Next Generation Summit 2024 Speakers
Speakers
IKENO Masahiro (Mark)
With extensive business management and development experience, Masahiro (Mark) Ikeno joined the U.S.-Japan Council Japan in May 2023 as Executive Director. Mr. Ikeno was President and CEO of NEC Corporation of America, an industry-leading provider of digital transformation and communications technology and integrator of IT solutions, where he was responsible for the vision, business strategy, operations and leadership of the company. Before joining NEC Corporation of America in November 2017, he was President and CEO of NEC Europe Ltd., based in London. He was a seasoned executive with more than 35 years of extensive sales, marketing, business development and management experience with NEC Corporation, NEC EMEA and NEC America, primarily in information technology and computing. Mr. Ikeno also served as President and director of the NEC Foundation of America, focused on advancing community development and education. Under his leadership, the Foundation worked on CSR, CSV, diversity, equity, and inclusion with NGO/NPO as well as the government and made a significant impact through its initiative. In 2020, Mr. Ikeno was awarded the “Mayor’s Award of Excellence” for community involvement in the City of Irving and the region. Mr. Ikeno holds a Bachelor’s Degree in theoretical physics from Kyoto University, Japan.
ISON Sunshine
A. Sunshine Ison (Sunshine) is the Culture Attaché, at U.S. Embassy Tokyo. Before studying Japanese in preparation for her current assignment, her most recent tour was as Director of the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia. She has also served as Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Lima, Peru (2017-2020); Senior Advisor for Innovation and the Director of the Collaboratory in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (2015-2017); Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Podgorica, Montenegro (2013-2015); Cultural Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (2010-2013); Assistant Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam(2007-2009); and Vice Consul, U.S. Consulate General Monterrey, Mexico (2005-2006).
She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Queens University of Charlotte and a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Before joining the Foreign Service, she spent a year in Venezuela as a Fulbright Research Student, studying Venezuela’s beauty pageant culture. Sunshine is married and hails from Eastern Kentucky.
KLEMM Hans
Hans Klemm is the Japan Representative at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). PhRMA represents leading biopharmaceutical research companies, and over the last decade, PhRMA member companies have more than doubled their annual investment in the search for new treatments and cures, including nearly $101 billion in 2022 alone. PhRMA works to advance policies that protect biopharmaceutical innovation and increase patent access to innovative medicines.
Ambassador Klemm is based in PhRMA’s Tokyo office, leading government, policy and public affairs for PhRMA in Japan. Japan is the second largest market in the world for innovative biopharmaceuticals behind the United States, with total sales of approximately $39 billion USD in 2020.
Before joining PhRMA, Ambassador Klemm worked for nearly four decades as an American diplomat. During his U.S. Foreign Service career, he was appointed as ambassador to Romania and to Timor-Leste, and served as chief human resources officer for the U.S. Department of State. In addition to representing the U.S. as coordinator for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Ambassador Klemm worked at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on multiple occasions, and served at U.S. embassies in Afghanistan, Korea, Germany and Trinidad and Tobago. He is a graduate of Stanford University (M.A.) and Indiana University (B.A.).
MONAHAN Katherine
Katherine E. (Kemy) Monahan assumed duties as the Deputy Chief of Mission to Japan in July 2024.
A member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, Ms. Monahan has served 15 tours on three continents over three decades. She most recently served as Chief of Mission for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, following an assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission to New Zealand, Samoa, Cook Islands, and Niue.
Previously, she was Director for East Asia at the National Security Council at the White House and Director for Japan at the Department of State. From 2001-2006, she worked for the U.S. Department of Treasury at Embassy Tokyo. She was in the first class of Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) participants in Fukui-ken, Japan, and began her career in the private sector as an economic analyst at Yasuda Research Institute in Tokyo.
