Maria Guajardo, KNFP-11, serves as Deputy Vice-President and Professor at Soka University, Tokyo, Japan. She previously served as Dean of the Faculty of International Liberal Arts at Soka University. Her area of expertise is leadership, with a focus on women, global competencies and the Latina/o experience. She is the founding director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at Soka University. Prior to her arrival in Japan, Maria was a National Speaker and Trainer on Leadership, Inclusive Excellence, and Racial Healing in the United States. Previously she served as the Executive Director of a city government office and provided leadership to two nonprofit organizations. Currently she serves as a Trustee for Soka University of America and is the past board president of the Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance. A recent publication includes Education: A Transformative Potential published in the SGI Quarterly in 2015. Maria received her A.B. from Harvard University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Denver in Clinical Psychology.