Margaret Abe-Koga led the City of Mountain View (California) as mayor through the many challenges of 2020. But it was not her first time leading in a crisis. She was appointed mayor by her fellow city council members in 2009, during the Great Recession. Margaret will come talk to us about leadership in the face of national and global disasters.

Margaret Abe-Koga was born at Stanford Hospital and raised in San Mateo by immigrant parents from Japan. She moved to Mountain View in 1998 with her husband, Yotto Koga, when they were able to purchase their first home. They took care of Margaret’s parents during their latter decades, and are raising two daughters who have attended public schools in Mountain View.

Margaret has served on the Mountain View City Council for two periods (2007-2015 and 2016-present), as Mayor in 2009 and 2020, and as Vice-Mayor in 2008 and 2019. She is the first Asian Pacific American female to serve in those capacities in Mountain View’s history. Prior to her election to the City Council, Margaret served on the City’s Human Relations Commission and the Environmental Planning Commission and the Santa Clara County Board of Education.

Margaret has also served in numerous capacities in the private and non-profit sectors, including as Government Affairs Manager for Synopsys Corporation; as Associate Director of the Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute (APALI) at De Anza College; and owned and operated a small business. She received her BA in Government from Harvard University.