1. Energy Group Resignation from the EWC
Sueda, Gayle
Sent:Tuesday, December 31, 2013 2:08 PM
To: ADB-JSP Coordinator; Agcaoili, Melissa Ann; Ahn, Gye Hyeon; Alexander, Eugene; Allinson, Robert; Amador, Julio; Archer, Sarah;
Arroyo, Culten; Asri, Navneet; Baldonado, Aundra; Balintec, Reynold; Barbour, Titilia; Barker, Nick; Barsatan, Kellyann; Bersson,
Jessica; Bigalke, Terance; Borthwick, Mark; Breazeale, Kennon; Brewington, Laura; Brown, Mangmang; Brown, Tim; Buck, Elizabeth;
Byrd, Miemie Winn; Carvalho, Ralph; Cassidy, Joseph; Castillo, Vicky; Castrence, Miguel; Chan, Patti; Chang, Eric; Cheema, Shabbir;
Chen, Jiajian; Chen, Wenguang; Choe, Minja; Chow, Geh Tsung; Chow, Jonathan; Clark, Allen; Clarke, Kathleen; Cohen, David;
Concepcion, Lori Ann; Connell, Sean; Corlew, Kati; Coughlan, Emily; Cristobal, Arnold; Delovarova, Leila; Desierto, Diane; DjalaliOmidyar, Elahe; Djunaidy, Mendl; Dorn, Elizabeth; Dutra, Nina; Ebesu, Marie; Ebesu, Steven; Edwards, Emily; Eguchi, Carolyn; Ernst,
Dieter; Estermann, Philip; Fan, Deshang; Feddersen, Christopher; Feltz, Bill; Ferrar, Derek; Fesharaki, Fereidun; Finin, Gerard;
Finucane, Melissa; Forster, Alex; Fox, Carol; Fox, Jefferson; Fuchs, Roland; Fujiki, Meril; Fukumoto, Yukio; Furushima, Donn; Ghimire,
Sarin; Ghosh, Ratna; Gill, Eleni; Grecni, Zena; Grossman, David; Gumapac, Carleen; Halapua, Sitiveni; Hallstein, David; Hamasaki,
Arlene; Hammond, Mary; Hanta, Hayley; Hara, Alexandra; Harada, Alissa; Hartley, Stephen; Hartman, Ann; Hasegawa, Cora;
Hasegawa, Shayne; Hershock, Peter; Higa, Penny; Hirano, Bradley; Hirano, Cathy; Hironaga, Cody; Ho, Geoffrey; Holverson, Carol;
Hosoe, Tomoko; Hsu, Ruth; ICSProgram; Ing, Brien; Iwasaki, Cindy; Jamieson, Kathleen Hall; Jaspers, Krista; Jiang, Xue; Johansson,
Anders; Johnston, Elisa; Kakuno, Cathleen; Kamealoha, Lucy; Kamemoto, Janice; Kari, Uday; Kato, Akira; Kawada, Clare; Kawasaki,
Linda; Keener, Victoria; Kelsall, Michelle; Khudari, Marilu; Kia, James; Kingsbury, Marshal; Kinugasa, Tomoko; Kiste, Robert; Kitamura,
Elaine; Kitamura, Wesley; Knudsen, Karen; Kobata, Casey; Koga, Darene; Kok, Jo-Ann; Kolinski, Stella; Kreifels, Susan; Kroeker, Scott;
Kuioka, Elizabeth; Kuramoto, June; Kwok, Benny; Kwon, Seong; Lakey, Paul; Lam, Karen; Lamerson, Douglas; LaRiviere, Randall; Lau,
Jennifer; Le, Loan; Leber, Terese; Lee, Ashlynn; Lee, Jisoo; Lee, Kap Hyun; Lee, Sang Hyop; Lee, Thomas; Letoto-Ohata, Lisa; Levin,
Michael; Levine, Victor; Li, Jason; Li, Marilyn; Lim, Ki Seong; Limaye, Satu; Lin, Yining; Lind, Julien; Lowry, Cameron; Lowry, Kem; Lui,
