Irene A.Y. Hirano Inouye

Irene Hirano Inouye is the President of the U.S.-Japan Council, having been appointed to that position when the group was formed in 2009. She focuses on building positive relations between the United States and Japan. Through her work at the Council, she also administers the TOMODACHI Initiative, a public-private partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo that invests in young Japanese and Americans while supporting the recovery of the Tohoku region. She is also Chair of the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees. She previously served as President and founding Chief Executive Officer of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles from 1988 to 2009, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. She served as president and CEO of the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, an affiliate of the National Museum. Her current professional and community activities include serving as a trustee of the Kresge Foundation and The Washington Center, and as the officer at large to the Independent Sector's Executive Committee. Hirano Inouye is also a member of the advisory board of the APDR3 Asia-Pacific Disaster Risk, Reduction and Resiliency Network of the University of Hawaii Foundation.