26 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN After starting his career as an automobile engineer, Kevin Takarada ’06G planned to transition into the medical device industry. His path, and the New York City job market, led him to an entirely new field—finance. Yet Takarada never felt fully fulfilled in his career. He yearned for more. Already dealing with a period of professional frustration, his personal life was upended in 2012 as his parents, who had been battling cancer for years, lost their fight within two weeks of each other. To deal with the grief, Takarada poured himself into his work. But after years of dedicating nearly all his time and effort to his job and not being appropriately recognized, Takarada knew something had to change. As he dug into the same old salad he purchased each day for lunch, he wondered why he never enjoyed sushi for his midday meal. How could he get out of his rut, both with his dining habits and career path? “I wanted to combine my background in engineering with my love for sushi, and create something that was both fast and fresh,” Takarada says. His bland salad routine eventually led Takarada to leave finance and start MakiMaki Sushi, a restaurant that produces affordable, quick, fresh sushi. Opening the first Manhattan location in 2017, Takarada has successfully revolutionized sushi in New York City, and recently opened his fourth location in the city’s borough. An Evolving Engineer Raised in Miami Beach, Florida, Takarada grew up surrounded by the restaurant industry. His parents owned sushi restaurants, and as a child, he learned the intricate process of sushi-making. However, he was also keenly aware of the demanding lifestyle that came with restaurant ownership—long nights, working weekends and sacrificing family time. Determined to chart a different path, he pursued engineering. Takarada earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University and landed a coveted job at a Honda manufacturing plant where he led a project designing the 2005 Honda Odyssey’s automatic transmission. Fluent in Japanese, he bridged cultural gaps between the Ohio manufacturing plant and Japan’s research and development team, successfully turning around a troubled project. The technical challenges of developing a transmission for a larger vehicle with higher torque gave him hands-on experience in design and manufacturing, skills that would later serve him well in the restaurant world. While he thrived in engineering, Takarada wasn’t fulfilling his long-term goals. Wanting to expand his horizons, he earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Lehigh, where he further shaped his technical approach. He was a teaching assistant and research assistant, roles that deepened his understanding of problem-solving and leadership. And the academic environment helped him transition from the practical challenges at Honda to a more innovative mindset. A Detour into Finance Although he envisioned his engineering skills leading him into the medical device industry, he struggled to find the right role in New York City and took an unexpected detour into finance. “I was typecast as an automotive engineer,” he says. In 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, Takarada became a temporary contractor at UBS, a multinational financial services company. Despite being far removed from engineering, he once again applied his technical mindset to streamline workflows and automate redundant processes. Within weeks, he had transformed daily tasks that took hours into processes completed in minutes. This ability to innovate quickly earned him a reputation as the “fixer” on his team. He soon moved to a full-time role as a market risk manager at Mizuho Bank. “I was processing millions of data points, analyzing risk and using my engineering skills in a completely different context,” Takarada says. At Mizuho, he learned a great deal about the complexities of the financial markets, from all the securities that are being traded in the open market, to the various parameters and models that determine an asset value, alongside risks and the impact of general news that can swing the market. “I was dealing with millions of data points to determine the risk the company carries from all market aspects,” he says. “I was turning into a data monster that was well
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