Board of Directors

Ying Luo, PhD
Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO

Dr. Luo completed his undergraduate education at Peking Union Medical College (Peking University’s Premedicine) in 1982 and received his doctorate in biomedical sciences from the University of Connecticut Health Center in 1991. During 1993, he joined the University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow studying HIV gene regulation. Prior to Shanghai Genomics Dr. Luo gained experience at various biotech firms, including Aviron, Clonetech, and served as the senior director of Genomics and Target Discovery at Rigel Pharmaceuticals. He is currently President and CEO of GNI Group and General Manager of Shanghai Genomics. Dr Luo’s research was in the field of protein-protein interactions in cancer and inflammation signaling pathways. In the last twenty years, Dr. Luo has authored more than 35 research publications in top scientific journals. His concurrent posts include Chairman of the Board of Shanghai Genomics, Inc., Beijing Continent Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., GNI Hong Kong Limited, and Cullgen (Shanghai), Inc., Director of GNI USA, Inc. and Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials LLC, Chairman and Director of Cullgen Inc. etc.

Ryosuke Matsui
Director, Executive Officer, Vice President COO and CFO

Ryosuke Matsui was the founder CEO of M.E.Movement Inc in 2002, and in 2005 began working at the Tokyo branch of Fidelity International, one of the largest asset management companies in the world, as a dedicated analyst focused on mid to small capital companies. Managing small cap sector fund in 2009, and pilot fund from 2011, became the portfolio/fund manager from 2013. Until the departure in May 2022, has experienced more than 11,000 meetings with founders, management teams and IR personnel in diversified industries, sectors, and business models. Having confronted historic moments, politics, policies, economic cycles, and boom-bust of companies, have built insights into what factors affect stock prices and investors. Currently works as the representative of The Ranma Investment Inc.

Zhang Ping
Director, Executive Officer

After graduating from Fudan University in China, he worked at ITOCHU SHANGHAI LTD. and Mitsui & Co., where he was involved in international trade and the establishment of overseas joint ventures of Japanese companies. After that, he studied abroad at the University of Chicago and after obtaining an MBA, he returned to Japan and worked in M&A and non-performing loan business at Shinsei Bank. In 2004, he established the Chinese subsidiary of Mitsubishi Securities, assumed the position of president, and was involved in many Sino-Japanese M&A projects. In 2008, he became the first partner from mainland China at AEA Investors, a long-established US PE fund, and serves as its China representative. In 2011, he joined Japan Asia Investment’s China VC fund, invested in numerous small and medium-sized companies, and worked to improve corporate value. Since 2015, as the head of the private equity investment division of Hyakunen Insurance, he has invested over tens of billions of yen in Chinese healthcare-related funds, and has also directly invested in new diabetes drugs, medical equipment sales, wind power generation, He cited many success stories, including logistics warehouses. In 2018, it joined String Capital and expanded its wind and solar power generation business. In 2021, he jointly established an investment fund for global medical device ventures with GENESIS, a major medical device company.

Thomas Eastling
Director

Thomas Eastling concurrently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Cullgen Inc. in San Diego. He previously served as Chief Financial Officer of the GNI Group from 2013 to 2021. He has over 35 years’ experience in global finance, M&A and executive management with senior postings in New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Mr. Eastling started on Wall Street at Nikko Securities Co. International, Inc., rising to the position of Senior Vice President & General Manager of the Investment Banking and Syndicate Divisions. In the late 1990’s, he moved to Japan as Company Representative for Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. and subsequently worked as Managing Director for Softbank Corp. In 2009 he relocated to Hong Kong with American Appraisal where he served as Director of the firm’s Transaction Advisory Services in Asia. Mr. Eastling has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a Masters from the American Graduate School of International Management. He speaks Japanese and is pursuing Mandarin.

Hideaki Sashiwa
External Director

After graduating from Waseda University with a degree in Commerce, Hideaki Sashiwa has worked with major securities companies including Daiwa Securities Co.Ltd, Kleinwort Benson and Goldman Sachs where he cultivated his specialized knowledge about finance and investment. He is currently the President of Nippon Concierge Co., Ltd. and Representative Director and Vice-President of GI Capital Securities Ltd.

Kanako Kikuchi
External Director

Over 20 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She has held business and strategic leadership positions at multiple multinational pharmaceutical companies in Japan and the United States. Prior to her current position, she served as President of the Japanese subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline plc. In May 2018, she assumed the position of Representative Director and President of UCB Japan Co., Ltd., the Japanese subsidiary of UCB S.A. in Belgium. Board of Director of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) Japan Advisor for Economic Diplomacy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Kingdom of Belgium Bachelor of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University / Pharmacist

Masahiro Matsuoka
External Director

After graduating from the University of Tokyo with a degree in economics, Matsuoka worked consistently as a securities analyst in the Japanese consumer sector at Nomura Research Institute, Barclays Securities, and UBS Securities. In 2003 he joined the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan, a public fund, where he was involved in the creation and implementation of revitalization plans for Kanebo and Daiei, Inc. as a director of both companies. In 2007, he co-founded Frontier Management Inc., a management consulting and M&A firm, and became co-president. In 2025, he was appointed Representative Director of YCP Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of the YCP Group, a global management consulting firm.