Hiroshi Omata (Co-founder)
Born in 1963, Hiroshi Omata developed a global outlook in his formative years, as he looked out at the surrounding sea, from his hometown of Yokosuka, Japan.
In 1984, he entered the Department of Economics, Faculty of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University. As a student, he pursued rock climbing and ice climbing with enthusiasm. His experiences with those sports – narrowly escaping death several times – enabled him to develop a spirit of challenge and resilience to crisis. In his second year of university, he was guided by Dr. Shinichiro Nakamura (currently Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University). Dr. Nakamura’s work, based on Econometrics, Leontief’s Input-Output Analysis and Computer Programing provided Hiroshi the foundation for his inductive way of thinking.
In 1988, Hiroshi joined Dentsu Inc., and was assigned as an Account Manager to the agency’s Niigata branch office, where he learned, through hands-on experience in a small team, about every aspect of the agency’s business from sales prospecting to collection of accounts receivable. The late Gohei Kogure (former president of Dentsu), advised him to “Think Globally, Act Locally,” leading him to realize his global ambitions by taking a role in Dentsu’s globalization – relocating in to Dentsu’s Tokyo headquarters in 1991, to handle global client accounts.
From 2001 to 2002, Hiroshi was sponsored by Dentsu to study at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), in Switzerland, where he earned an MBA. In the course of his studies, he met Professor Nirmalya Kumar, (Director of the Executive MBA Program at IMD), and developed an interest in working in India. From 2009 he served as Director and Vice President at Dentsu Marcom Pvt. Ltd. – a Dentsu joint venture, headquartered in Gurgaon, India, with branches in Mumbai and Dubai. When the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dentsu in 2011, Hiroshi was promoted to COO (then to CEO in 2012) and put Dentsu’s operations in India on the track to growth, returning to Japan in 2013.
Following his return to Japan. Hiroshi became a founding member of Dentsu Digital Inc. in 2016. After starting up the business, he served as an Executive Officer and Co-Chief Customer Officer.
In 2017, Hiroshi left Dentsu to join IBM Japan, Ltd. as an Executive Officer and Chief Digital Officer. As a member of IBM’s global team, he played a role in the transformation of the giant technology company. In 2020, he moved to insurance provider, SOMPO Holdings, Inc. as Executive Vice President and Executive Officer. At SOMPO, he served as Group Co-Chief Digital Officer, Group Chief Data Marketing Officer, and Group Chief Information Officer.
In April 2022, following the completion of his tenure at SOMPO, Hiroshi started SURYA Consulting Group – a venture incorporated in August 2022 with his wife, Rieko.
Hiroshi stepped down as representative director and passed the baton to co-founder Rieko in April 2024, upon his appointment as an executive at other company. After a brief break, Hiroshi rejoined the journey as Founder Chairman on February 2025.
Rieko Omata (Co-founder)
Born in 1968. Rieko Omata hails from Nara, the ancient capital of Japan where the country was founded. Growing up as a loving daughter of that historic city, she admired cherry blossoms in the mountains of Yoshino, played with deer in Kasuga Taisha (Nara-koen Park), and revered the founders of Japan in the Kashihara woodland.
At the celebrated Nara Prefectural Unebi High School, Rieko excelled at basketball and English, which became the pillars of her later life. Basketball has made Rieko a true teamwork player. In 1987 she passed the entrance exams for the prestigious Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Studies at Osaka University of Foreign Studies (currently, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Osaka University). Motivated by a desire to attain a high level of proficiency in English, which had been her passion since she was young, she decided in 1989, to study abroad at Arizona State University, USA. Returning to Osaka, she graduated from Osaka University of Foreign Studies in 1992.
Following her university studies, Rieko worked at a major oil company, where she got her first experience of the Foreign Exchange Trading business, which set the direction of her subsequent career. After receiving commendations from her former manager for her outstanding talent in Forex Trading, she joined the Bank of New York (now the Bank of New York Mellon) as a Trader in 1994. She advanced to become a Vice President during her 20-year career as a Forex Trading Expert in the sleepless, 24-hour, global, financial markets of Tokyo, London and New York. She left the industry in 2014 with the experience of thriving in highly volatile, global, financial markets and facing the experience of the 2008 Lehman Shock (Global Financial Crisis) as a front-line professional. She had overcome the daunting challenges by teamwork. Today she relies on this experience to provide guidance to clients on how to thrive in an era of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA).
Subsequently, Rieko took her career in a new direction, working as a Financial Analyst and Global Corporate Communications Professional for Informa Global Market Japan, Morgan Stanley MUFG, Rakuten, Inc., and Bitflyer Co., Ltd.
In 2019, Rieko took a role as an Accounting Manager at QCIC Consulting Co., Ltd. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo). Capitalizing on her talents in Finance and Accounting, which are extensions of the core competences that she developed at the bank, she has been engaged in accounting practice and consulting for global companies. On top of that, she has been appointed as Representative Director of the company at the general meeting of shareholders at the end of March 2024.