Their Board of Trustees have merited their positions and are worth writing about. Terrence B. Adamson, is executive vice president for the National Geographic Society since 1998. William L. Ball III was the 67th secretary of the Navy and now president of the National Soft Drink Association in Washington D.C.. He was an assistant secretary of state under George Schultz during the Reagan administration. Ambassador Michael H. Armacost, vice chair of the Board, is a Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow at the Asia/Pacific Research Center of Stanford University and was once the United States ambassador to the Philippines. William P. Fuller, president, served as deputy assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from 1987 to 1989, with responsibility for US foreign assistance in the Near East and Europe. Harry Harding is professor of International Affairs and Political Science at George Washington University. Harry Harding serves on the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Atlantic Council. Ta-Lin Hsu, is the chairman and founder of H&Q Asia Pacific that manages 16 funds with approximately $1.6 billion in assets invested in over 250 portfolio companies. Dr. Hsu plays an active role in developing investment and technology relationships between the US and Asia. Ellen Laipson previously served as the vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council in 1997 to 2002. Before that she served as a special assistant to the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Lee Hong-Koo, trustee, was the Prime Minister of South Korea from 1994 to 1995 under former President Kim Young-Sam. Before that Dr. Lee served twice as the deputy prime minister for unification dealing with the relation between the divided two Korean states. Janet A. McKinley, is a director of Capital Research and Management Company which oversees mutual fund assets totaling over $350 billion. Susan J. Pharr, secretary of the Board, is an Edwin O. Reischauer professor of Japanese Politics and program director on US-Japan Relations at Harvard University. Missie Rennie, is currently a strategic media consultant. She has spent 30 years in television news as the executive producer of CBS News Sunday Morning and CBS Weekend News. Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, retired from the Foreign Service in January 2001 after a career spanning 45 years with the US Deparment of State. Ambassador Roy’s final post with the State Department was as assistant secretary for intelligence and research. Ambassador Roy is the managing director of Kissinger Associates Inc., a strategic consulting firm. Paul S. Slawson, treasurer of the Board, was selected by Sargent Shriver in 1961 to start the Peace Corps in Asia, and eventually to lead the first Peace Corps programs in Bangladesh. He spent three years with Stanford Research International as a management consultant to US and foreign governments on issues of economic development. Robert A. Theleen, is chairman and founder of China Vest Inc., the oldest American venture capital firm in Greater China since 1983. He also serves as a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Hong Kong Forum, an advisory body to the Hong Kong government. Casimir A. Yost, teaches in Foreign Service Program at Georgetown University and co-chairs the Schlesinger Working Group on Strategic Surprises. He has worked in Washington on the professional staff of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate under Senator Charles Percy and Senator Richard Lugar. Alice Young has for 30 years advised clients on their international investments with a special focus on Asia. Young was named by Crain’s in their list of the "Top 100 Minority Executives" and by Avenue Asia magazine as one of the most influential Asian-American corporate lawyers in the United States.
My Filipino friends are just as distinguished in their fields of expertise as their American counterparts. We could sing better, too. That’s because Generals Greg Camiling, Benjie Defensor, Jaime de los Santos, Ambassador Joey Syjuco, Admiral Justo Manlongat, Colonels Vic Erfe and Pol Gange sang the whole night while Harvard Professor Harry Harding, Baby Antonio, Triccie Sison, Doris Ho, and Rosa Lao tried to tune in.
During the trustees’ short visit, they met with practitioners working with microfinance institutions, noted members of the civil society movement and key partners in the continued struggle for peace especially in Mindanao. Briefings and meetings were organized with the US Ambassador to the Philippines, the US Agency for International Development and the Asian Development Bank. A number of the Asia Foundation’s trustees were invited to address the Makati Business Club and the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. A highlight of the week was a brief courtesy call with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. A reception was organized by the Fellows of the Asia Foundation, who are former Asia Foundation grantees. A gala dinner enabled the trustees to meet a truly representative group of Filipinos dedicated to continued progress for the Philippines.