Was the Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and member of the Board of LiveDoor, a leading publically traded TSE (Tokyo Stock Exchange) company in the IT industry; currently an independent investor; provides investment and strategic business advisory services for selected companies that includ Netvilage, a Mobile Contents provider listed in Nasdaq Japan, Astrix Capital Partners, a privately held venture capital investment firm; hobbies: sports car, go-kart and sailing; was assigned as fourth space tourist to Soyuz TMA-9; but on 21.08.2006 medically grounded and replaced by his double Anousheh Ansari.