Darrell Nakagawa is currently a Continuous Improvement Change Agent in Sara Lee’s North American Retail Customer Management organization with responsibility for improving processes for its national sales team. He has experience driving this Continuous Improvement methodology into several GE divisions, and earned his certification by leading projects on saving and retaining customers, and developing a process to help maximize the acquisition of new customers. He began his journey in Six Sigma as GE began its integration into its culture. Darrell is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Distinguishing himself as a leader in the Six Sigma initiative with a project that had trillions of data points, he quickly moved from being a project leader to championing improvement projects across the entire business. Prior to GE, Mr. Nakagawa spent numerous years in the Financial Services Marketing and Advertising fields.
Mr. Nakagawa has a Bachelor’s in Marketing from Roosevelt University. His other educational background was in voice performance, and has performed on the operatic stage with luminaries such as Placido Domingo. Darrell is active with the Saints Chicago organization and often volunteers at local theaters.
He is currently on the board of Silk Road Theatre Project. He has also been active with Diversity groups and chairs Sara Lee’s Minority Forum. In 2009, Darrell was recognized as Sara Lee’s Champion of Diversity, an award chosen by employees. At GE, he served as a chapter leader for the Asian Pacific American Forum. He also led the sub committee for the National Steering Committee to design the metro/regional hub design.