From 2018-2021, Ms. Monahan established and led UNICEF’s Washington D.C.-based International Financial Institutions liaison office, where she negotiated over $1 billion in funding for children in need. As Director of Economic and Development Affairs in the Bureau of International Organizations, she oversaw U.S. representation in 21 UN organizations (including UNICEF, WFP, WHO, UNDP and ILO) and led UN delegations and negotiations, including to adopt and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ms. Monahan managed one of the largest embassy economic sections in the world as Economic Counselor at U.S. Embassy Mexico, established a new World Bank-Department of Defense initiative to develop country pandemic preparedness plans as Advisor to the World Bank in 2012, and worked to coordinate over $9 billion in annual health-related assistance as Deputy Executive Director of the Secretary of State’s Global Health Initiative. As Senior Development Counselor at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Ms. Monahan worked to align U.S. assistance with the EU in the wake of the “Arab Spring.” She led the team to ratify the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention. In Warsaw just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she supported privatization of the energy and telecom sectors and the establishment of a new stock exchange.
A member of the Bar in California and Washington, D.C., Ms. Monahan was an attorney in Los Angeles before joining the Foreign Service. She is an honors graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the University of California College of Law and also studied at the University of Costa Rica and the University of Tokyo. She speaks Spanish, some Polish, and is a life-long learner of Japanese. Ms. Monahan is married to Joseph Turi and has two grown sons.
OTA Manabu
Educational Background:
March 1997 Bachelor of Law, University of Tokyo, Japan
Professional Career:
April 1997 Joined Ministry of Foreign Affairs
June 2001 Second Secretary, Embassy of Japan in China
June 2003 Official, then Deputy Director, Northeast Asia Division,
Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau
August 2005 Deputy Director, Treaties Division, International Legal Affairs Bureau
July 2008 Deputy Director, China and Mongolia Division, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau
July 2010 Deputy Director, Policy Coordination Division, Foreign Policy Bureau
August 2012 Principal Deputy Director, First North America Division,
North American Affairs Bureau
August 2013 Executive Assistant to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat
July 2016 Counselor, Embassy of Japan in the United States of America
August 2019 Counsellor, then Cabinet Counsellor, National Security Secretariat
August 2022 Director, Second Southeast Asia Division,
Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department
(Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste)
July2023 Director, First China and Mongolia Division, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau
July 2024 Director, First North American Division, North American Affairs Bureau
SAKAGUCHI Tetsuya
Tetsuya Sakaguchi Senior Officer in charge of Corporate Planning, Public Relations and Group Sustainability at Prudential Holdings of Japan (PHJ).
Prior to starting his current role at PHJ in April 2012, Tetsuya held different leadership roles in the insurance operating companies of the Prudential group in Japan, including Executive Officer in charge of Customer Service and Operations at Gibraltar Life Insurance Co., Ltd (GIB) and Vice President of Operational Risk Management for Prudential International Insurance (PII) in Newark, New Jersey during his twenty-four year career at Prudential.
Tetsuya holds a Bachelor of Art in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
UTADA Kaoru
Kaoru Utada is a Japanese-American Shin-Nisei (new second generation) “reverse import” from New York. Ms. Utada joined the TOMODACHI Initiative as a Program Manager in March 2013 and has developed and managed over 20 programs annually that provided opportunities to students and young professionals with a focus on promoting educational, cultural and leadership opportunities. Having entered into the role of Alumni Manager in October 2015, she is excited to be able to continue to foster the “TOMODACHI Generation” of leaders, thinkers and doers committed to the improvement of their communities and countries by addressing the issues surrounding the world today. Prior to joining the TOMODACHI Initiative, Ms. Utada worked for close to ten years in the broadcast news industry where she directed and produced news segments at both American and Japanese television networks (ABC News, Fuji TV, and NHK) covering a wide variety of topics related to social, economic, political, and international news. Ms. Utada first joined the U.S.-Japan Council in 2010 as an inaugural member of the Emerging Leaders Program; nominated and selected for her work in New York founding and leading a 501(c)3 nonprofit (HAA Inc.) that unifies young bilingual bicultural Japanese Americans who have been educated in the Japanese Weekend School system across the 50 states and beyond. Ms. Utada has also collaborated with Hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombs) to help tell their stories to the next generation in the United States; worked with the Human Rights Watch to research corporate social responsibility of Japanese businesses; and created a documentary with Stanford University on the educational opportunities for students from the Tohoku region in post-3.11 Japan. Ms. Utada is an alumna of Skidmore College, having graduated with a degree in Asian Studies and Psychology.
