About Us
Leadership Team
Shinichi Hosokawa
Chief Executive Officer
Shinichi Hosokawa
Chief Executive Officer
Shinichi (Shin) Hosokawa is the founder and the largest individual shareholder of GMO Research & AI, Inc. He established the company in 2005 with a vision of sharing the process, system and survey panel with the market research industry in Japan, enabling it to become more efficient. GMO Research & AI is now the leading company offering sampling services with the largest survey panel in Asia. Shin started his career as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in Ethiopia. He gained expertise in marketing during his time with Kenwood Corporation in Silicon Valley and KPMG Consulting in Tokyo where he worked within internet research services before founding his own company. Shin has a Global MBA from the Thunderbird Graduate School in Arizona where he majored in Marketing.
Tetsuya Hongo
Chief Operating Officer
Tetsuya Hongo
Chief Operating Officer
Tetsuya Hongo joined GMO Research & AI in 2013 and is responsible for the Japan Business sector. Before joining GMO Research & AI, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as a customer experience consultant for 12 years. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Yokohama City University.
Kenichiro Ando
Chief Technology Officer
Kenichiro Ando
Chief Technology Officer
Kenichiro Ando is a veteran of internet technologies and a leader in the sustainable development of rapidly growing web services. He brings 20 years of software development experience, 10+ years of management experience and 20 years of experience within the IT environment. His programmer career started when he was 10 years old, under the influence of his mother who held a Bachelor of Computer Science degree. After working on more than 20 development projects, he left for a trip around the world. After returning to Japan, he joined GMO Research & AI as a lead programmer in 2007.
Takenori Mori
Chief Financial Officer
Takenori Mori
Chief Financial Officer
Takenori Mori joined GMO Research & AI in 2019. He is the company’s Global CFO with 20+ years of diverse corporate finance, accounting and other corporate function experience. Before joining GMO Research & AI, he worked at PwC Network for 16 years, where he acquired a wide range of experience, including management consulting, financial reporting advisory, post-merger integration, assurance and internal control advisory, etc.
Yukiya Nagata
Chief Revenue Officer
Yukiya Nagata
Chief Revenue Officer
Yukiya joined GMO Research & AI in 2011. He used to be the domestic sales director in Japan until 2016. After shifting to his new role, he managed the global panel and developed services in South-East Asia. He also created a Malaysia office, operating the company as a managing director until 2021. His current role involves looking for new business opportunities and business partners in Asia.
Pratik Sharma
Executive Vice President, EMEA Region
Pratik Sharma
Executive Vice President, EMEA Region
Pratik joined GMO Research & AI in 2021 and is currently the Executive Vice President for the EMEA region. He has worked with customers and partners for over 20 years in consultancy and commercial roles, within the Data and Insights industry with high growth, fast scale businesses. Pratik has been through an expedition of helping scale up companies and organizations from single digit million turnover to 80 plus million turnover businesses. He has always focused on driving growth through strategic partnership approach to build scalable long-standing relationship. Prior to GMO Research & AI, Pratik has been a part of some of the most respectable industry leaders at an executive position to name a few – Greenfield Online, Toluna, Critical Mix and Dynata.
Shinya Imanari
Executive Vice President, Global Business Alliance
Shinya Imanari
Executive Vice President, Global Business Alliance
Shinya joined GMO Research & AI in 2015 and served as a sales director in Japan until 2021. He then acted in place of a director of sales strategy and marketing for the business sector. Currently, he is the director of partner alliances for the entire Asia region, starting in 2023, where he is responsible for finding business partners and building any new business possibilities across APAC.
Yusuke Nagasawa
Vice President, APAC
Yusuke Nagasawa
Vice President, APAC
Yusuke joined GMO Research & AI in 2016. Since 2020, he has been engaged in the management of research and promotion businesses as a sales manager in Japan. Starting in 2024, he has served as the senior director of APAC sales, taking on the responsibility of scaling business operations across the APAC region.
Seiji Ohno
Managing Director, GMO Z com Research Sdn. Bhd. and Director, Global Alliance Department
Seiji Ohno
Managing Director, GMO Z com Research Sdn. Bhd. and Director, Global Alliance Department
Ohno is the managing director of the Malaysia office and is responsible for the Global Alliance Department. His team manages and operates the Asia Cloud Panel of over 60 million people across 16 Asian countries. He has more than 10 years of experience working for GMO Research & AI and is a specialist in panel management.
Elin Zhong
General Manager, GMO E-Lab Marketing Research (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.
Elin Zhong
General Manager, GMO E-Lab Marketing Research (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.
Before becoming the general manager of GMO E-Lab Marketing Research (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., as a system director and product development manager in 2021, Elin contributed to designing and developing the major panel site. She succeeded in increasing the panellists of this site to over 40,000 in just one year. Prior to joining the company, for nearly 10 years, she had worked at famous software companies in Japan (including Hitachi, Fujitsu, Sony, NEC software, etc.), mainly as a software engineer and project manager. Here she accumulated a notable amount of project management and development experience of Japanese enterprises. Previously, she worked in Beijing and Shenzhen, China for two years.
Willy Tey
Director, APAC Business Development
Willy Tey
Director, APAC Business Development
Joined GMO Research & AI in 2021, Willy is a sales professional who is dedicated to innovative problem-solving solutions. Leveraging his experience as a sales and project manager in the advertising and tech industries, he aims to deliver impactful, tailored solutions for the evolving market while fostering connections and driving sales growth in the APAC region.
Anna Teo
Director, North Asia Client Development
Anna Teo
Director, North Asia Client Development
Anna joined the APAC sales team in 2022 and currently leads sales and business development for the Greater China region. A skilled professional with experience across diverse industry verticals, she facilitates business growth by offering varied industry insights, solutions, and effective client relationship management. Prior to joining the company, Anna worked in advertising, media and entertainment content holding pivotal roles in sales and business development.
Christopher Taylor
Director, Business Development India
Christopher Taylor
Director, Business Development India
Christopher heads GMO-Z.com Research Pvt. Ltd. (India) Sales and Operations division, providing a high standard of client-customer relationship management for the company’s business development department. Before becoming a director of the India hub, he led the Project Management team and later, business development for sales over a seven year period, during which time he contributed to the growth of various other divisions worldwide. Before joining GMO-Z.com Research Pvt. Ltd., Christopher worked as a project coordinator at Utsav Fashion, being responsible for opening retail stores in the best locations across the US and as an account manager at Dell.
Ryan Kaneko
Senior Director, Global Alliance Department
Ryan Kaneko
Senior Director, Global Alliance Department
Since joining GMO Research & AI in 2012, Ryan has accrued comprehensive knowledge of traditional and online data collection methodologies. He now manages global demand and supply partnerships at GMO Research & AI. His groundwork in computer science makes him an excellent individual to manage API integrations with various companies across multiple industries. Aside from his industry experience, his multinational background and aptitude for travel give him a deep understanding and insight into local consumers in Asia.