Melanie Nakagawa in

Melanie Nakagawa

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Corporate Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer at Microsoft
📍 Redmond, Washington, United States

Melanie Nakagawa is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Microsoft, where she integrates technology, business, and policy to drive the companys ambitious sustainability goals. Her career spans senior roles at the White House, the State Department, and climate technology investing. She earned her J. D. and M. A. from American University and a B. A. from Brown University.

An early passion for the outdoors and long-distance running sparked her interest in environmental causes. She now drives an electric vehicle and is focused on making her home and personal activities more energy-aware, aiming to align her personal life with her professional mission to power her home with more clean energy.

She played a leadership role in the U. S. return to the Paris Agreement while serving in the Biden administration.

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Experience
22 Years
Current Role
Corporate Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer
Job Level
Leadership
Location
Redmond, Washington, United States
Personality Overview

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Communication Style
Decision Approach
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Priorities

Topics Melanie cares about

AI in Sustainability
Champions using AI to accelerate climate solutions, such as optimizing clean energy deployment and enhancing supply chain sustainability, despite the energy footprint of AI itself.
Corporate Climate Goals
Leads Microsoft's "moonshot" goals to be carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030, and to remove all historical carbon emissions by 2050.
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Career

Work history

1-2023
Corporate Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer
Microsoft
1-2021 - 8-2022
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy
National Security Council, The White House
3-2017 - 12-2020
Director of Climate Strategy
Princeville Capital
3-2017 - 5-2020
Non-Resident Fellow
Center on Global Energy Policy
12-2015 - 1-2017
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Transformation
U.S. Department of State
In the press

Media appearances

Microsoft names new Chief Sustainability Officer. Featured in Microsoft Blog
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Microsoft Tackles its Carbon Footprint. Featured in Apple Podcasts
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Education
Doctor of Law (J.D.)
American University Washington College of Law
MA
American University School of International Service
B.A.
Brown University
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

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