Issac; Lum, Ella; Luthje Boy; Machida, Diane; MacLeod, Scott; Maile, Daniel; Mak-Lavy, Kanika; Marra, John; Marten, Gerald; Mason,
Andrew; Matsunaga, Pat; Mau, Nicole; McIntosh, R. Duncan; McMahon, Mark; Miller, Rachel; Minei, Audrey; Mita, Scott; Miyazono,
Cody; Mizuno, Nancy; Monroe, Christina; Moriarty, James; Morimoto, Davin; Morinaka, Sherrie; Moriyama, Laura; Mukai, Jason;
Murakami, Chris; Murashige, Lesley; Nakachi, Cynthia; Nakasone, Robert; Nakihei, Mona; Neely, Timothy; Ngo, Michelle; Nguyen,
Charles Phan; Nong, Duong Huu; Nunn, Rachel; O'Brien, Deanna; O'Day, Robin; Okata, Amber; Olsen, Izumi; On-Call; Ono, Reyn;
Oros, Andrew; Osaki, Sandra; Oshiro, Diane; Otoshi, Grant; Oyadomari, Ashbea; Ozeki, Tomoyo; Paankate, Sasikarn; Paine, Jeffery;
Papp, Nicholas; Park, Ki Tae; Peletz, Michael; Penoliar, Mayitta; Percival, Bron; Pickford, J. Kawika; PILP; Piotrowski, Martin; Pitts,
Charles; Poma-Barnes, Dina; Rabang-Corpuz, Rashae; Rajan, Nausheen; Rambo, Terry; Ramler, Sig; Retherford, Robert; Reyes, Melvic;
Rhode, Matilda; Rindfuss, Ron; Ring, Gordon; Roe, Evan; Rogers, Julie; Roy, Denny; Ruch, Grace; Rush, Alexandra; Ryan, Elizabeth;
Sabapathy, Ashwin; Sagoo, Kiran; Saksena, Sumeet; Sato, Maureen; Saura, Bruno; Schuster, Michael; Shima, Melissa; Shimabukuro,
Sharon; Shimoda, Lillian; Shinsato, Colleen; Shiroma, Lori; Shizumura, Kathy; Siddiqi, Toufiq; Silva, Bronson; Small, Kim; Small,
Mathura; Smith, Bryan; Smith, Herbert; Solem, Erika; Soyland, Ben; Spadavecchia, Darlene; Steele, Claire; Steinemann, Namji; Sueda,
Gayle; Sumida, Jerilyn; Sung, Wen-Ti; Suzuki, Itsuko; Suzuki, Sharon; Sweet, William; Tabaquin, Jamila; Tabusa, Phyllis; Takayesu,
Ann; Tamaki, Emi; Tanaka, Anna; Tanouye, Noreen; Teng, Yan Fang; Thinn, Saw Mya; Thompson, Kris; Tokita, Cheryl; Tom, Tina;
Tomkins, Damien; Tran, Chinh Cong; Tran, Lisa; Trundle, Heather; Tunoa, Roxanne; U, Bryan; Ukkamsa; Vidad, Jennifer; Vricella,
Gene; Wang, Qinghong; Watson, Jannelle; Westley, Sidney; White, Geoff; Wong, Carol; Wong, Eric; Wong, Valerie; Wood, Melinda;
Wu, David; Wu, Kang; Yamamoto, Karen; Yamane, Cynthia; Yamase, Universe; Yamashiroya, Jerry; Yamashita, Gayle; Yang, Donghee;
Yeung, Catherine; Yoshida, Gary; Yoshida, Kevin; Yousuf, Anoushka; Yuan, Jing Dong; Zanre, Erin; Zhang, ZhongXiang
Dear East West Center Colleagues,
As you might have heard, the en re energy team has resigned from the East West Center. This includes Dr.