RAPP Keegan
Keegan Rapp is an alumnus of the Building the TOMODACHI Generation: Morgan Stanley Ambassadors Program 2020, a partner program with The Washington Center, a semester-long residential internship program in Washington D.C. Keegan graduated from Queens University of Charlotte in 2021. He also joined AmeriCorps in Colorado working with Habitat for Humanity. Keegan is currently teaching English as a JET Program ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Kagoshima City. Next year he plans to return to the U.S. to begin a master of public administration with a concentration in Community and Economic Development at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
INOUE Ryo
Ryo Inoue is the 2024 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Representative of the Kyushu Region, and is an alumnus of the TOMODACHI Microsoft iLEAP Social Innovation and LeadershipProgram in 2018. Ryo works in Sales & Marketing Development at Alterbooth Co., Ltd., located in Fukuoka. As a salesperson, Ryo is selling cloud computing services. Additionally, he has founded a company called “irodori” in his hometown to support local students’ challenges.
TAJIMA Momoko
Momoko Tajima is the 2024 TOMODACHI Alumni Regional Representative of the Kansai Region. She is an alumna of the 2019-2020 TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program and TOMODACHI intern. The TOMODACHI community has been her motivation to go forward and makes her realize the power of person-to-person relations since she was an undergraduate.Graduated from the faculty of Law, Kyushu University in 2022, she is currently working for air conditioning manufacturer Daikin with the hope of contributing to the solution of environmental problems and enhancing business relations between Japan and the U.S. She is passionate to strengthen the Kansai TOMODACHI community by getting more alumni involved and inspiring each other.
MC
WILSON Emily
Emily Wilson is an alumna of the 2021 TOMODACHI Internship Program at Temple University and currently serves as the Core Committee Member for the Kanto region of the TOMODACHI Regional Framework.
Through the TOMODACHI program, she interned as an assistant teacher facilitating English practice for students in the global leadership division at an all-girls high school in Yokohama. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. After two years working in medical philanthropy at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Emily returned to the Kanto Region in 2023 where she now works as an Event Coordinator in the Career Development Office at Temple University Japan Campus.
YAMAMOTO Taiki
Taiki Yamamoto is an alumnus of the 2022 TOMODACHI Sumitomo Corporation Scholarship Program, and has been actively involved in U.S.-Japan relations with Kizuna Across Cultures and Japan Center for International Exchange. He spent one school year at a local high school in Arizona through the Program for the Development of Next-Generation Leaders by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education. Taiki is currently a senior at Keio University, pursuing a degree in Economics, and preparing to apply for a master’s program in the United States to gain a deeper understanding of international economics and econometrics. This summer, he is interning at a public affairs consulting firm.
Pitch Content: Share your Community Action Moonshot
ABE Shotaro
Shotaro Abe is an alumnus of TOMODACHI Boeing Entrepreneurship Seminar 2022 where he established an orchestra in his hometown, Kamakura, and filled a 600-seat hall in his first concert. He plans to hold a second concert on January 11th 2025. He is thinking about how to build relations with Russia in these difficult times and is learning the language. He is interested in classical music, pop musicians, politics, and ballet. He has been a member of a brass band club since high school and currently in college, playing double bass and serving as a student conductor. He has appeared on the radio many times, including on J-Wave and FM Yokohama. With his experience in organizing concerts, he has drafted ideas and advised in a variety of start-ups. He is currently a third-year student in the School of Education at Waseda University.
HAYASHIDA Miku
Miku Hayashida is an alumna of the TOMODACHI Story Jam for Youth with Disabilities 2021. While in college, she studied social work and self-advocacy as a person with disabilities in Japan and the United States. Currently, while working as a social worker in the field of supporting employment for people with disabilities, she is also actively involved in advocacy activities to share her story as a wheelchair user in various fields. She will pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work at Boston University from next fall.
IGARASHI Hikari
Hikari Igarashi is an alumna of the 2014-2015 TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program, and works at Women’s Eye as Executive Director. Launching the Single Mother Research Project, she has contributed to researching the impact of COVID-19 among single-mother households in Japan and communicating the situation in society. Gender equality and inclusive community development are at the core of her work, and she has also worked for other non-profit organizations, including Amelias, Single Mother’s Forum, and Human Security Forum. She is launching a P-to-P sharing application using blockchain technology, envisioning a society where all people can access the resources they need and take a step forward believing in themselves.
