Ms. Kelly Nixon

Executive Director, US-Japan Leadership Program

Kelly Nixon joined the Foundation in 2010 as a Program Officer and has over 20 years of experience working in and with Japan. In her current role as Executive Director of the Foundation’s marquee initiative, the US-Japan Leadership Program, she leads oversight and strategy, and administers operations for the Program’s annual conferences, initiatives, recruiting, communications and network engagement.

Kelly holds a B.S. in International Business from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and pioneered the university’s first exchange program to Japan, studying Japanese at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies for her junior year abroad. After graduation, she was selected for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme and spent three years as an assistant high school English teacher and curriculum developer in Kitakami, Iwate.

Upon returning to the U.S., Kelly was selected by Japan Airlines to serve as their first non-Japanese hire in Administration, holding concurrent positions as Administrative Executive Assistant and PR Coordinator for the NY region. She has also served as an elected Executive Officer for the JET Alumni Association of New York, where she managed the annual finances and IRS filings of the 501(c)(3) organization, as well as large scale projects such as the JETAA National Conference and JETAA USA Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.

Kelly holds professional certificates in nonprofit management from Duke University, and digital and graphic design from Parsons The New School for Design. At home in Richmond, Virginia, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two funny chihuahua terrier mixes and is always on the trail of new sights, places and tastes at home and abroad.