Hisashi Kuhara Appointed as Vice President of Gift Holdings

Gift Holdings (Headquarters: Yokohama, Kanagawa; Representative Director: Keita Oguro) has announced the appointment of Hisashi Kuhara, Representative Director of group company Create Partner, as Vice President of Gift Holdings. Kuhara will oversee human resource development for the golf business of 'THE SANCTUARY,' a luxury member-only golf resort project with a total investment of 17 billion yen.

Kuhara is a professional with over 25 years of experience in human resource development and organizational management at top-tier sales organizations. He has led large-scale organizations of several hundred people, consistently managing everything from recruitment to training and team building, achieving both standardization of service quality and individual responsiveness.

Background of the Appointment 'THE SANCTUARY' is a Japanese-first fully integrated member-only golf resort aiming for a 2029 opening. With concepts such as one-on-one caddie systems for every group, Michelin-star quality dining, and 300,000 yen-a-night presidential suites, the project aims to offer world-class service, where the quality of the staff is essential for business success. To strengthen the organization, Kuhara has been appointed as Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer.

Kuhara's Three Missions 1. Designing a World-Class Concierge Program: By studying service standards at prestigious global clubs (e.g., Augusta National, St. Andrews) and blending them with Japanese hospitality (omotenashi), he will build a unique training curriculum. Caddies will be trained as 'walking concierges' equipped with knowledge of golf techniques, wine, gastronomy, travel, and business etiquette.

2. Developing Regional Talent and Career Paths: He will focus on creating regional employment, actively recruiting local youth and second-career professionals, providing them with global hospitality skills, and introducing certification support and overseas training programs so that experience at 'THE SANCTUARY' becomes a valuable career asset.

3. Building a Service Quality Management System: Leveraging his 25 years of management experience, Kuhara will establish a system to visualize and quantify service quality. He will monitor staff performance quantitatively, provide optimized training plans, and implement a real-time customer satisfaction feedback cycle to maintain world-class service standards after the opening.

Future Outlook Kuhara plans to complete the basic design of the training program within 2026 and begin pilot training in 2027. By the 2029 opening, the resort will have a team of approximately 150 elite staff members ready to provide world-class service.