Mr. Matano is committed to develop young talents, by using his diverse knowledge and experience, at the Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco, since 2002.

Prior to joining the AAU, he had thirty years of experience in the automotive design industry. He held design positions at GM Design in US, GM Holden's in Australia, and BMW in Germany. In 1983, he joined Mazda's American Operation and established the design team and designed the R&D center. From 1999 to 2002, Matano worked at Mazda Headquarters in Japan, as an Executive Designer in charge of the Chief Designers group and the Global Advance Design. His accomplishments at Mazda include the MPV, MX 5 Miata, RX 7 (FD), and many other projects by the design teams he managed.