Kang Wu (Senior Fellow), Dr. Tomoko Hosoe (Project Specialist), and Gayle Sueda (Secretary), as well as
myself. I feel we have to give you an explana on as to why we have resigned. I joined the East West Center
nearly 35 years ago and I am the most senior sta at the Center in a job stable posi on. I came to the Center
as a refugee with nothing. Everything I have and all my career were made at the East West Center. I owe the
Center a great deal and feel very emo onal about the Center. As you may know, for the past many years, I
have donated my full take home pay to the Asia Pacic Leadership Program. Gayle has spent nearly 30 years
at the Center, Kang over 20 years, and Tomoko 12 years. We have all invested heavily in our me at the
Center. We have many good and respected friends at the Center and we care a great deal for our colleagues
at the EWC. As such our decision to resign was not an easy one and we debated this among ourselves for a
long me.
We believe that the Center is at a vulnerable stage and can only survive if cri cal decisions are made and a
whole new approach is adopted. We are convinced there is a need for leadership change and fresh blood to
energize the Center. There are good reasons why many ins tu ons including the US President have term
limits. President for life is not the right approach for any ins tu on. A er 16 years of Presidency, the EWC
is more vulnerable and more in danger than ever. The years of Senator Inouye’’s guaranteed funding was
squandered and a rm basis for success of the ins tu on post Inouye has not been built. The Research
Program which was the heart of the ins tu on has been decimated through the Director of the Research
Program to the extent that the Center can claim no special advantage and no claim to interna onal fame in
any subject area. Years when Program on Resources or Program on Popula on had world fame are gone.
Brick by brick, the key components of success and repute have been dismantled. There are many good
people at the Center but the incen ve to go forward, the energy to make it y is gone. Hiring fundraisers has
not helped over the past few years. The fundraisers do not have enough material to raise funds for! The
substance is gone and replaced by process, poor leadership, and excessive micromanagement. The Center
has failed in crea ng a viable private sector funding based on substan ve research and educa on. Today
almost every public ins tu on has a strong private sector following——not just for dona ons which come and
go——but for programs which are of substan ve value to the private sector.
We have resigned to make a statement and focus a en on on internal problems of the Center. To save the

2. Center with present leadership is an impossible task. While there are several directors who are capable and
competent, the leadership of the Center and the Research Program must give way to fresh blood and fresh
thinking to give it any chance of survival. As it stands, we just cannot see how the Center can survive.
The Board of Governors is responsible for overseeing the Center. Unlike the past, there is no contact
whatsoever between the Board and sta . The only thing the Board hears is what the President tells them.
The peer review of the Interna onal Advisory Panel (IAP) was discon nued many years ago a er a nega ve
review by a group handpicked by the President. There is no independent peer review of Center, its
management, and direc on. It is me the Board brings in a peer review process and the Board members
give access to the sta so the sta can share their concerns with the Board.
As a public ins tu on, the Center needs to be fully transparent. Rather than having to extract incomplete
informa on from tax lings of 1 2 years ago, salaries of the top management must be made public, their
travel expenses, as well as the budget must be made open. No one even inside the Center knows what is
going on as there is a ght informa on lid on everything——even ghter than private companies. (Even the
email addresses of the BOG are conden al!) The new leadership needs to open the ins tu on to new ideas
and new approaches. So clichés such as ““Crea ng an Asia Pacic Community”” is no longer e ec ve. What
the Center needs is substance and not empty stories.
In many socie es, the leaders e their faith to that of the na on. If anyone ques ons the President, they will
argue that this is an a ack on the community. Certainly in Russia and many other similar na ons, this policy
is followed. To a certain extent, the same is followed in the EWC. It is argued that since the EWC is in a
vulnerable posi on, anyone ques oning the President is pu ng the EWC at risk and jobs may be lost. This is
not true. The EWC is much bigger than the President and leadership. The Emperor has no clothes!
Precisely because we want the East West Center to survive and prosper, we need to ask for a change in
leadership, transparency, and a new direc on. The current system under the present leadership has already
failed and cannot be saved.
Happy Holidays!
Thanks and regards,
Fereidun Fesharaki, Kang Wu, Tomoko Hosoe, and Gayle Sueda
(Chairman@fgenergy.com)