Hideyuki (Hide) Hirama serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) for Rakuten Symphony, a global telecom services company spearheading the global adoption of cloud-native Open Radio Access Network infrastructure and related software services. Hirama is responsible for the company’s global business strategy, human resources, quality management and government affairs.
Concurrently, he served as Strategy Principal at the CEO Office of Rakuten Group, responsible for group-wide new business creation, business development and planning for the entire Rakuten group.
Prior to joining Rakuten, Hirama was founder and chief executive officer of Gemseki, Inc., which provides investment banking services and venture capital investment in the life science industries globally. He also served as board member and executive officer of Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, taking the lead on strategy and corporate development. Hirama started his career with the Industrial Bank of Japan, now known as the Mizuho Financial Group.
Hirama earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Laws degree.