New Relic appoints Masakiyo Furudate to lead Japan operations

Masakiyo Furudate will oversee New Relic’s strategic growth, customer success, and operations in the Japanese market.

New Relic has appointed Masakiyo Furudate as Group Vice President, Head of New Relic Japan. Furudate’s appointment comes as the intelligent observability platform looks to expand its presence in the Japanese market.

New Relic leads the market share in Japan for seven consecutive years and has a local user base exceeding 38,000. The cybersecurity vendor has already increased its domestic workforce by 20% over that past 12 months and continues to expand investment in the region. This includes plans to of a Japan-based data center and a suite of advanced AI capabilities.

In his new role, Furudate will oversee New Relic’s strategic growth, customer success, and operations in the Japanese market. Prior to his new role, Furudate was President and Representative Director of Veeam Software Japan, where he established the company as a market leader in data protection. His extensive leadership experience includes senior roles at global organizations including IBM Japan, Microsoft Japan, Red Hat, and F5 Networks.

Furudate believes as business becomes increasingly real-time in the age of AI, observability platforms have evolved into critical IT infrastructure that directly dictates the pace of business growth.

“By delivering cutting-edge solutions, we are committed to establishing 'AI-Strengthened Business Observability' as the new infrastructure standard—one that is directly linked to executive management—and contributing to the enhanced competitiveness of Japanese enterprises,” he said.

Also commenting is Ashan Willy, New Relic CEO. Willy highlighted that Japan is a critical growth market for New Relic. He added that Furudate’s appointment is essential as the vendor looks to scale its global operations.

“With his extensive experience in leading global technology organizations and his deep understanding of the enterprise data landscape in Japan, I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Masakiyo join our global leadership team as Group Vice President to lead Japan through our next phase of growth,” Willy said.

For Rob Newell, Senior VP of APJ at New Relic, Japan is key to New Relic’s global investment strategy.

“Our local team has built a phenomenal foundation, and now we are doubling down with Masakiyo’s appointment. Masakiyo has a proven track record of activating partner ecosystems and translating global technology into measurable business outcomes, making him the perfect leader as we deepen our commitment to Japanese enterprises, and cement our leadership in the local market,” Newell said.