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Ken Ito has a bachelor degree in economics and MBA in International Management from The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) in the United States. After ten years of experience in the private sector, including his last position at GE Capital, he joined the Japanese non-profit Institute for Strategic Leadership (ISL) to launch a new division of the organization, Center for Social Innovation, to promote social innovation through its leadership training programs. He has also organized the Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Japan award, part of the global SEOY program of Schwab Foundation in Switzerland.

Ken has been a partner at Social Venture Partners Tokyo since 2005, running its venture philanthropy fund to support and nurture local social entrepreneurs. He has been actively promoting SVP’s model replication in Japan and other Asian countries and successfully supported the launch of VP organizations in Singapore and Hong Kong. He is visiting senior researcher at SFC Research Institute at Keio University since 2007 and also teaches at Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University as Assistant Professor since 2010.