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 20 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 Araki

Trainer and Coach

Kaz has extensive experience in international and global business, both in B2B and B2C industries.

He has worked as a sales and marketing professional in Southeast Asia, China, and Japan, where he successfully developed and implemented sales and marketing strategies.

In Southeast Asia and China, Kaz served as the head of sales and marketing for AIWA (audio & video), a major Japanese manufacturing company and subsidiary of Sony. He played a crucial role in new market entry and business development by developing local sales and marketing teams.

Upon returning to Japan, Kaz held various positions as a Country Manager and General Manager for Japanese affiliates of American and European multinational companies. During his 16-year tenure, he worked at companies such as Bosch (professional audio equipment), Tennant Company (cleaning machinery), GOJO (hand sanitizer) in the B2B sector, and Tetra (fish food manufacturer) and Line 6 (audio equipment) in the B2C sector.

Kaz is a native Japanese speaker and is fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese.

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.