Jessyca Livingston, Executive Director

Jessyca Livingston has served as executive director of the US JET Program Alumni Association (USJETAA) since January 2023. She leads USJETAA’s work to support the nearly 40,000 American alumni of the JET Program, as well as its predecessor, the Monbusho English Fellowship Program. Prior to taking the helm of USJETAA, Jessyca was Programs and Membership Manager at the Japan-America Society of Colorado, and she also worked for seven years as the JET Coordinator at the Japanese Consulate in Denver.

She was an ALT in Hokkaido from 2003 to 2006, and has a long history of leadership in the JET community. After returning to the United States, Jessyca served as treasurer for the JET Alumni Association Rocky Mountain (JETAA Rocky Mountain) chapter for two years, and then as JETAA USA Country Representative for another two years, helping guide the JET community through its response to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In 2012, she led the establishment of the JETAA USA Board of Advisors, and she also served as a founding board member for USJETAA when it was launched in 2015. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado.

Danielle Reed, Microgrants Coordinator

Danielle Reed manages the operations of the USJETAA/US Embassy Microgrant Initiative for current JET Program participants. She also heads the consulting practice PinPath, LLC, which she founded in November 2019 to support a number of other US-Japan educational and philanthropic initiatives. Previously she worked as the Senior Program Director of S&R Foundation, a private family foundation with the mission of supporting talented individuals with high aspirations in the arts, sciences, and social entrepreneurship.

Danielle began her career as a diplomatic assistant in the Economics Section at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC from 2008-2011, then was an Assistant Language Teacher on the JET Program in Sendai-City from 2011-2014.

Paige Cottingham-Streater, Board Chair

Paige Cottingham-Streater chairs the board of directors of USJETAA, which she helped to found, and she volunteers her time to support many of its strategic initiatives. A former JET Program participant in Mie Prefecture (1998-1989), she is the executive director of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, an independent federal government agency that supports research, education, public affairs and exchange with Japan. She also is secretary-general of US CULCON [Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange].

Prior to joining the Commission, Paige served as Deputy Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation where she worked for 16 years. In addition to providing strategic leadership for the Mansfield Foundation, she directed the Mike Mansfield Fellowship Program, a Congressionally-established professional exchange for mid-level federal government employees. Previously, she was Director for the US-Japan Project at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC. And prior to that Paige served as Counsel and Legislative Assistant in the office of Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) and was a staff attorney at the US Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Paige received her Juris Doctor from the National Law Center at George Washington University. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut College in Government and Asian Studies and in 2022 her contributions to US-Japan relations were honored when she was awarded Japan’s prestigious imperial decoration, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.

James Gannon, Vice Chair

Jim Gannon served as USJETAA interim executive director from March to December 2022, and he continues to support its work as a consultant. He taught in Ehime Prefecture on the JET Program from 1992 to 1994, and he also is vice chair of USJETAA and a member of the JETAA USA Board of Advisors.

For nearly 20 years, from 2001 to 2021, Jim led the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA), a foreign policy institute that hosts high-level policy dialogues, legislative exchanges, and foreign policy research. As JCIE/USA executive director, he created and led a wide range of initiatives designed to strengthen US-Japan relations and encourage deeper international cooperation. He now is a senior fellow there.

Jim writes extensively on U.S.-Asia relations, global health, development, and civil society, and he is co-editor of A Growing Force: Civil Society’s Role in Asian Regional Security (2013) and Looking for Leadership: The Dilemma of Political Leadership in Japan (2015). He received a BA from the University of Notre Dame, carried out graduate research at Ehime University in Japan, and has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Keith Krulak, Treasurer

Keith Krulak serves on the USJETAA board as Treasurer and volunteers his time helping behind the scenes with its financial and accounting operations. On the JET Program from 1993 to 1995, he taught at five high schools as an Assistant English Teacher in Okayama, when he decided to devote his career to bettering US-Japan relations. He served over 15 years as an international economist in the US government, at the US Treasury Department, the National Security Council, and the US State Department. Selected as a Mansfield Fellow (2001-2003), he saw first-hand how then-Prime Minister Koizumi’s administrative and structural reforms were implemented during his placements at the Ministry of Finance, a Diet member’s office, and the Cabinet Office. Currently he is a consultant and Japanese-to-English translator, specializing in Japan’s modern history in East Asia. He is a graduate of Yale University and the Johns Hopkins University-School of Advanced International Studies.