Board Members/Executive Officers

LL.B. from Kyoto University. Former Managing Director and Chairman at DeNA Co., Ltd, one of the largest mobile and e-commerce companies in Japan. Led it during IPO and M&A of multiple companies including Yokohama DeNA BayStars, a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Founded ExaIntelligence Inc. (now known as ExaWizards Inc.) in February 2016. In November 2018, he was appointed Director & Chairman, and in April 2023, he became Representative Director & President.

Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Kyoto University. Completed the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University, specializing in Urban Planning, AI, and Data Science. Joined the Boston Consulting Group in 2013. After working on numerous projects, such as business growth strategy, business transformation, DX advancement, and new business launches, joined ExaWizards in 2018. From April 2019, served as the Executive Officer in charge of the AI business, handling hundreds of AI implementation and DX realizations annually. Has many teaching credits for DX training for corporate executives and managers. Appointed as a board member in June 2020, and as an Managing Director in June 2023. President of Exa Enterprise AI in October 2023. Also serves as a guest associate professor at the University of Hyogo and as an advisor to the Hyogo Prefecture ChatGPT and other generative AI utilization study project team. Authored “AI Strategy in the Web3 Era” (Nikkei BP, 2022) and “Next Generation AI Strategy 2025: Transformation Scenarios in 20 Rapidly Changing Fields” (Nikkei BP, 2021).

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Mr. Sakane has served as the CTO since Oct 2017 when Digital Sensation, the company he founded in 2004, merged with ExaIntelligence to form ExaWizards. At Digital Sensation, he served as CEO and Representative Director. Previously, he worked as an assistant at Shizuoka University’s School of Information Systems. Influenced by his father Mr. Sakane started programming at the age of three, and is a Humanitude instructor. He holds a master’s degree in information systems from Osaka University.

Mr. Shingai graduated from the Master’s program in Electronic Engineering at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. In 1980, he joined Japan Tobacco Inc. (“JT”, formerly Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation). In 1989, he was appointed as the Acting Director of the company’s New York office. In 1990, he became the President of JT America Inc. Over the next six years, he identified and promoted numerous joint research and development projects with pharmaceutical and biotech ventures in the United States. From 1991 to 1997, he concurrently served as an outside director of Cell Genesys, Inc., a biotech venture company listed on NASDAQ in the United States. In 2005, he was appointed as a Member of the Board and Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer of JT. In 2006, he became the Vice President of JT International. In 2011, he was appointed as the Representative Director and Executive Vice President of JT. He retired from the Board of Directors of JT in March 2018. He has been serving as an outside director of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. since 2019, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation since 2021. He has also served as an outside director of Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Olympus Corporation, among others.

Graduated from College of Arts and Science, The University of Tokyo, and completed the Harvard Business School MBA Program. In April 1983, he joined the Industrial Bank of Japan, Ltd. (currently Mizuho Bank, Ltd.). After leaving his job at the bank, he joined Bain & Company in February 1986. Since then, he has been engaging in management consulting for Japanese, American, and European companies in various fields for over 30 years. He was appointed as the Head Partner of Bain & Company’s Tokyo office in January 2008 and as the Chairman in April 2014. He also serveed as the Outside Director for ARUHI Corporation.

Ms. Naoko Munakata is a professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, The University of Tokyo, before receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ms. Munakata joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (currently the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and engaged in initiatives to liberalize trade, promote innovation, and revitalize the economy through a range of activities, such as launching new trade negotiations, which led to Japan’s first free-trade agreement and participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, supporting intellectual property strategies of start-ups and small- and medium-sized enterprises, strengthening the intellectual property-related litigation system, and infusing design management into government bodies (Declaration of Design Management). She studied economic integration in East Asia and the U.S. policy on Asia, among other subjects, at the Brookings Institution in the U.S. and other research centers, and authored Transforming East Asia (Brookings Institution Press). She has donned several hats, having served as Director-General, Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, Executive Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office until 2019. After assuming the current position in April 2021, she has taught a course on innovation governance.