After working at Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. and Barclays Bank PLC, Masahiro Matsuoka joined UBS Securities Japan Ltd. (now UBS Securities), in 1997, and was subsequently appointed concurrently as Head of Equity Research and Managing Director in 1999. He joined the Industrial Revitalization Corporation Japan in 2003 and was appointed as Managing Director. Mr. Matsuoka co-established Frontier Management Inc. in 2007 and currently serves as Co-President. He was appointed as a Chairman of Frontier Management (Shanghai) Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary) in 2012 and a Director of the Board of Celebrain Corporation in 2022 and a Representative Director & Co-President of Frontier Capital Inc. in 2022.

At Nomura Research Institute, the UK based Barclays Bank PLC, and the Swiss based UBS AG, Mr. Matsuoka worked as an equity analyst dealing mainly with the retail industry for a total of ten years. During his term at UBS AG, he was ranked top in his field as an equity analyst in the retail sector in multiple ranking indexes in Japan and abroad, such as those of the Nikkei Financial Daily, Mainichi Economist, Institutional Investor and others in 1999. After assuming the post of Head of Equity Research in 1999, as a member of management he raised the overall level of equity research by UBS AG in the Japanese stock market.

While at the Industrial Revitalization Corporation Japan in 2003, Mr. Matsuoka was involved with business reorganization plan proposal and in the reorganization process of regional department stores, such as Tsu-Matsubishi Co. and the Usui Department Store Co. He was also involved in the reorganization plan proposal phase of Kanebo, Ltd. in 2004, and assisted as a director in the company in its execution of the plan. Also in 2004 he worked at proposing revitalization plans for The Daiei, Inc., and in 2005 served as a director in the company to lead its reorganization. In 2005 he served concurrently as director for the department stores Jujiya and Nakago, both subsidiaries of the Daiei Group, and helped execute mergers and acquisitions with other group companies in addition to assisting in reconstructing those businesses.

Mr. Matsuoka has authored several books, including Kouri-gyou no Saiteki Senryaku (“Optimum Strategies for Retail Businesses”, Nikkei Inc., 1998), Hyakkaten ga Fukkatsu suru Hi (“The Day Department Stores Come Back to Life”, Nikkei BP, 2000), Tonya to Shousha ga Fukkatsu suru Hi (“The Day Wholesale Stores and Trading Companies Come Back to Life”, Nikkei BP, 2001), Gyakyusetsu no Nippon Kigyou-ron (“Japanese Corporations in Paradox”, Diamond Inc., 2003), coauthor of Shiteki-seiri Keikaku-sakutei no Jitsumu (“The Practice of Drafting Plans for Private Liquidation”, Shojihomu, 2011), Ryuutsuu-gyou no ‘Joushiki’ wo Utagae! (“Doubt the Conventional Wisdom of Distribution”, Nikkei Publishing Inc., 2012), Judgment Innovation (DIAMOND, Inc., 2013), Co-author of Takuhai ga Nakunaru Hi, Doji-sei Kaisyou no Syakai-ron (“De-synchronous revolution of retail & services”, Nikkei Inc., 2017),and Motazaru Keiei no Kyojitsu (Nikkei Publishing Inc., 2019). He is a member of the Japanese Association of Turnaround Professionals, and a lecturer at Waseda University Finance Research Center’s course on “Investment bank business: Turnaround investments” from 2008 to 2018 school year. He has also appeared as a newscaster on the BS11 television program “INsideOUT” from October 2011 to March 2014.