A former company president and Fortune 500 senior executive with more than twenty years of leadership experience, Mr. Takagawa is a highly regarded executive advisor to prominent chief executive officers and corporate leaders.

Prior to founding Corporate Edge, Michael held senior officer positions in a number of leading companies such as Avon Products, Discovery Toys, Colgate Palmolive, and Kikkoman. His distinguished career includes a resume of successful leadership accomplishments, including strategic global expansion strategies, profitable business turnarounds, record revenue achievement and new product and acquisition strategies.

As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Corporate Edge, Michael works with corporations whose high-profile senior executives face critical challenges with highly-visible outcomes. He is frequently engaged by these CEOs or their board of directors upon their pivotal first-time promotions to the role. Michael has also been retained by the prestigious Korn/Ferry International to serve as their primary coach/advisor for a number of newly-appointed senior executives.

Mr. Takagawa is a contributing author to the book Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed, with co-contributors Dr. Warren Bennis and Senator George Mitchell. The book features The Executive Partnership, a chapter Mr. Takagawa co-authored with Dian Harrison, CEO, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. Written for Chief Executive Officers and senior executives of both corporations and nonprofits, the book focuses on successful leadership practices and introduces the executive partnership as the next evolution in leadership success.

Mr. Takagawa is a distinguished speaker on leadership issues including The WOW Factor: Developing Executive Leadership, Presence and Impact and Leading Organizational Change.

A native of San Francisco, Mr. Takagawa earned his Masters of Business Administration from Stanford University and his Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Berkeley.