Smartsheet strengthens market presence with promotion of Jarrod Kinchington to APAC VP and GM; appointment of Takeshi Osawa as President of Japan

Regional AI Adoption Accelerates, with MCP Server Actions Up By More Than 700% Since March Launch

SYDNEY: Smartsheet today announced new leadership appointments and regional expansion across Asia-Pacific and Japan. The moves underscore the company's commitment to helping customers across the region progress from individual AI productivity gains to organization-wide AI transformation.

Smartsheet has promoted Jarrod Kinchington to Vice President and General Manager of APAC (Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and India), and appointed Takeshi Osawa as President of Japan.

This comes as Smartsheet experiences accelerating customer adoption across key growth sectors in APAC and Japan-including Technology, Manufacturing and Professional Services-and surging adoption of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server AI capabilities throughout the region.

Leadership for the Next Era of Regional Growth

Kinchington is stepping up to lead APAC as the company deepens its regional footprint. The appointment comes amid continued growth across the region, with Smartsheet opening offices in Sydney in 2020, Tokyo in 2023, and most recently Singapore and India earlier this year to support its expanding customer base.

“Customer demand continues to accelerate across APAC, fueling strong growth and reinforcing the region’s importance to our global strategy,” said Kinchington. “Organizations here are looking to transform with AI, but many are starting from a fragmented foundation. Before they can scale AI, they need a platform that shows them how work flows across the business and provides the governance to manage AI responsibly. That's especially important in APAC, where compliance requirements are stringent. Smartsheet connects work across the enterprise and gives organizations the visibility and control to safely scale AI.”

Takeshi Osawa brings more than 25 years of enterprise technology experience from Autodesk, SAP Fieldglass, and Cloudera. He takes the helm of a rapidly growing market: since establishing its Tokyo office in 2023, Smartsheet has grown to serve more than 400 customers in Japan, and its business has grown by approximately 400%.

“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.”

Customer Growth and AI Adoption Accelerate Across Key Industries

As organizations across APAC and Japan pursue AI transformation, they are turning to Smartsheet to connect data, systems and teams on a single platform. This demand fueled double-digit growth across the company’s fastest-growing sectors in APAC and Japan over the past year, including:

• Professional Services: New customers, including Bangkok Bank, join firms such as Anderson Mori & Tomotsune Foreign Law Joint Enterprise and First Sentier Investors in using Smartsheet to centralize client delivery and resource visibility, helping them optimize resources and enhance customer satisfaction.
• Technology: Tech companies are leveraging Smartsheet to accelerate digital transformation and streamline operations. EmberPoint automated 70% of its business process steps using Smartsheet, while new customers like EML Payments reflect continued demand across the sector.
• Manufacturing: Manufacturers are turning to Smartsheet to bring greater control and visibility to critical operational projects. Motul Asia Pacific used Smartsheet to coordinate a complex warehouse migration, while new customers like Maruti Suzuki underscore the growing demand in manufacturing for technology that helps lower defects and improve time to market.

Organizations across APAC and Japan are embracing AI. Since the launch of its MCP Server in March 2026, adoption across the region has grown by more than 500%. By connecting AI tools such as Claude, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise directly to live Smartsheet data, customers have executed over 600,000 AI actions-an average of 4,000 per day-with the vast majority creating, updating, or modifying live work.

“Smartsheet is the backbone of how we run our consulting business,” said Mike Ellis, Global Head of Zalaris Consulting at Zalaris. “We’ve unified seven business units across 34 countries on Smartsheet to create a single source of operational truth. Now with Smartsheet's MCP Server and AI capabilities, we're transforming our data into real-time intelligence. We can pull insights from across our entire tech stack, including Smartsheet, our BI and CRM platforms, and more, enabling greater automation and efficiency. As a result, we're seeing approximately 67% productivity gains, allowing our project managers to take on more projects simultaneously.”

Looking Ahead

As organizations across APAC and Japan rethink how work gets done in the age of AI, Smartsheet is positioned to help them work more effectively, adapt faster and drive stronger business outcomes.

“The opportunity ahead is significant,” said Scott Torrey, Chief Revenue Officer at Smartsheet. “APAC organizations are making strategic investments in work management and AI capabilities. Smartsheet is the platform that brings these together-giving teams the visibility, speed and governance they need to execute complex work with confidence. Our leadership team is fully committed to supporting that growth.”

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.

Fonte: Business Wire