Smartsheet Appoints Takeshi Osawa as President & General Manager of Japan Amid Accelerating Customer Demand and AI Adoption

Veteran Enterprise Technology Leader to Drive Growth and Customer Success

BELLEVUE, Wash. & Tokyo, Sept. 9, 2026 – Smartsheet today announced the appointment of Takeshi Osawa as President & General Manager of Japan, accelerating its commitment to one of the company's fastest-growing markets. Osawa joins Smartsheet with more than 25 years of experience in enterprise technology, including leadership roles at Autodesk, SAP Fieldglass and Cloudera.

Osawa’s appointment comes amid continued growth and investment across Asia-Pacific and Japan. Smartsheet opened offices in Sydney in 2020, Tokyo in 2023, and most recently Singapore and India earlier this year to support rapidly growing customer demand across the region.

Leading the Next Era of Growth in Japan

Osawa will oversee all facets of Smartsheet's business in the country, including sales, marketing, solutions engineering, customer success and partner operations. He is charged with accelerating customer adoption and business growth, strengthening customer and partner relationships and expanding the company’s presence across the Japanese market.

Osawa has served in country leadership positions for more than ten years, helping organizations drive transformation through cloud, data and AI technologies while building high-growth businesses and creating new market categories in Japan. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with executive leaders to align business transformation initiatives with measurable growth and operational outcomes.

"Organizations across Japan are looking for ways to strengthen their business processes with AI, and Smartsheet provides the visibility, governance and organizational context needed to turn that ambition into measurable results," said Rajeev Singh, Chief Executive Officer at Smartsheet. "Japan is important to Smartsheet’s growth ambitions, and we're increasing our investment in our team, customers and partners there for the long term. Osawa's leadership experience and deep understanding of the market make him the right person to lead our next chapter in Japan."

"I'm honored to join Smartsheet at this pivotal moment for the Japan business,” said Takeshi Osawa, Smartsheet President & General Manager, Japan. “What resonates deeply with me is Smartsheet's approach: rather than replacing the systems and processes Japanese enterprises have invested in, we connect them securely to deliver visibility, governance and real-time insights across the organization. As AI adoption accelerates, I believe what companies need is not simply adopting AI itself, but translating AI into 'execution' that leads to concrete business outcomes. That's the kind of long-term business partnership Japanese customers are looking for. Together with our customers and partners, we aim to make Smartsheet an indispensable platform that supports the transformation and growth of Japanese businesses."

Growth Surges Across Japan as AI Adoption Accelerates

Since establishing its Japan office in 2023, Smartsheet has grown to serve more than 400 customers in the country, including Konoike Transport, Obayashi Corporation and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, and its business has grown by approximately 400%. Demand has been strong across a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, telecommunications and finance. The company has continued to invest in local talent, customer success resources, platform localization and strategic partnerships to better support customers across Japan as organizations increasingly seek AI-powered solutions that improve visibility, governance and execution.

In March 2026, Smartsheet launched its Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, which connects AI tools such as Claude, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise directly to live Smartsheet data, enabling teams to tap into organization-wide intelligence from their preferred AI assistant. Since launch, Japanese customer adoption of the MCP Server has increased by more than 300%. 

“Japan is one of our fastest-growing markets, and Osawa joining reflects how seriously we're investing in it,” said Scott Torrey, Chief Revenue Officer at Smartsheet. “Customers here are under real pressure to modernize how work gets done without removing the systems they've already built. Osawa understands that dynamic firsthand, and his leadership will help us deepen the relationships we've built and accelerate the strong momentum we already have.” 

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet unites people, data and AI to turn strategy into measurable enterprise impact. Smartsheet gives enterprises the speed, governance and trust to execute complex work across portfolios, operations and IT on a single, secure system. Smartsheet empowers millions of users to move faster, reduce risk and realize ROI with confidence. Visit www.smartsheet.com to learn more.