PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UNITED STATES-JAPAN FOUNDATION HIRES NEW PRESIDENT!
September 23, 2019, New York, NY – The United States-Japan Foundation announced the appointment of Dr. James T. Ulak as the organization’s new President. He will succeed Dr. George Packard and serve as the Foundation’s fifth president since its establishment in 1980.
As President of the Foundation Ulak will have the overall responsibility for the communication and implementation of the Foundation’s mission and all aspects of the organization’s operations including administration, strategic planning, supervision of the Foundation’s grant making program in the United States and Japan, and the US-Japan Leadership Program.
Ulak has functioned as an educator, scholar, curator and cultural diplomat. At the Smithsonian, he oversaw a significant expansion of the museum’s already distinguished Japanese art holdings and advanced the financial base for the increase of exhibitions, programs and staff development. He worked closely with Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, The Japan Foundation, public and private Japanese museums, and a range of corporate entities.
He has held positions at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and The Art Institute of Chicago which were followed by a twenty-five year tenure as a curator of Japanese art and senior administrator at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Extensive experience in Japan preceded Ulak’s career in Japanese art. In the 1970s and early 1980s he had pastoral duties at several Roman Catholic churches in the diocese of Kyoto and served as Director of Kibo no le, a municipal social service center in the heart of one of Kyoto’s most challenged neighborhoods. He also developed a series of cultural immersion training programs for American theology students embarking on careers in Japan.
Ulak is the recipient of many distinguished awards and fellowships, most notably, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, conferred by the Government of Japan in 2010 in recognition of his exceptional achievement in strengthening Japan-US bilateral relations in the area of cultural exchange.
“We are proud and excited to welcome Jim Ulak to the United States-Japan Foundation. I am very confident Jim will bring new strategy and focus to our organization and to our grantmaking in the United States and Japan. Jim’s wealth of experience, leadership, strategic perspective, interpersonal skills and philanthropic outlook will clearly advance the activities of the Foundation” said Mr. James W. Lintott, Chair of the Board.
The United States-Japan Foundation, incorporated under United States law in 1980, was founded with a grant of $44.8 million from the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation (now known as the Nippon Foundation).
The United States-Japan Foundation is the only private independent American grant making foundation dedicated to the mutual interests of the American and Japanese people. The United States-Japan Foundation is committed to promoting stronger ties between Americans and Japanese by supporting projects that foster mutual knowledge and education, deepen understanding, create effective channels of communication, and address common concerns in an increasingly interdependent world.
The United States-Japan Foundation offers grants in the areas of pre-college education, communication / public opinion, US-Japan policy studies and operates the United States-Japan Leadership Program.