Global clinical stage biotechnology company, Rakuten Medical, Inc. announced the appointments of Nitin Nohria and Hiroshi Takasawa to the company’s board of directors. Dr. Nohria will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
“In addition to our previously announced $166 million Series D funding round, we are also pleased to welcome Nitin and Hiroshi, two highly accomplished leaders, to our board. Dr. Nohria brings a wealth of experience and deep knowledge to Rakuten Medical having steered Harvard Business School as the tenth Dean of the School over a 10-year period until 2020, and Hiroshi’s strong leadership skills and keen business insights across a variety of fields are essential to the future of Rakuten Medical,” commented Mickey Mikitani, Chief Executive Officer of Rakuten Medical, Inc. “Through the addition of Nitin and Hiroshi, I’m sure that Rakuten Medical will be even better positioned to fulfill our mission of conquering cancer by accelerating our pipeline, enhancing corporate governance, and driving further growth.”
“It’s an honor to join the Rakuten Medical team,” said Nitin Nohria, Rakuten Medical’s new Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Rakuten Medical’s Illuminox platform has the potential to change the paradigm of treating cancer patients. Together with our board of directors, employees, and stakeholders, we will continue making positive changes to the cancer community by advancing our pipeline.”
Nitin Nohria served as the tenth dean of Harvard Business School from 2010-2020. He previously served as co-chair of the school’s Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit. He is currently Chair of the Harvard Allston Land Company board of directors. He sits on the Board of Directors of Bridgespan and on the Board of Trustees of Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also a strategic advisor to the Board of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
In addition, he serves as a senior advisor to BDT Capital Partners, FCLT Global, Piramal Enterprises, and Tata Sons (where he served on the Board of Directors for 6 years). His intellectual interests center on human motivation, leadership, corporate transformation and accountability, and sustainable economic and human performance. He is co-author or co-editor of 16 books and over 70 journal articles, book chapters, and cases. He has been interviewed by ABC, CNN, and NPR, and cited in Business Week, The Economist, Financial Times, Fortune, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining the Harvard Business School faculty, Nohria received his Ph.D. in Management from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (which honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2007).
Hiroshi Takasawa is CEO of Rakuten Asia, President of Rakuten’s Investment and Incubation Company, and is responsible for Rakuten Capital, managing various investment funds including Rakuten Ventures, Rakuten FinTech Fund, Rakuten Global EC Fund and the company’s mobility investments. He joined Rakuten in 2005 and established Rakuten Strategic Partners, a private equity investment platform under which he actively engaged in venture investments, buyout investments and other transactions. He has contributed to many of Rakuten’s merger and acquisition deals and post-merger integration processes, primarily in financial services.
Takasawa has also held a number of executive positions, including President of Rakuten Securities Holdings, Chairman of Rakuten Investment Management and President of Rakuten Life Insurance. He serves as a member of the board of directors of various investments including Source Next, Money Partners, and others.
Prior to joining Rakuten, Takasawa worked at Nomura Securities (Tokyo) and Nomura Securities International in New York where he was involved in the supervision of various securitization, mortgage derivative structuring, and fund management activities. At GMAC Commercial Mortgage Japan he served as CFO, managed overall financial operations, and was involved in mortgage loan, real estate equity, and distressed asset businesses. He is a member of the Japanese Association of Turnaround Professionals. Takasawa holds a bachelor of Business Administration from Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan.
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