Our Team

Consultants are our biggest assets

  • USJP consultants are industry veterans with extensive experience in business strategy, corporate governance, organization management, information technology, or finance and accounting. You will work directly with our senior consultants so we can make the best use of your time.
  • Our consultants have significant experience in assisting multi-national organizations in the automotive, electronics, consumer products, industrialproducts, life-science, and other segments. We are familiar with the unique setof challenges multi-national corporations face in the U.S. and Japan.
  • We have 16 consultants based in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Raleigh, and Tokyo. We also utilize other experienced consultants from our alliance firms in Japan, China, Germany, Brazil, and India.
  • Our consultants have prior experience working for global consulting organizations, boutique consulting firms, or operating companies. We can create a consulting team with the right set of skills for each engagement.

USJP Consultants deliver practical solutions to multi-national corporations

Aki Tohyama
president

Aki has been providing strategy, finance, people, process, IT, and risk management consulting services to American and Japanese companies in the U.S. for 30 years. Prior to establishing USJP, Aki served as Managing Director at BearingPoint, and as Partner in Charge of Consulting for Japanese clients for Arthur Andersen, and consulting senior manager for EY. In addition, Aki worked for U.S. subsidiaries of two Japanese organizations for four years. BS Computer Science, CSU Dominguez Hills, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Dallas Alford
director

Dallas spent the first 10 years of his career working for PwC and KPMG and provided financial audit and consulting services. Dallas provided services to clients in manufacturing, pharmaceutical, semi-conductor, retail, and healthcare segments. Dallas is familiar with SEC filing requirements, IPO filings, SOX, and J-SOX requirements. Since joining USJP, Dallas has assisted Japanese clients in industrial, food, and manufacturing segments and provided due diligence, financial analysis, organizational risk assessment, and J-SOX compliance services. MS, Accounting, University of North Carolina, Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Massis Bedrossian
director

Massis is a financial and information technology consultant with a broad set of experiences. After working as a data system analyst for Los Angeles County, he spent nine years with Arthur Andersen and Protiviti, executing financial, operational and IT audits and consulting projects. Massis also worked as Senior Director of Internal Audit for a major insurance company. With USJP, Massis has assisted Japanese companies in automotive, electronics, industrial, and retail segments with internal audit, J-SOX/SOX compliance, and IT management. Massis has B.S. degrees in Accountancy and MIS from CSU Northridge. Certified Public Accountant (CAP) and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

Brian Davidson
director

Brian has 20+ years of finance and accounting experience, including financial statement audit, internal audit, J-SOX, forensic audit, policy and procedure development, and contract controller services. He has served Japanese companies in automotive, industrial products, electrical, medical devices, pharmaceutical, food, and logistics services. He has worked for a regional CPA firm and lead accounting and consulting firm, XPECT, PLLC. Brian has a BA in accounting and economics from Ouachita Baptist University, an MBA from the University of Tulsa, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).  

Yutaka Fujita
director

After working as an external auditor for Arthur Andersen, KPMG, and a local accounting firm in the U.S. for over 10 years, Yutaka established Fujita & Associates to support Japanese clients with U.S. market entry, merger and acquisition, internal controls, system implementation, and financial reporting. Yutaka has assisted companies in various stages ranging from start-ups to initial public offering. Yutaka has extensive experience serving companies in consumer products, apparel, pharmaceutical, and industrial products. BS Business Management, University of Southern California. Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Richard Greenberg
managing director

Richard has 30 years of experience in a broad range of HR related consulting services including executive coaching, employee engagement, leadership development, performance management, and succession planning. He has worked for EY, AON (SVP), and Arthur Andersen (Partner) and helped over 150 organizations, including Japanese companies in the electronics, automotive, and industrial products. Richard also served as the head of HR for an entertainment company in Los Angeles. His international experience includes assignments in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. BS Political Science UCLA, MBA University of Southern California.

Yoshi Hashimoto
managing director

Yoshi is a business and IT consultant with over 25 years of experience providing services to manufacturing, distribution, and service companies. After working for a global IT company in Japan as a system engineer, Yoshi moved to the U.S. and provided business process and IT consulting at Andersen and KPMG. Then he returned to Japan to join Deloitte Consulting and provided busines strategy, organizational transformation, and corporate governance services to increase the enterprise value of the clients. With USJP, he has focused on business strategy, management advisory, and digital transformation. MBA, University of Western Ontario (Canada), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

Bette Hiramatsu
director

Bette worked as Vice President at Union Bank and Chase Bank for 10 years and managed corporate loans to a wide variety of clients. Then she worked for turnaround consulting firms Durkee/Sharlit Associates and the Scotland Group and assisted private and public companies with strategic planning, financial forecasting, cost-cutting, and debt restructuring. She then established her own turnaround firm and continued to provide a similar set of services with USJP. B.S. Business Administration, University of Southern California, MBA, UCLA, Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (CIRA).

