PAIGE COTTINGHAM-STREATER
Secretary-General
Paige Cottingham-Streater is Executive Director of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC), an independent federal grant-making agency that supports research, education, public affairs, and exchange with Japan. She also serves as Secretary-General of the Conference on Educational and Cultural Interchange (CULCON), a binational advisory panel to the governments of Japan and the United States. Ms. Cottingham-Streater has dedicated her career to public service, policy making, and sustaining the US-Japan partnership. Serving in these leadership positions, Ms. Cottingham-Streater is responsible for raising awareness about the important bilateral relationship between Japan and the United States, promoting educational and cultural exchange, and supporting a pipeline of next generation leaders.
Prior to her service with the Commission and CULCON, Ms. Cottingham-Streater spent sixteen years at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, where she launched the first-ever government-to-government professional exchange between Japan and the United States. Earlier in her career, Paige Cottingham-Streater established the U.S.-Japan Project at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; she served as Counsel and Legislative Assistant in the office of Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-NJ); and staff attorney at the U.S. Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
Ms. Cottingham-Streater has numerous volunteer positions. She is a proud member of the Board of Trustees of the Montclair Kimberley Academy and a Founding Chair of the Board of Directors of the US Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Alumni Association (USJETAA).
Paige Cottingham-Streater is the recipient of Japan’s Foreign Minister’s Commendation in recognition of her longstanding work to strengthen U.S.-Japan relations. The award, made on March 31, 2004, commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Amity between Japan and the United States.
In 2022, the Government of Japan conferred on Ms. Cottingham-Streater an Imperial Decoration, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. This award is in recognition of her contributions to the promotion of people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding between Japan and the United States.
Ms. Cottingham-Streater received her Juris Doctor from the National Law Center at The George Washington University. She also holds a B.A. in Government and Asian Studies from Connecticut College.
PAMELA L. FIELDS
Deputy Secretary-General
Pamela Fields joined the staff of the Japan-US Friendship Commission, an independent federal agency, where she serves as the Deputy Secretary-General for CULCON, more than thirty years ago. The US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) is a binational advisory panel that has its origins in meetings held in Washington in 1961 between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Ikeda. Since its first meeting in Tokyo in January, 1962, CULCON has served to focus official and public attention in both the United States and Japan on the vital cultural and educational underpinnings of the US-Japan relationship.
Ms. Fields was Vice President of a small international consulting firm in Washington, DC and established and directed an international service unit for a major Japanese department store in Tokyo. Ms. Fields also worked on air for NHK Radio in Japan for five years.
Ms. Fields received her Bachelor of Arts from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters in International Business, with a focus on Japan.
In addition to her time spent in Japan, Ms. Fields has lived in and speaks the languages of France, Italy and Israel. She serves on several local boards, is a fiber artist, and a nationally qualified (sprint) triathlete. She has two adult children and lives with her husband in Takoma Park, Maryland.