Michael Takagawa

Senior Advisor

Michael K. Takagawa became a Senior Advisor to New Sector Alliance in 2022. He is the Founder and CEO of Corporate Edge, Inc., a distinguished leadership advisory firm that works with C-level executives and their leadership teams. 

Michael founded Corporate Edge in 1998, long before the mass emergence of executive coaching as a business trend. Leveraging his 20-year experience as a C-level executive and company president, he developed a unique enterprise model combining executive mentoring with team-based leadership consulting. This ensures the achievement of overall enterprise goals while also addressing the individual development and succession strategies for its key leaders.

Since 2005, Corporate Edge has been Kaiser Permanente’s preferred partner, having coached hundreds of its most senior leaders. Other high-profile clients include Adobe Systems, Genentech, AAA Insurance, and Salesforce. In addition, Michael has been a long-time advisor for organizations devoted to the success of women executives.

Before launching Corporate Edge, Michael held executive roles, including company president, chief operating officer, and vice president of marketing with consumer product companies. His career started in brand marketing with top organizations, including Procter & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive, and Kikkoman International.

Since being selected as a Fellow for Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute, Michael has contributed to the Stanford community in various leadership advisory and mentoring capacities. He has teamed with Matt Abrahams, Graduate School of Business (GSB) lecturer, in co-delivering communications/executive presence initiatives for DCI Fellows and MSx mid-career professionals at GSB. He is co-director for ‘DCI Speaks’, a special interest group on executive communications best practices.

A San Francisco native, Michael earned his MBA from Stanford University and BS from the University of California, Berkeley. He resides in Danville, California, with his wife Debra and enjoys visiting his daughter and two young grandchildren in London.