MATSUKI Koh
Koh Matsuki is an alumnus of the TOMODACHI Internship Program and also served as the regional leader of the TOMODACHI Alumni Kansai Region in 2017. He is currently the CEO of Proxy Watcher, Inc. where he helps activate dialogue between Japanese companies and their shareholders who value ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment. While a student at Kwansei Gakuin University, he studied abroad in Washington, D.C., U.S. and Berlin, Germany, covering international affairs and the European refugee crisis as a student journalist. Previously, he was a reporter at Nikkei Inc. covering financial announcements, M&A, etc. of listed companies. Because a lot of foreign employees helped him grow his business, he is currently developing a service called “SettleSmoothJapan” to help foreigners immigrating to Japan since 2024.
NARISAWA Miku
Miku Narisawa is an alumna of the TOMODACHI Rainbow For Japan Kids 2013. She currently operates the TOMODACHI Kibou for Maui Program in partnership with TOMODACHI Initiative and Japanese Cultural Center for Hawaiʻi as Founder/Co-Director at Odyssey Nature Japan. Miku is currently a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, focusing on marine environmental anthropology and environmental ethics of coastal resource management research. She is currently developing a new seaweed farming business overseas that protects the environment and creates capital with seaweed specialists while serving as an Ocean advisor for the Republic of Palau at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).
SOMEYA Sena
Sena Someya is an alumna of the 2023 TOMODACHI Story Jam for Youth with Disabilities. She graduated from the Tokyo University of Science in the School of Management this spring where she studied marketing, gender, and minorities. Sena suffers from a congenital disease called spinal muscular atrophy, and has been in a wheelchair since she was a child. She wants to change the negative image of wheelchairs and disabilities by talking about her life, and tell many people that people with wheelchairs and disabilities can have fun. She has been giving lectures at companies in Japan and sharing information on social media to gradually spread awareness.
Visionary Voices：Corporate Panel Speakers/Moderator
SASAKI Ayano
Ayano Sasaki is an alumna of the 2017-2018 TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program. This program provided her with the opportunity to reflect on leadership as a woman. During her university years, she actively participated in Japan-U.S. exchanges, serving as Vice Executive Committee Chair of the Japan-America Student Conference. She deepened her understanding of Japan-U.S.-China relations through an exchange program at the University of Hong Kong and later attending the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University. Since 2020, she has been selected as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, engaging in social contribution activities centered in Fukuoka City.
KAN Daisuke
Daisuke Kan is the president of Cheerio Corporation CO. LTD, an innovative Japanese beverage company specializing in carbonated and energy drinks founded in 1961. He currently serves as a Steering Committee Member of Japan Soft Drink Association to strategically coordinate the industry’s sustainable development.
As a practitioner in Social Science, he serves on the Board of Councilors of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) where he is Chair of Sustainable Development of Okinawa (Business) Committee. He is also a Senior Advisor to SkyLab, an organization which promotes equity in STEAM education for junior and senior high school girls. He recently joined Hitotsubashi University Business School, School of international Corporate Strategy as Advisor to Dean. Kan has been an active supporter of LGBTQ rights and recognition and Cheerio has been the top sponsor of Tokyo Rainbow Pride since 2014. In 2020, The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto published a case study of Cheerio for their effort to support LGBTQI+ inclusion and diversity in Japan. In May 2023, he joined the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) as Vice Chair of the Society and DEI Committee to promote Japan’s private sector wide allyship and support for LGBTQ community. As the Chair of Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2024 Task Force at Keizai Doyukai, Kan successfully led Keizai Doyukai’s first ever sponsorship and participation to Tokyo Rainbow Pride with 50+ of Keizai Doyukai Members/Japan’s Top Executives.
In the field of private diplomacy, Kan joined the United States-Japan Foundation’s leadership program, USJLP, in 2014. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Program’s Fellowship Advisory Council. Kan is also a fellow at Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leadership Program since 2011 and currently serves as Board Member of Asia Society Japan Center.
Kan received his BA in American Studies from the University of Tokyo (2005) and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (2007). He currently serves as a Board Member of Japan Stanford Association.
SCHACKMANN Alisa
Alisa Schackmann is the chief of staff and sustainability lead at Boeing Japan. She also serves as president of the Boeing Women Inspiring Leadership (BWIL) employee resource group’s Japan chapter.
