About

Helping ideas grow beyond limits

Chief Executive Officer

In 2014, Kodama started his career as a certified financial planner and provided life planning consultation and financial products. That year, he saw a great potential in Bitcoin and began promoting cryptocurrency. He then embarked on the Cardano project with Michael Parsons and Charles Hoskinson, working on business development and promotion. Kodama founded and became CEO of EMURGO in 2017. He has a wide range of relationships with both domestic and international entrepreneurs and blockchain experts.

CIO

Since 2001, Manmeet has been building businesses from scratch across banking, investment advisory, education, trading and technology industries. Based in China and Japan since 2003, Manmeet is actively mentoring startups through Asia and Europe. He’s been appointed as Investment Promotion Consultant by the Government of Nanjing and is an advisor to the Ukrainian Association for Innovation Development. Manmeet’s lived in 10 countries across 4 continents and holds Bachelors degrees from Washington and Lee University (USA) and an MBA from SPJIMR (India).

Chief Technical Officer

Previous to working at EMURGO, Nicolás Arqueros was CEO and founder of one of the top app development companies in Chili. Within less than three years the company generated income over $1M and produced over 40 different projects. Additionally, he worked as a senior engineer for various Silicon Valley startups before joining EMURGO as an Entrepreneur in Residence.

Strategist, Corporate Planning

Kentaro Yoshioka is the right-hand man of Emurgo's CEO. After graduating from cross-cultural studies, Taro backpacked throughout 120 countries around the world. His travels made him realise how strongly business connects people. He then decided to join the consulting industry and worked for several companies part of the Fortune 500 list, working in the USA, Italy, Taiwan and the Philippines among others. Taro believes that blockchain technology will help connect people on a global scale.

Executive Assistant

Previous to working at EMURGO, Sumire Ono worked as an executive assistant for several firms. Additionally, she has experience working in Germany at the international business department through the Chamber of Commerce program.

Senior Manager, Business Development

Shunsuke Murasaki has 7 years of experience working in Asian markets specializing in BtoB overseas sales. Currently, he is working on business development at EMURGO in the Southeast Asian sector. He has rhythm and shows it by playing Asarato, a West African instrument. Shunsuke also loves fish and is a master spearfisher.

Senior Manager, Corporate Planning & Business Development

Yosuke Yoshida grew up in New York and graduated from Keio University in Tokyo. Following graduation, he entered Marubeni Corporation, one of the biggest general trading companies in Japan (#116 on the 2017 Fortune Global 500 list). Yosuke specialises in business development, project management for international bidding projects and business investment including M&A projects for over 15 years, mainly in the SE Asia region.

Business Development

Li WenHao, born and raised in Shanghai, MBA graduate, previously worked as business process consultant. He has worked on a number of high-profile cross-border M&A deals. He is highly interested in finance and wants to change the finance industry by using blockchain. Li is an outdoor sports enthusiast.

Senior Manager, Corporate Department

Akihiro Yabe has 4 years of consulting experience in developing strategic business plans, M&A, CS survey, branch optimization, workload analysis. Additionally, he has 6+ years of audit experience in financial and commercial industries.

Corporate Department

Kyle graduated from Western Michigan University with a concentration in International Business and Japanese. Following graduation, he returned to Japan in early 2016. His interest in blockchain began to grow in January 2017, soon after joining the Cardano team. His hobbies include audio gear, music, movies and games.

Senior Advisor

Darren Camas is a FinTech entrepreneur and consultant with more than 7 years in blockchain technology. He was an early adopter in the blockchain, bitcoin, and cryptocurrency space starting in 2011. His teams have pioneered emerging market FinTech business models and blockchain application R&D, such as cryptographic proof of solvency, zero-knowledge proofs, and trade finance. He has been invited to speak about blockchain technology in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and has been recognized as FinTech pioneer from financial institutions such as SWIFT and BBVA.

Manager, Public Relations

Shunsuke Mitsumoto graduated from Niigata University and is an accredited PR planner. Following graduation, he joined NTT Communication, the largest telecom company in Japan. Previous to joining EMURGO, Shunsuke worked for various conglomerates as a PR officer handling brand management and media relations.

Marketing Manager

After graduating University in Los Angeles, Nate remained in the city and spent the first few years working for startup and tech companies. Following this, he decided to move back home to Canada to work with brands such as; Microsoft and Nintendo. In between working the agency life for several years, he had the opportunity to develop location-based entertainment opportunities in China and the Middle-East.

Senior Video Producer

Gael worked as a freelance filmmaker for 12 years. He started his career in news reporting for several major TV channels before moving into directing documentaries, as well as filming/editing advertising campaigns and commercials. His clientele has ranged from the royal family of Qatar and England, Bernie Ecclestone and Dmitry Medvedev.

Business Development

TBA

Business Development

Alicia Fumita was born and raised in the United States, after living in the US for 15 years she moved to Japan. She has worked as a translator and interpreter for Yahoo Japan in the engineering unit. In her spare time, she enjoys figure-skating has done so competitively for over 10 years.

Chief Executive Officer of Emurgo Vietnam

TBA

Research

TBA

Academy

TBA

Development

TBA

Development

TBA

Academy

TBA

Research

TBA

Finance Manager

Previous to joining EMURGO, Kazuhiro Sato worked for various financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and KPMG Japan as a finance and tax professional. He specialises in international tax planning, M&A structuring, transfer price area as well as day-to-day accounting and tax compliance. At EMURGO, Kazuhiro manages the global investment and funding structure.

Accounting & Finance

Previous to working at EMURGO, Yutaka Kobayashi worked as an accountant and admin staff at multinational and several start-up companies for several years. He has experience in corporate planning, IT system implementation, business process management.

Accounting

Previous to joining EMURGO, Hiroko Osuga worked for various companies in the IT and beauty industries. She has experience in social insurance procedures and account. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her French bulldog

Advisor

Galina has been working in the finance industry for over 18 years. Prior to joining Emurgo, she was an advisor for several FinTech startups and worked as Principal Banker/Country Coordinator for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD. She began her career at the audit department of Deloitte in Kazakhstan and later moved to London where she joined Morgan Stanley Securitised Products Group. Galina holds a Masters in Finance from the London Business School.

Financial Controller

Raj has been working within the finance industry almost all his life. After graduating from University in the UK, he did a bit of travelling before landing a role in a leading French consulting firm. He was also studying ACCA and became a chartered accountant in 2017. Most recently he has worked as a Financial Accountant for a credit insurance company.

Human Resources

Previous to joining EMURGO, Shigetaka Doi worked as an HR Generalist in a global IT company. At EMURGO, he recruits new grads, mid-level executives and works with employees on developing talent and PMI.

Human Resources

Ryuta Toida graduated from Tokyo Keizai University with a major in Southeastern Asian Economics. He studied economics in Cambodia and interned at EMURGO for 6 months before joining the company in 2018. He has travelled to many countries and cycled from Tokyo through Western Japan. Ryuta enjoys outdoor activities.

Corporate Development

Previous to joining EMURGO, Takumi Sezaki worked as a lecturer at a computer school. He additionally spent various years working for a foreign-affiliated life insurance company. At EMURGO, he is responsible for general affairs and meetups.

EA to the Head of Global Strategy

After graduating from La Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris with a Masters degree, Nathalie got headhunted by Apple where she worked in product development. Excited by the new disruptive blockchain industry, she joined EMURGO as a support to Global Strategy and operations.