Ryo Takanashi

Ryo is an MBA/MS (Environment and Resources) candidate at the Stanford GSB and Doerr School of Sustainability, passionate about food supply chain resilience. His passion started as an Urban Planning Master’s student at the University of Tokyo, with research projects in food deserts of Detroit, and the food-supply chain collapse after the Great Tohoku Earthquake. His thesis on Detroit was awarded Outstanding Master’s Thesis from both the Architectural Institute of Japan and the Department of Urban Engineering of his University. He has co-published a book on the theme. His passion spurred him to become the youngest Chief Corn Trader and Supply Chain Manager at Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan’s largest commercial grain importer. He led a team of members across Tokyo, US, Brazil and China to procure over 20 percent of the corn imports to Japan and maintained supply amid crises including COVID. In pursuit of a more distributed and resilient feed-to-meat supply chain, Ryo won buy-in from management and founded the Cultured Meat Task Force within Mitsubishi, securing one of the group’s first startup investments. Ryo aspires to adapt the food supply chain to the changing climate.

About Mizu Risk Lab

Mizu Risk Lab is a risk management platform that mitigates water risks in agriculture. It integrates water and temperature projections to evaluate risk exposures for agriculture financiers, asset owners, food & ag businesses, inputs suppliers, and farmers. The climate risk analysis platform integrates advanced modeling and simulation technologies across climate, water, crop, and finance, immediately deployable for food company CXOs, ag-focused investors, and farmland owners managing agricultural assets along the food supply chain.