When Cori (Williams) Takkinen ’11 sat down for lunch with Christopher Townsend ’82 15 years ago, neither realized they shared a common goal: Takkinen, then a CMC senior, hoped for a job at Townsend Public Affairs (TPA). Townsend, the firm’s founder and president, was already envisioning her on his team.
For three hours, they talked about everything except the obvious. “I was thinking, ‘I’m going to make her ask,’” Townsend recalled. Meanwhile, Takkinen was waiting for the magic words.
When Townsend finally offered her a position, she thought, “Bingo!”
“We brought her on board within a week, and she’s been going nonstop ever since,” said Townsend.
Founded in 1998, Townsend’s lobbying firm is driven by a mission to be “champions for better communities.” With five offices across California and in Washington, D.C., TPA supports public agencies and nonprofit organizations with state and federal government advocacy and grant-writing.
Takkinen’s first connection to TPA came the summer before her junior year, thanks to fellow alumna Jessica Witt ’00, then a TPA associate and now chief operating officer for the County of Orange. Witt mentored Takkinen through what is now CMC’s Soll Center for Student Opportunity.
“I loved my internship so much,” Takkinen said. “Jessica brought me in, and then I got to know Christopher. He let me shadow him, spent hours teaching me how to write, how to think, how to frame an argument, and how to strategize. He has an incredible mind for strategy.”
Those lessons stuck. “Now there are so many times I’ll be working and think, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m channeling Christopher! Why am I rewriting this document four times?’ Because Christopher taught me well. I’m striving for that level of perfection and achievement.”
Townsend’s modeling and mentorship helped fuel Takkinen’s career trajectory and, in June, she was named vice president & chief executive officer of TPA. Townsend credits her results-oriented mindset, relentless work ethic, and “insatiable passion for learning” for her rise. “That’s what told me she’d be a winner,” he said.
Takkinen’s journey has also been shaped by her ties to CMC in another way, through her husband, Michael Takkinen ’10, whom she met during her first year at the College. “CMC has been the foundation of my professional and personal life,” she said.
Under the leadership of Townsend and Takkinen, the business is soaring. TPA now represents 40% of California’s incorporated cities. The firm has also shepherded more than 150 legislative proposals into law and secured over $3.2 billion in project funding for its clients.
Townsend, immensely proud of the firm’s accomplishments, is convinced that his protégé will take the organization even further.
“The legacy of this firm is important to me, and I am confident Cori is going to carry it forward and take it to the next level,” he said.
It’s also a given that CMCers will help get it done.
“The better we can predict hiring quality people for key positions, the better we can compete,” said Townsend, “and it’s easy to predict a standout when they’re a CMC student.”
Recent CMC hires prove his point: Jake Leischner ’21 just completed his first year as an associate and is “crushing it,” according to Takkinen, while summer 2025 intern Shriya Velichala ’26 also earned glowing reviews.
For both Townsend and Takkinen, building a pipeline of CMC talent is more than just ensuring the excellence of TPA’s workforce. It’s about contributing to the success and connectedness of the CMC community.
“We believe it’s imperative to keep supporting our network,” Townsend said.
A longtime board member of CMC’s Rose Institute for State and Local Government, he sees his college ties as inseparable from his professional journey and continues to enjoy frequent gatherings with his 1982 classmates.
“If you don’t have a relationship with your college that spans well beyond your tenure as a student, you’re not doing it right. I cannot see a future for TPA where there aren’t one or two or three CMCers working here.”