Team
Prance is led by a team with a deep understanding of both technology and people. Meet the team building the future of hiring together.
Leadership
Experience across hiring, product and AI, as operators and as executives
Vlad Otawa
Founder & CEO
Ex-Partner at VantagePoint (subsidiary of JAC Group), one of Japan’s largest executive search firms, where he was selected as top salesman multiple times. Led executive search projects for UAE sovereign fund Mubadala, Blackstone, Brookfield, Lone Star, McKinsey, Bain, and other world-class private equity funds and consulting firms.
Ryuto Kobayashi
Chair
Ex-Partner at Bain Capital, leading large-scale organisational transformations including consumer and healthcare sectors. Former Director of labour-intensive large enterprises including Nichii Gakkan, Kirindo Holdings, and Oedo Onsen Monogatari. MBA from Harvard Business School.
Kenichi Wakasa
Executive Officer / CPO & CTO
Ex-Associate Partner and Core Member at McKinsey Digital. Former CTO at X-Locations startup. Led product support at Microsoft and spearheaded the implementation of cloud digital marketing platforms at AIG’s Digital Center of Excellence.
Anurag Kakar
USA Lead
Over 20 years of international leadership and go-to-market (GTM) experience. Most recently Senior Partner at Oliver Wyman, where he established offices internationally including Japan. Oxford University graduate, ex-Merrill Lynch IBD.
Takuro Horie
Business Solution Lead
Ex-expert systems consultant at Nomura Research Institute, working across manufacturing, finance and retail — from organisational design and system architecture through to implementation and operation. MBA from IMD.
Advisors
Masayuki Chatani
Senior Advisor
Ex-Head of Build at McKinsey & Company Japan. Led the development and operation of AI solutions across Rakuten as its Executive Officer for AI. Inaugural President and CEO of KPMG Ignition Tokyo and CDO at KPMG Japan. Original CTO of Sony’s PlayStation, with over 500 patent applications and several best-selling books.
Hideo Nagura
Senior Advisor
Career began at The Bank of Tokyo (now MUFG Bank), followed by Vice President at Knox & Co. and Senior Vice President at Montgomery & Co. Managing Director at UBS Securities and at GCA, and Vice Chairman of Global Banking at HSBC.
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