The Japan-America Society of Georgia, an Atlanta organization that promotes business and cultural relations between Japan and Georgia, elected new board members at its annual meeting last week, a month after a new executive director joined the organization.
Grace Netland, a former Delta Air Lines Inc. flight attendant, took over the executive director position after Clark Wisenbaker, the previous director, left to enroll in law school at the University of Georgia.
Ms. Netland formally took the reins at the beginning of July after a two-month transition period during which she learned from Mr. Wisenbaker’s experience.
Although Ms. Netland said she never expected to work for the society, she told GlobalAtlanta that her new job feeds her longstanding interest in global affairs.
“After I finished my career with Delta two years ago, I was looking for a field where I could use my interest in international relations,” she said. “I never had the idea or was thinking that I would end up with the Japan-America society at all…It does fulfill a lot of my interests working with other organizations.”
Ms. Netland’s parents were missionaries to Japan, and she lived most of the first 18 years of her life in Tokyo before crossing the Pacific to attend Biola University in Southern California. After working in Europe and for her father in Norway, she began her 18-year career with Delta and since then has been extremely active in Atlanta’s international community.
Aside from her position an international flight attendant, she has been a member of the Japan-America Society for about 10 years, and she retains her membership with the Goethe Institut and the Southern Center for International Studies.
Ms. Netland said that the annual meeting, which was open to all society members, focused on recapping the organization’s activities for the past year and plotting the course for the future.
The new elections, effective for two-year terms, helped the organization restructure. The meeting was held at the board room at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, where new Chairman Charles Ganz is a partner.
Japanese Consul General in Atlanta Shoji Ogawa was on hand to witness the election of six new board members, who include Young Professionals Chair Frank Kinson, an attorney with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP; Yoshiro Yokoi, general manager with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.; Hiroyuki Inoue, executive vice president with Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America; Mie Igarashi, a partner with KPMG LLP, who was already a six-month board member; William Herbert, counsel with Smith, Gambrell & Russell LLP and Tomokiyo Hakozaki, senior vice president of Nippon Express U.S.A. Inc. and chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia.
While the society maintains a strong contingent of corporate members, Ms. Netland said that there has been a surge in membership among a younger crowd–both young professionals and college students.
Taking note of that fact, the organization will turn its focus toward culture and education in the coming year.
But it will also broaden its statewide profile to emphasize Gainesville, which is home to many Japanese companies, and Savannah and Brunswick, the state’s main ports, she said.
“We’d like to expand (the statewide) network. There are still many, many bridges to be built in Atlanta, and we see that happening by reaching out culturally and educationally here, but there are many opportunities beyond Atlanta,” Ms. Netland said.
Although nothing is official yet, the society is looking to partner with Georgia State University and Emory University for some of its events in the coming year.
One of the society’s main events is the annual JapanFest, which will be held Sept. 29-30 at Gwinnett Center.
Story Contacts, Links and Related Stories
Japan-America Society of Georgia – Grace Netland (404) 842-1400