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Larry Greenwood will deliver keynote at CEAS and EALC departmental commencement ceremony

Larry Greenwood

The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALC) are excited to announce that Chair of the Japan Society of Northern California and former United States Ambassador to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Larry Greenwood will deliver the keynote at the CEAS and EALC joint Departmental Commencement Ceremony on June 16, 2024.

Larry Greenwood is Chair of the Japan Society of Northern California after serving as its President from 2016-2020. He is also Senior Adviser at BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Asia-Pacific. From 2011-2015, Mr. Greenwood was Senior Managing Director for Government Relations in Asia for MetLife based in Tokyo responsible for shaping insurance policies and regulations in Asia and from 2006- 2011 was Vice President at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines where he oversaw ADB’s annual loan and grant operations of about $7 billion in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Island countries.

Mr. Greenwood was a career diplomat from 1976-2006 where he worked on economic issues in the State Department in Washington, DC and at US Embassies in Manila, Dakar, Singapore and twice in Tokyo. He served as US Ambassador to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group and retired as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Economic Bureau of the State Department where he was responsible for international financial and development matters. He holds a BA from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and an MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford Massachusetts.