Mike Rakow

Senior Consultant

Mike Rakow Senior Consultant

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mike is a licensed psychologist, certified executive coach, executive assessment expert, and organizational advisor with more than 20 years of experience supporting leaders in high-stakes military, nonprofit, and corporate environments. He brings deep expertise in executive assessment for selection, succession, and development, and he translates assessment insights into practical, behavior-based development goals. Mike regularly coaches senior executives in global organizations, including business and technology leaders. He helps them navigate complex, fast-moving environments to deliver results under pressure. He has coached leaders from senior professional levels through C-suite roles across sectors including healthcare, financial services, defense, consumer packaged goods, oil and gas, nonprofit, and numerous PE–backed companies operating under aggressive value-creation timelines. 

Background & Industry Experience

Mike’s assessment, coaching, and consulting approach is informed by his work as a clinical, operational, and organizational psychologist and as a retired U.S. Army Officer and Special Forces Group Command Psychologist with two combat tours in Afghanistan. He has led and delivered executive assessment and leader development efforts in complex organizations where leader decisions and communication have outsized impact on mission, culture, and performance. His work includes selection and succession assessments, behavior-based development planning, and coaching that translates feedback into practical change. In the private sector, he has assessed and coached executives in organizations such as Medline, McKesson, Citigroup, Beam Suntory, Exxon Mobil, Global Medical Response (GMR), Carlyle Group, and Constellation Brands. In the public sector, his work has included assessment and decision support for organizations such as U.S. Army Special Operations Command, U.S. Marine Forces Special Operations Command, and U.S. Army Talent Management. 

Coaching Approach

Mike thrives when working with leaders facing high-pressure decisions, complex stakeholder relationships, fast-paced matrixed organizations, and consequential change. He is direct, supportive, and pragmatic, grounded in evidence and focused on what will work in the leader’s real context. His coaching often integrates executive assessment insights, structured stakeholder input, and deliberate practice to drive observable behavior change. He frequently coaches senior leaders in global organizations, including business and technology leaders, with a focus on executive communication, decision quality, influence across stakeholders, team effectiveness, and sustained performance under demanding timelines. Engagements range from targeted feedback coaching to multi-month development, transition, and performance coaching.

Relevant Assignments

  • Global Chief Digital and Information Officer of a scale-driven, market-leading cabinet manufacturer. Focus: navigating a spinoff and strategic transformation embedding a Lean culture of continuous improvement across the company’s vast, multi-brand manufacturing footprint. 
  • President of Air Operations for one of the largest and most diverse air medical transport service in the world.  Focus: executive communication, developing a strategic vision, succession planning, team development, and enterprise-wide collaboration across business units in an equipment- and technology-dependent life-saving service company. 
  • CFO of a PE backed a vertically integrated healthcare manufacturing and distribution giant that successfully transitioned from a $34 billion private-equity-backed buyout to execute the largest U.S. IPO of 2025. Focus: executive communications, strategy, and complex stakeholder alignment through the fast-paced and high-pressure IPO readiness phase of the VCP.  
  • Senior operations executive within a global oncology network through the final year of COVID. Focus: executive communication, alignment across senior stakeholders, and accountability during a succession-ready transition. 
  • SVP of Digital Experience and Solutions for the global healthcare logistics leader during a time when they rapidly mobilized advanced tracking technology to serve as the U.S. government’s centralized distributor for hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines. In this unprecedented emergency response, the company deployed AI-driven allocation and digital monitoring systems to ensure delivery of critical medical supplies to over 50,000 locations daily. Focus: organizational change and operating model strategy, inspiration and executive communications, prioritization and focus under pressure. 
  • Managing Director/COO within a global family of beverage brands. Focus: strengthening collaboration and vertical alignment during leadership changes and strategic pivots at the parent-company level. 

Education & Professional Affiliations

  • Doctor of Psychology and Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology – Wheaton College 
  • Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology – Elmhurst University 
  • Licensed Psychologist in Wyoming 
  • Certified Stakeholder-Centered Executive Coach, Certified Executive Coach, Certified Leadership Coach, and Certified Corporate Coach 
  • Hogan Assessment Certification in addition to dozens of other psychological assessment qualifications