Ms. Higashi has served as a director of Rambus Inc. since May 30, 2017 and is the founder and managing director of Tomon Partners, a mergers and acquisitions and strategy consulting firm. Ms. Higashi also serves on the boards of KLA-Tencor, Zeptor, MetLife Insurance K.K., a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. Ms. Higashi is also a senior advisor to several private consulting firms. Prior to Tomon Partners, she was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gilo Ventures, a technology-focused venture capital firm. Other executive and management roles include various roles with investment bank Lehman Brothers, being a founding member of Wasserstein Parella including the technology head for their M&A business, and serving as a managing director of Merrill Lynch's global technology M&A practice. Prior to her investment banking career, Ms. Higashi spent two years as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. in Tokyo, Japan. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from International Christian University.