ABOUT COMPANY

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

TEAM MEMBERS

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  Koji Nakasaka COO (Chief Operating Officer)

  While studying at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Hokkaido University, Nakasaka saw the deep relationship between environmental problems and society while researching forest fires in Mongolia. These observations led him to question the nature of a sustainable society.
  After graduating from graduate school, he worked for a trading and investment company for three years but decided that he needed expertise and colleagues with global exposure to create the business that he wanted. During his internship, he worked at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ghana to promote bio-inoculants.
  Later, after working in international development and smart agriculture, he joined Ac-Planta as COO to realize a sustainable global society.

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  Toru Kudo R&D Group Leader

  Dr. Kudo received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Science from the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University. He was subsequently involved in biochemical, molecular biological, physiological, and genetic researches related to plant productivity at RIKEN and the University of Florida. In addition, he introduced bioinformatics to his research field of expertise at the School of Agriculture, Meiji University. His research included the construction of an original tomato gene structure model and the analysis of cis-elements involved in the regulation of gene expression.

  Later, he joined a bio-venture company involved in the field of the human intestinal environment. His primary duties were statistical analysis of omics data such as metagenome and metabolome obtained from clinical trials and in vitro experiments, and the development of solutions to understand and maintain the intestinal environment. He was also involved in a wide range of tasks, such as recruiting personnel, budget management, and networking with pharmaceutical industries. At Ac-Planta, he is in charge of R&D and information technology (R&D).

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  Ian Lawson Davis CLO (Chief Legal Officer)/Business Strategist

  After graduating from the Mico Teacher University in 1997 with a professional certification in Teaching, Ian then attended the University of the West Indies where he obtained his B.A in Linguistics in 2001. He then went on to obtain his LLB from the University of Leeds in 2003, and thereafter completed the bar professional training course at the Northumbria University in 2004.

  Ian is a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the bar of England and Wales in 2004. He has over 15 years of legal experience, and has mainly worked for Japanese law firms and companies. He has handled and assisted with a wide range of domestic and international corporate and commercial matters, and has also served as legal advisor to a number of African embassies in Japan. He is currently working as the legal manager and business development strategist at Ac-Planta Inc.

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  Yuta Sasahara Business Development

  After graduating from Obihiro University, department of Resource Environment Agriculture, he worked as a Hokkaido agricultural extension agent mainly in charge of field crops (wheat, potato, sugar beet, and beans), improving cultivation techniques, and training farmers. In particular, he focused on establishing fertilizer application systems for wheat and potato.

  After that, he joined an agrochemical manufacturer. As a domestic sales representative, he was involved in biological pesticides and biostimulant products. At Ac-Planta Inc., he is in charge of the overall business in Japan, including sales activities and technology dissemination.

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  Shinichi Sato Business Administrative

  After graduating from Chuo University Faculty of Commerce, he joined a big accounting firm. He worked as a CPA, mainly in accounting audit. After that, he joined an IT company listed on Mothers then, worked as Accounting Department Manager in charge of a wide range of administrative services, including accounting, investor relations and legal affairs. Later, he joined a consulting firm, mainly in charge of business improvement and system implementation in accounting and administrative areas.

  At Ac-Planta Inc., he is in charge of all back-office operations, including accounting, general affairs and personnel and labor affairs.

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  Hiromi Suzuki R&D Group

  Dr. Suzuki received her Ph.D. from Tokyo Metropolitan University. She had studied about plant tropisms mediated by one of the plant hormones, auxin. She had also investigated seed dormancy and germination in relation to abscisic acid at INRA(E). Later, she joined RIKEN CSRS as a post-doctral researcher and developed a technique to determine plant hormones from small tissue sample by nLC-MS.

  She joined Ac-planta to help resolving the global food crisis based on her experiences in basic biology research and studying abroad. At Ac-Planta, she is mainly in charge of R&D.

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  Tomokazu Koshiba Guest Researcher

  After graduating from the Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, he obtained his Ph.D. in Science from Tokyo Metropolitan University, where he was involved in research and teaching as an assistant, assistant professor, and professor. He was mainly engaged in research on plant hormones and environmental responses in plants. He also conducted international research activities, including joint research with the University of Washington (St. Louis), the National Institute for Agricultural Research, France, and the University of Bonn. After retiring from Tokyo Metropolitan University, he has been an emeritus professor of Tokyo Metropolitan University.

  Through these studies, he became aware that elucidating the mechanisms of environmental responses in plants will lead to solutions to environmental and food problems at the global level. He joined Ac-Planta Inc. as a guest researcher because the company’s business is based on the scientific evidence that acetic acid, which people consume, works to improve plants’ resistance to drought and high temperatures, and because of the possibility that acetic acid could also be effective for trees, leading to solutions to environmental problems at the global level.

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  Erina Isshiki PR Group Leader

  After graduating from the Faculty of Environmental and Human Sciences at the University of Hyogo, she joined a major human resources company, where she was in charge of sales and seminar lecturing in the Education Division. After that, she became a newspaper reporter, interviewing executives and covering new products, technologies, and investments in machinery, electronics, IT, construction, real estate, universities, and research institutes, among others.

  After that, she gained experience as a writer while working for a Japanese subsidiary in India as a new sales representative. After returning to Japan, she worked as a freelance writer in the field of PR. At Ac-Planta, she is in charge of PR and general internal and external communications.