AJ Khan
director

After developing systems as an accounting employee for a distributor, AJ started a system integration business. There, AJ assisted small to medium businesses to automate purchasing, inventory, sales, and accounting processes by utilizing small packaged systems and custom solutions. He gradually expanded his capabilities and started serving public companies with additional processes such as warehousing and CRM. He also developed industry specific add-on solutions for Sage ERP systems. He currently provides implementation of Acumatica and development of custom solutions for Japanese industrial and manufacturing companies. BS, Business Administration, CSU Los Angeles.

Katie Koerber
director

Katie started her professional career as a financial auditor with PwC. After performing audit and financial consulting services to clients in the U.S. and the U.K., she worked for Mazars in London and Protiviti in Los Angeles and helped multi-national organizations with financial audits, IFRS implementation, internal audits, Sarbanes Oxley, and J-SOX compliance. Katie has provided services to large and medium sized Japanese companies in the consumer products, automotive, electronics, and transportation industries. MBA Northeastern University, BA College of Holy Cross. Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Yuki Nakahara
director

Yuki spent the first 17 years of her career as a system and process consultant with Accenture and KPMG Consulting. Then Yuki started to work as an independent consultant assisting clients with system integration, business process reengineering, internal audit, US SOX and J-SOX compliance. Yuki has provided services to automotive, retail, distribution, entertainment, and hospitality clients in Japan and the U.S. BBA Management Information Systems, University of Texas in Austin, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Project Management Professional (PMP), Certificates of Oracle EBS, Oracle EnterpriseOne.

Izumi Ota
director

Izumi joined USJP after working as a system and business consultant at Hitachi, Ltd. In Japan, and Arthur Andersen, Bearingpoint, and Hitachi Consulting in the U.S. for 20 years. At USJP, Izumi assists Japanese companies in manufacturing, distribution, logistics, real estate, and trading sectors. He assists these clients with selection and implementation of cloud systems, business process outsourcing, internal control enhancement, and management of other projects. In addition to SAP, Oracle, and Dynamics implementation, Izumi possesses significant experience in managing complex projects that include multiple components and where change management is important. MBA, Penn State University.

Michihiro Saito
director

Michihiro worked for Deloitte Consulting and ABeam Consulting for 10 years and assisted Japan based companies in the U.S. He assisted clients to optimize operations and increase revenue by preparing IT strategies, developing IT systems, and implementing ERP systems. In 2006, Michihiro started BEANCUBE in the U.S. and ibg in Japan. At these companies, he assisted Japan based companies in Japan, the US, and China to develop ecommerce capabilities, build business intelligence, localize IT management, and run distribution operations. He assisted companies in logistics, retail, trading, travel, and professional services. BS Computer Science, New York University, MS Columbia University.

Rick Seireeni
managing director

Rick has a 30-year experience with brand development and marketing. After spending over 10 years as a creative director and art director for entertainment companies such as Warner Bros. and Rolling Stone, Rick founded the Brand Architect Group to focus his efforts to assist corporations with brand development and marketing. Rick assisted leading Japanese companies in consumer products, food and beverage, retail, financial services, and transportation. Rick assists companies with all aspect of brand development such as communication, design and project management, including print, packaging, branded environments, live media, film & video, digital and social media. BA Architecture, University of Washington.

Gary Shimbashi
director

After working for a total of 30 years for a U.S. based global logistics company and a Japanese warehousing company in Los Angeles, Gary started a logistics and warehousing consultancy. Gary applied his broad knowledge that includes material handling, facility layout, workforce management, warehouse management, and EDI systems. Since joining USJP, Gary has been assisting manufacturing and distribution companies to optimize warehouse operation, upgrade warehouse management systems, and train warehouse managers. BS Computer Science, UCLA. Former board member of International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA).

Paul Tran
director

After working 17 years as a system analyst for Allergan, Paul joined Bristlecone to start his consulting career. He then founded Aptelis to provide a wide variety of SAP services, including new implementation, upgrade, and ongoing maintenance. Companies he assisted range from a privately-owned business to Fortune 50 global organizations in manufacturing, electronics, consumer products, pharmaceutical, and consumer services, including Japan based companies. Paul assisted these companies to implement and maintain SAP’s ERP, SCM, CRM and BI systems. BS Management, Pepperdine University.

Join our team!

We are looking for experienced consultants who have a passion to assist Japanese corporations to succeed in the U.S.  on a full- or part-time basis. If you are interested in joining the USJP team, please send us your resume to careers@usjp.com