The Executive Team

Ziya Muhamedcani, MBA

President & Head Trainer

Ziya began his international business career as a sales rep and sales manager with the Carnation Company, before moving on to Johnson & Johnson, where he held senior management positions in Sales & Marketing in Japan, the US, and Taiwan. Ziya established the Madison Company in 1992, providing sales and marketing consulting and training services to companies in Japan, the US, and Asia, before launching Sales Institute Japan in 2010 with a focus tailored specifically to the Japanese market.

Over the past 30 years Ziya has delivered over 500 classroom training sessions, conducted 1,500+ field training sessions, and coached/ trained in excess of 5,000 sales and marketing personnel.

Ziya is fluent in English and Japanese.

François-Xavier Lienhart

Senior Executive Director

François-Xavier first arrived in Japan more than 35 years ago as an ESCP Business School exchange student at Osaka University. Since then, he has worked in Japan for more than 20 years, and occupied CEO positions in various MNC subsidiaries and local B2B companies such as Saint-Gobain (building materials), Lixil (system kitchens) and ARaymond (automotive parts), as well as in consumer goods at Buffet Crampon (wind music instruments).

Based on his extensive experience as CEO of big and small companies operating in Japan, François-Xavier believes the best way to improve the effectiveness of sales organizations and sales personnel in Japan is by providing continuous, structured sales training supported by ongoing follow up coaching.

François-Xavier, a French national speaks fluent Japanese, English and French.

Kazuya (Kaz) Araki

Trainer & Coach

Kaz brings extensive international business experience across both Japanese and foreign-affiliated companies, spanning B2B and B2C sectors.

During his tenure at a Sony Group audio equipment manufacturer, Kaz led sales and marketing for Southeast Asian and China markets, spearheading new market entry and business development. Over an eight year period, he successfully built and organized local sales teams and developed regional sales structures. After completing business school and returning to Japan, he spent approximately 16 years as Head of Sales & Marketing and later as Representative Director (Country Manager) for several U.S. and German multinational subsidiaries in Japan. During this time, he twice led major organizational integrations and transformations following global M&A initiatives.

His B2B experience includes Bosch (Germany – professional audio & security systems), Tennant Company (USA – commercial cleaning equipment), and GOJO Japan (USA – cleaning agents & hand sanitizers). In the B2C sector, he worked with Spectrum Brands (USA – pet, kitchen, and automotive products) and Line 6 (USA – audio equipment).

In addition to his native Japanese, he is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese at a business level. Since 2021, he has been contributing to SIJKK as a trainer and coach.

Tetsuo Aoyama

Senior Training Consultant

Tetsuo has spent the past 37 years in senior sales and training leadership positions within the pharmaceutical industry in Japan. Tetsuo has a background with both Japanese and American pharmaceutical manufacturers, including 16 years with Bristol Myres Sqibb Japan (BMSJ), where he held both senior sales management and Sales Force Effectiveness leadership positions.

In his role as head of field training at BMSJ, Tetsuo oversaw the development and implementation of company wide "FOJT" field-coaching program which significantly impacted on sales growth for the organization.

Tetsuo holds JIPCC (Japan Institute of Professional Career Counselors) certification in coaching.