2025 WISE Program in Suwa-Shiojiri

Known for bringing the best of Western and Japanese communications solutions, Shuri Fukunaga is regularly sought to speak on communications integral to organizations undergoing globalization and reputational issues. After heading J.P. Morgan’s Asia Pacific communications and then Nissan’s global communications, Ms Fukunaga returned in 2003 to Burson-Marsteller, a global communications agency. After serving as its Chief Executive Officer Japan from 2005 to 2019, she founded Persuade Incorporated, an executive communications consulting firm, in January 2020.

Mari is a sustainable finance expert with extensive background in inclusive business, sustainable finance, and entrepreneurship. Most recently, Mari founded the SDG Impact Japan to promote ESG and impact finance in Japan and Asia and serve as CoCEO. Before the SDG Impact Japan, She was the global head of diversity and human rights of the Fastretailing Group. Before FR, she led the establishment of the Asia Women Impact Fund, USD 100 million Impact Fund at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, with the objective to catalyze capital to improve the lives of women and remove gender barriers in Asia. Mari held various senior positions at the World Bank Group in Washington DC and Tokyo including the representative of the MIGA Tokyo. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo and an M.A. in Environment and Finance from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is an outside director of Mitsubishi Corporation and Terumo Corporation and . She also serves on many other government and public sector committees and as an ESG advisor to corporations.

Born and raised in Silicon Valley, California, Michael began his entrepreneurial career by owning and managing an elderly care facility, then moving on to Google where he worked in operations optimization at Google Shopping. Wanting more adventure, he left Silicon Valley and moved to Hollywood where he worked as a prop maker on blockbuster movies such as Transformers and X-men (Logan).

Having always been interested in living abroad, he decided to move to Japan in 2017 as an English teacher. Eager to return to tech, he learned to program and transitioned to working as a software engineer in fintech, then to product manager at a children’s programming educational company, and most recently as the manager of data analytics team at DMM.com on its Eikaiwa business.

After seeing the opportunity to make a positive impact on society and public health by connecting elderly and young people through IT, he left DMM and co-founded 株式会社nabe, which is building services to reduce the isolation of elderly, where he currently serves as CEO.

Based in the U.S., Daniel Cohn is the President of Vitric Advisors, a strategy consulting firm that helps philanthropic organizations drive meaningful impact. With 15 years of experience in philanthropy, public policy, and coalition-building, he has led initiatives addressing critical issues that range from housing and childhood development to maternal/infant health and emergency response. Previously, Daniel served as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer with the Mt. Sinai Health Foundation, where he managed grantmaking in community health and oversaw multiple, high-profile public-private partnerships.

Earlier in his career, he worked at Cornell University as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contributing to national efforts like First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign. Daniel holds academic training in public health, ethics, and public affairs—and in his spare time, he runs Collected Home, an interior design consulting firm.

Hiromi Murakami is the Founder and President of JSIE. Prior to founding JSIE, she’s involved in various policy projects in US/Japanese institutions, including Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center, the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI), and Economic Strategy Institute. Currently Murakami is adjunct associate professor at Temple University Japan campus and is a Visiting Fellow at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Japan.  She holds a Ph.D. in international relations from School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Fumiko is an Executive director for research at JSIE. She teaches International Relations Theory, East Asian Security, and other courses at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University graduate schools. She also founded an NPO to support underprivileged children in Indonesia. She has a Ph.D. from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.

After graduating from the University of Leeds in the U.K., Mayumi worked for Mitsui & Co. in the U.S. and at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. After returning to Japan, while supporting executives and researchers at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and the Tokyo Foundation, she was involved in planning and managing programs and public relations, particularly international exchange and policy dialogue programs. Currently, she supports several corporate executives as a freelance executive assistant.

After graduating from Keele University (UK) in 2016, with a BA in Criminology with Japanese, Caitlin joined the JET Programme. She worked as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) and Vice Prefectural Advisor in Kumamoto City, Japan.

Through a strong interest in community involvement and service to others, she has held roles such as ALT project manager, international student peer mentor, volunteer at community justice centres & police stations, along with time as a police cadet. She is also an initiated member of the Chi Omega women’s fraternity (Chi Zeta chapter).

Caitlin won the best award at the Kumamoto WISE Special in 2019. With JSIE’s support, she has developed an app designed to detect abuse & neglect within Japanese school children and incorporated Kabushikikaisha Guardian in 2022.

Kanon is a WISE Fellow for 2023-2024 and a recipient of the WISE Leadership Award. She has actively participated in JSIE’s events, including the WISE program, where she developed a strong interest in its activities and management. She is currently a student at Sophia University.