Our Team – Kensho Investment Corporation
Dr. Leonard Meyer zu Brickwedde
President & CEO Kensho Investment CorporationThe founder, president and CEO of Kensho has been at home in Japan for nearly three decades. As head of the Japan branch of Hypovereinsbank, he got into real estate finance when the market for institutional investors was developing from 2000 onwards. From 2004, Dr. Leonard Meyer zu Brickwedde opened the Japan branch of Hypo Real Estate, turning the company into the largest non-Japanese real estate lender in the country. In 2008, Dr. Meyer founded the Kenzo Capital Corporation and made a name for himself as a consultant and fund and asset manager for Japanese real estate. Kenzo launched the first German fund for Japanese residential real estate. After selling the Kenzo fund business, Dr. Meyer started Kensho. The name signals how its business model evolved: the consultant, fund and asset manager Kenzo – the Japanese syllables mean building and creating – is followed by Kensho (building and flying). Under Dr. Meyer’s leadership, Kensho invests in Japanese real estate and accompanies Japanese investors to Germany and Europe.
Ken Nagao
CIO, Member of the Board of Directors Kensho Investment CorporationThe Chief Investment Officer of Kensho Investment Corporation has been committed to developing the Japanese real estate market since 2008. Ken Nagao acquired his expertise in real estate development, as well as asset and property management, as a partner in an urban developer in Seattle (USA). After that he was responsible for the growth of a family office for seven years. He then built up a team of advisors for Asian family offices and institutional investors looking to enter the Japanese market. His team convinced clients with their deep understanding of real estate and market analyses from both the macro and micro perspectives, and of the homogeneous integration of real estate in their environment. Within the Kensho Group, Mr. Nagao develops optimal investment strategies alongside investors, and implements those strategies transparently.
Hendrik Bierwirth
Member of the Board of Directors Kensho Investment CorporationThe Head of Business Development of Kensho Investment Corporation draws on 10 years of experience of international positions and projects in Japan. After studying economics and cultural studies with a focus on East Asia, Hendrik Bierwirth headed the quality management team for navigation, telecommunications and driver assistance systems at the Japanese subsidiary of the car manufacturer BMW. He then switched to the venture capital side and worked in a leading position with ex-top managers from the Sony Group in a software start-up. In 2021 he completed an Executive MBA from Hitotsubashi Business School in Tokyo. Mr. Bierwirth is a partner in Kensho and leads the group’s corporate development.
-
Junya Takahashi
Head of System Development, Kensho Investment CorporationThe Head of Engineering at Kensho Investment Corporation began his career at Japan’s largest web portal, Yahoo, working as a back-end engineer. Mr. Takahashi then worked as Chief Technology Officer for numerous venture companies, driving their development from 2010. In doing so, he acquired in-depth knowledge of institutional platforms as well as the security and encryption of digitized business processes. In the Kensho Group, Mr. Takahashi heads the digitization of real estate analyses in order to create data-based market transparency for institutional investors.
Alex Evans
Head of Data Analytics, Kensho Investment CorporationMr. Evans started his career at the British Council, where he worked at the UK National Agency for Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship €26b international exchange programme. His various roles included assessing grant applications, leading audits of universities as Compliance Manager, and leading the organisation’s QA efforts as Head of Quality Assurance. After moving to Japan, he obtained his MBA from Hitotsubashi University in 2021 and joined the real estate industry as a Senior Analyst. He uses his technical skills, compliance and QA experience, and industry knowledge to support the Kensho Group’s operations.