On April 30, the alumni of the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) presented the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) with a gift of over $15,600 in memory of former USJC President Irene Hirano Inouye. Coordinated by a small group of program alumni in immediate response to Irene’s passing, the gift included over $13,000 in personal donations from 85 ELP alumni, with the remainder coming from ELP-affiliated companies.
“The response was overwhelming. We completely overshot our goal of $10,000,” said ELP Steering Committee Chair Rylan Sekiguchi. “Irene founded ELP and nurtured our community—a community that’s become a family for so many of us. This tremendous outpouring of support represents both our family’s desire to honor Irene’s memory and our unwavering passion for the organization’s mission.”
ELP is one of USJC’s flagship leadership programs, and was core to Irene’s vision for the future of the Council and the U.S.-Japan relationship. 10 ELP classes have been selected since its inception at the 2010 Annual Conference, and its alumni have become a vital part of the organization’s membership and leadership.