Atsuko Horiguchi
Facilitator + Executive Coach
Atsuko Horiguchi is a multicultural and multidisciplinary leadership coach and facilitator. Her passion is in helping people and teams get out of their own way and realize their dreams and ambitions. A big proponent of elegant solutions and purposeful simplicity, her greatest joy is in helping others find clarity, meaning, and a way forward. She has helped institutions across sectors in multiple domains – from housing finance to renewable energy, from digital transformation to conflict management.
Atsuko brings to her work over 25 years of professional experience working in international finance (at the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets), combined with over 12 years’ work in personal transformation and leadership development. Atsuko has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor’s degree with honors in international studies from Johns Hopkins University. While at the World Bank Group, she completed the International Executive Programme at INSEAD and received training in building high-performing and innovative teams at Stanford.
Atsuko is a classically trained pianist (admitted to the Juilliard Pre-College Division at age seven) and loves Bach. She also loves cooking, crossword puzzles, Peloton, hiking, skiing, sailing, kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding. Originally from Kobe, Japan, Atsuko has lived in Brazil, the US and Norway, and has traveled extensively through all the regions of the world. In 1994, she bicycled 3,600 miles across the backroads of China over six months, from Beijing to Hong Kong. She speaks English and Japanese fluently, and can survive in French, Mandarin, Norwegian and Spanish. A Washingtonian for 30 years, Atsuko lives with her Norwegian husband, two spirited teenagers, and their exuberant Golden Retriever.
Atsuko received her Certified Coach Training with Julio Olalla from the Newfield Network. She is an ICF- certified coach, Agile ScrumMaster®, a certified DiSC facilitator, as well as a certified facilitator in Grounded and Conscious Leadership, Scandinavian Leadership (LOTS®) and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®.