Executive Team

Ziya Muhamedcani
President & Founder

Tel (US): +1 650-548-9400 (PST)
Tel (JP): +81 80-3585-5615

Ziya Muhamedcani established the Madison Company in 1992 focusing to improve the productivity of the sales and marketing personnel at Fortune 500 and smaller companies throughout the world. His consulting and training activities are based on the MADISON METHOD℠, a set of 3 interlocking components that are essential for the development of every sales professional. These components are practical, field friendly, based on common sense and champion business basics, elements often overlooked in today’s training and consulting activities.

Over the past 15 years, Ziya has personally developed and delivered the training programs used at the Madison Company. These programs are a result of 30 years business experience and are continuously refreshed based on annual joint accompaniments conducted with sales professionals, in various parts of the world.

In his training career, Ziya has delivered over 500 classroom and field based training seminars, trained more than 7,500 sales professionals, accompanied over 500 field sales personnel on 2,000+ joint customer calls. Because he spends significant time in the field consistently with sales representatives and sales managers, Ziya knows what can and cannot be done in real selling and coaching situations. His training is based on these observations and experiences and this is the basis for his training. In recent years, Ziya has completed development of the EPIC℠ system for Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE), a comprehensive, structured and validated sales force productivity improvement program based on his experience, observations and field accompaniments with sales personnel worldwide.

Prior to the Madison Company, Ziya held senior sales and marketing positions at Johnson & Johnson throughout Asia and the US. He originally started out his business career as a successful sales rep and sales manager at Carnation Company after obtaining his MBA at Thunderbird - The American Graduate School of International Management in Arizona. Born and raised in Japan, Ziya is fluent in Japanese and English.
 

Ismael "Izzy" Ruiz Jr.
Director, US

Tel (US): +1 609-851-6583 (PST)

Izzy has been a top sales producer throughout his successful 30-year sales career. Notably, he built his career at Fortune 100 companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, New York Life, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chesebrough-Ponds (now Unilever), and The New York Stock Exchange.

His extensive and diverse experience earned him numerous “President’s Club” awards as he represented and promoted a wide range of products and services. The products he sold ranged from the intangibles (financial services) to consumer products (consumer toiletries) to medical products (pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and donated human valves/ tissue).

Most recently, he became the owner of a national chain of tax preparation /accounting services franchise where he instills his successful philosophy of selling and training concepts to his employees as part of their training in customer service, added value and pricing.

Having personally experienced the wide range of sales and senior management positions (Specialist, Trainer, Regional Team Leader, Vice President of Sales/Marketing), Izzy recognized the need that one must have “practical training” in order to achieve productivity in an effective fashion. His mantra: “To reach the road that leads to success, it is essential to systematically adhere to a well-crafted development plan.” Izzy holds a BA from St. Peter's College, Jersey City, New Jersey and is fluent in Spanish and English.
 

Stephen P. Gasser
Director, US/Japan

In 1994, Stephen Gasser established an international management consulting firm assisting large, medium, and small company clients seeking to improve their international business success. Prior to that time he worked as a manager in international marketing and sales with ADR Corporation, Advanced Technology Laboratories, Inc., and Squibb Medical Systems. In 1988, he joined Acuson Corporation of Mountain View, CA. Steve established the company's wholly owned Japanese subsidiary, Acuson Nippon KK, and served as president.

Steve has authored numerous articles on international business for printed media including the Puget Sound Business Journal, Yakima Herald-Republic, and Redmond Business. He is currently a faculty member in the School of Management at City University of Seattle teaching international marketing and international business. Steve holds a MBA degree from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management and is fluent in Japanese and English.
 

Charles Lau
Director, China

Charles’ extensive career ranges across corporate consulting, international banking and venture capital in the US and the various China markets. He has been involved in numerous strategic evaluation and development projects in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and has participated in merger transactions, private placements, and numerous public offerings in the US. Charles has also held the position of Managing Director of China Development Industrial Bank, U.S. Venture Capital Operations and has served on the board of directors for several companies; including WaveSplitter, Brightware, Garuda Network, Bridge Bank. Prior to which, he held senior management positions as an international banker in New York, Hong Kong and Taiwan. More recently, Charles has worked with the Madison Company in China addressing sales force effectiveness issues within the medical industry.

Being fluent in the key Chinese dialects and English, his 30+ years senior management experience in international banking and venture capital, combined with his sales consulting activities with Madison provides Chares a unique insight and impact into all Chinese markets from a general management as well as from a sales prospective. Mr. Lau holds a B.A. from Queens College in New York.