Yoshiko Sheard
Dr Yoshiko Sheard was born and brought up in Japan, and has lived for many years in the United States after spending many years in Australia. After studying as an undergraduate student at Monash University for three years, Dr Sheard moved to Canberra with her husband, Dr Paul Sheard. She received her Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and PhD in Linguistics from the Australian National University (ANU), where she tutored in Japanese. She was a visiting scholar at Stanford University during her doctoral studies.
Dr Sheard has been active in many non-profit and social and fundraising groups over the years. She serves on the board of the New York-based non-profit, Asia Initiatives, and represents the organisation as a delegate to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She regularly attends the Spring and Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as a Civil Society Organization delegate. She serves on the board of the ANU Foundation USA and, with her husband, she has been a long-time supporter of Monash University’s Global Discovery Program and of the ANU’s East Asia Forum Fund and the Peter Drysdale Research Endowment.
Similarly, Dr Sheard is a member and financial supporter of the Asia Society, the Japan Society, and the Korea Society, and supports the Foreign Policy Association, the Krzyżowa Kreisau Foundation, the Noguchi Museum, the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, the United States-Japan Bridging Foundation, and the White House Historical Association.
Dr Sheard is a digital member of the World Economic Forum and is a member of the Harvard Club of New York City, the Japan Stanford Association, the Nippon Club, and the Women’s International Forum; whose mission is to promote understanding and mutual appreciation among members of the United Nations diplomatic community in New York. She has served as president of the Parents’ Board at the International School of Sacred Heart in Tokyo, was vice-president of the Japan-Australia-New Zealand Ladies Group in Tokyo and served as treasurer, and held other board positions with the New York-based Japanese and American women’s cultural exchange group, Nichibei Fujinkai.
Dr Sheard, who has two daughters and two grandchildren, lives with her husband near Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.