Mr. Tanaka leverages his extensive experience to orchestrate Yokogawa’s most critical projects, such as global IP strategy & governance, third-party disputes, and M&A support. He now focuses directly on creative strategy formulation and complex cross-border negotiations, areas where his global expertise is most effectively utilized. Mr Tanaka joined Yokogawa in 2019. Since then, Mr Tanaka drastically transformed IP function to be strategic. For example, Mr Tanaka revised internal IP regulations and IP-related parts of the management accounting, to implement a unified IP strategy more smoothly for Yokogawa Group. Between 2009 to 2019, Mr Tanaka was with Sony Corporation and Sony Corporation of America, chiefly responsible for utilizing patent assets, managing teams responsible for patent licensing, including joint licensing programmes. Before Sony, Mr Tanaka was with NEC Corporation where he worked on patent licensing and prosecution. Mr Tanaka is a Japanese patent attorney, holding a BS and an MS from Kyoto University.