Since joining GR Japan as a senior manager in April 2017, Akinori Yabata has built good relationships with Diet members and their office of the ruling and opposition parties. He has been particularly involved in labor policies represented by "Work Style Reform", and has gained experience in the fields of IT, economy, finance, energy, environment and fisheries.  In addition to working as a consultant at GR Japan, he organized and managed more than 40 study sessions and educational events targeting Diet members, policy secretaries and other stakeholder groups to support clients' government relations activities. He is also responsible for managing GR Japan's SaaS-based IT solutions, public relations, websites and e-Learning.

When he was the president's office director at Kodak Japan, he was in charge of public affairs related to drug prices and healthcare policies because Kodak had been in the X-ray diagnostic equipment and film business. Prior to joining GR Japan, he was Japan's largest public relations firm, where he managed more than 20 consultants as head of a department specializing in IT and finance.

Yabata graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Keio University,  and is fluent in English.