New Development Department Manager since 2022. Prior to kaonavi, he worked for an IT venture company as an engineer, then he joined COLOPL where he worked on social game planning and development as a manager.
-
Masakazu Matsushita joined kaonavi in 2020 and has been CTO since September of the same year. Prior to kaonavi, he worked as CTO at Translimit, Inc. and he worked on the development of game apps for overseas audiences. He also worked for a system integration company, then he worked at CyberAgent on the development of games and community platforms.
-
Ryo Hasegawa joined kaonavi in 2021. He serves as creative director to lead various branding strategies. He has been Head of Creative since 2023. Prior to kaonavi, he worked in advertising agencies at HAKUHODO DESIGN, GREY Tokyo and ADK.
Outside Directors
-
Suguru Kobayashi
Outside Director
Suguru Kobayashi has been Outside Director of kaonavi since 2018. He founded Field Management Human Resource and he has been Representative Director. Prior to Field Management Human Resource, he worked for JTB, then he joined Link and Motivation, where he engaged in organizational HR consultation services mainly targeting leading companies.
-
Masumi Sai
Outside Director / Audit and Supervisory committee member
After serving kaonavi, inc. as Outside Director, Masumi Sai has been Outside Director (Audit and Supervisory Committee Member) since 2022. She founded Good News and Companies and she serves as Representative Director. She has also been appointed Nikkei CNBC’s Economic Commentary Committee commentator. Before that, she worked as a market economist at Daiwa Securities.
-
Hiroyuki Yamada
Outside Director / Audit and Supervisory committee member
Hiroyuki Yamada has been Outside Director (Audit and Supervisory Committee Member) since 2022, after serving kaonavi, inc. as Outside Auditor. He founded Axella General Accounting Firm and he was appointed its representative. Before that, he founded AZX Professionals Group where he worked with AZX Group’s lawyers and provided services such as IPO support to startups as a tax accountant. At the same time, he served as an outside director as well as an outside auditor. Moreover, not only has he written various books and papers, but he has also contributed many articles to tax accountant magazines.
-
Miyako Ikuta
Outside Director / Audit and Supervisory committee member
Miyako Ikuta has been kaonavi’s Outside Director (Audit and Supervisory Committee Member) since 2022. She is a licensed attorney in Japan, France, and the State of New York. She is an expert in corporate transactions, including M&A and IP license agreement, and in international arbitration, in addition to data protection such as handling of cases involving the GDPR. She also serves a listed company as an outside auditor and she is a partner of law firm Kitahama Partners.
Advisor
-
Masaya Mori
Technical Advisor
Masaya Mori is Visiting Professor of Tohoku University, Advisor for UTokyo IPC and Advisor for Japan Deep Learning Association. He has experience business supporting by utilizing AI and advanced technology at Accenture, Rakuten and Deloitte Tohmatsu Group. He used to be an advisory board member of Information Processing Society of Japan and Director of the Database Society of Japan.
-
Jota Tamaki
Advisor/CDO
Jota Tamaki joined kaonavi in 2019 and was CDO as well as General Manager of the Brand Design Division. He has been Outside CDO since 2022. Prior to kaonavi, he contributed to the value engineering efforts at AI venture company Cogent Labs Inc. He also worked for global advertising agencies such as W+K and AKQA where he worked on projects for overseas clients.