Mr Yasuhiro Karakawa

Business Development (Philippines)

Cornell University

Yasuhiro (Yasu) Karakawa is Associate Managing Director of Market Creation Strategies at the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. Yasu is responsible for developing and implementing new sustainability projects and initiatives that impact Japanese firms. He works with Japanese enterprises leading project teams to conceptualize and create new market opportunities through creative and sustainable solutions.

Before joining the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, Yasu spent 15 years in marketing and branding at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Interbrand and Saatchi & Saatchi. For the five and a half years before joining the Cornell MBA program, he worked as a strategic planning director at Saatchi and Saatchi Fallon Tokyo, leading cross-functional teams to develop brand marketing strategies and implement integrated marketing campaigns for various clients ranging from international brands such as Heineken, Starbucks, Nikon, and Novartis to small and medium-sized enterprises as well as entrepreneurs and Non-Profit Organization.

Yasu earned his MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University majoring in Sustainable Global Enterprise with focus on base of the pyramid (BoP) business strategies, creative design, and innovation. He has a B.A. from Keio University in Japan.

He is working with Component Two of the CCRES project, looking at the dynamics between people and business in our pilot sites.