Team
Prance is led by a team with a deep understanding of both technology and people. Meet the people building the future of hiring.
Leadership
Experience across hiring, product and AI, as operators and as executives
Vlad Otawa
Founder & CEO
Former Partner at VantagePoint, a subsidiary of JAC Group, which is one of Japan’s largest executive search firms, where he was named top performer several times. Led executive search projects for clients including the UAE sovereign fund Mubadala, Blackstone, Brookfield, Lone Star, McKinsey and Bain, among other leading private equity funds and consulting firms.
Ryuto Kobayashi
Chair
Former Partner at Bain Capital, where he led large-scale organisational transformations in sectors including consumer goods and healthcare. Former board director at large, labour-intensive companies including Nichii Gakkan, Kirindo Holdings and Oedo Onsen Monogatari. MBA from Harvard Business School.
Kenichi Wakasa
Executive Officer / CPO & CTO
Former Associate Partner and core member of McKinsey Digital. Former CTO of the startup X-Locations. 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 set up offices in several countries, including Japan. Graduate of Oxford University; formerly in investment banking at Merrill Lynch.
Takuro Horie
Business Solutions Lead
Former senior systems consultant (Expert grade) 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
Former 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. He has filed over 500 patent applications and written several best-selling books.
Hideo Nagura
Senior Advisor
Began his career at the Bank of Tokyo (now MUFG Bank), then served as Vice President at Knox & Co. and Senior Vice President at Montgomery & Co. Later Managing Director at UBS Securities and at GCA, and Vice Chairman of Global Banking at HSBC.
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