WASHINGTON, Sept. 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Renowned Japanese social
entrepreneur Lin Kobayashi will join the United States-Japan
Foundation Board of Trustees in January.
Kobayashi is best known as the co-founder of ISAK, the
International School of Asia Karuizawa, which was established in
2014. In 2017, ISAK became part of the United World Colleges (UWC)
movement and rebranded to UWC ISAK Japan. The fully residential
international high school is now home to 200 students from more
than 80 countries, with 70% receiving financial assistance. The
high school and its short programs have touched over 1,500 young
lives to date.
"We look forward to working with Lin and tapping into her
creative energy in deepening our connections to Japan's social impact ecosystem," said USJF
Board Chair Lawrence K. Fish.
"I'm honored to serve on the board of USJF," Kobayashi said. "I
hope I can contribute in my humble way to further strengthening the
impact of the Foundation."
Kobayashi's passion for education began when she received a full
scholarship from the Keidanren business organization to study at a
boarding high school in Canada.
Inspired by that experience, she studied development economics at
the University of Tokyo and went on to
receive a master's degree in international education administration
and policy analysis from Stanford
University. She joined the United Nations Children's Fund in
the Philippines, where she worked
to develop non-formal education programs for street children.
After witnessing severe disparity and injustice firsthand,
Kobayashi felt a strong need to develop transformational leaders
and change agents. In August 2008,
she returned to Japan to work on
the ISAK project. She started her career at Morgan Stanley
Investment Banking Division and also worked for the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation (JBIC), a government agency overseeing
Japan's Official Development
Assistance.
She was selected as a "Young Global Leader" by the World
Economic Forum in 2012, "Change-maker of the Year 2013" by Nikkei
Business, and "Woman of the Year 2015" by Nikkei Woman. She was
also one of the 16 Yale Greenberg World Fellows in 2017. She was
awarded "Entrepreneur of The Year 2019" in Japan by Ernst & Young, as well as "Bold
Woman Award 2021" by Veuve Clicquot.
The UWC movement, founded in the UK in 1962, is an international
network of 18 schools and 150 national committees with the shared
mission of "making education a force to unite people, nations, and
cultures for peace and a sustainable future."
The United States-Japan Foundation was established in 1980 with
a mission of improving relations between the two countries. It has
since given out more than $100
million in grants and oversees the US-Japan Leadership
Program with a network of 500 fellows from the two countries.
Kobayashi will join on the USJF board: Chair Fish, Vice Chair
Kohei Itoh, Wendy Cutler, Richard E.
Dyck, Arfiya Eri, Colleen
Hanabusa, James M. Kondo,
Craig M. Mullaney, Santa Ono, Keiko
Tashiro, and Donna
Tanoue.
For questions, please contact: info@us-jf.org
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SOURCE United States-Japan Foundation