Ms. Schackmann joined Boeing in February 2023 and is responsible for coordinating the company’s in-country sustainability strategy under the chief sustainability officer. She concurrently reports to the Boeing country president as chief of staff aligning activities across business units and functions in Japan. Prior to joining Boeing Ms. Schackmann spent 15 years moving between mainly Tokyo and Washington DC in various roles. Her experience spans sectors ranging from electric power and climate change to cybersecurity and export controls. She has co-authored publications on energy security with the Brookings Institution and has held positions in Japan including international climate policy advisor at the Federation of Electric Power Companies, and US Foreign Service Officer at the American Embassy in Tokyo. Ms. Schackmann holds a master’s degree in International Energy, Environment & Technology Policy from the University of Texas at Austin, and a bachelor’s degree in Italian and International Relations from the University of Southern California. Outside of work she is an avid recreational athlete, pilot, and cross-culture advisor.
Visionary Voices：Next Generation Panel Speakers/Moderator
NAKAMURA Tsuyako
Tsuyako Nakamura is a tenured full professor at the Faculty of Global Communications of Doshisha University. Her specialty is women’s labor issues in the U.S. and Japan. After obtaining M.A. at Monterey Institute of International Studies in California as a Rotary International student, she served as a professional conference interpreter (English/Japanese) for a few decades as well as a Japanese service manager at a resort hotel in Hawaii (1990-1992). Returning to Japan, she finished her Ph.D. course of Graduate Program of American Studies of Doshisha University and took the current position at Doshisha University. She is researching work-life integration and employment policy for women’s advancement with Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), as well as a researcher for Diversity Research Center of Doshisha University (2022-present) to pursue diversity equity of higher institutions. Her major publications include co-authored books, Work-Life Integration (2021), Human Resource Management in the Era of EVP (Employee Value Proposition) (2018), Work-life Balance and Management (2017), Creating Gender Equal Workplace (2004), etc. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and Harvard University in 2009-2010. She has been active for social services, including leadership programs including TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program (TMWLP) as the first-year mentor/chaperone (2013), Kansai Economic Federation’s women’s empowerment program (IVLP)’s coordinator (2014-2023) and organizer for the Speaker Forum on the Gender Gap supported by NOFO (Notice of Funding Opportunities Award) of the U.S. Department of State (2023-2024). She also served as president of an academic society, Japan Academy of Labor Management (June 2021-August 2024).
HARA Shiori
Shiori Hara is an alumna of the 2018 TOMODACHI MUFG International Exchange Program. With extensive experience participating in various alumni programs, she is passionate about connecting and developing the alumni community for future generations. She is currently serving as a Core Committee member for the TOMODACHI Alumni Tohoku Region. She is presently studying in the Faculty of Humanities at Sophia University, majoring in Philosophy. Her focus is on Western philosophical thought, particularly Ancient Greek philosophy and modern German ontology and epistemology. She is also working towards obtaining a teaching license, dedicating herself to studies in the field of education. Also she has a deep appreciation for the arts, with a long-standing enthusiasm for music appreciation, visiting art museums, and reading.
MASUNAGA Riley
Riley Masunaga is an alumnus of the TOMODACHI KAKEHASHI Inouye Scholars Program in 2015, focused on mutual understanding between cultures and leadership development. Born and raised in Hawaii, he got his start in the food truck scene there. He now applies his entrepreneurial background to HR data analytics, program management and product management at Mercari, as well as mentorship and hosting educational events outside his regular work.
PARK Sunwoo
Sunwoo Park is an alumnus of the 2022 TOMODACHI Boeing Entrepreneurship Seminar. After participating in the program, he co-founded the startup Deepreneur with fellow group members from the program, under the Matsuo Laboratory. Utilizing their proprietary generative AI technology and expertise, they collaborate on various development projects with numerous Japanese companies. Simultaneously, he serves as an intern in the President’s Office at Matsuo Library, supporting projects for the government and major corporations. Additionally, in 2024, he was selected as the youngest participant in the SoftBank Academia, a program that selects the next generation of leaders for SoftBank. Starting in 2024, he will begin his university studies at Waseda University’s School of Political Science and Economics.
