A Place Where the World Comes Together

Sharon Lucien during APEC 2011

For more than six decades, the East-West Center has served as a vital bridge between the United States, Asia, and the Pacific—quietly convening presidents, diplomats, scholars, journalists, and global thought leaders at moments of historic importance. Yet despite its worldwide reputation, its role as a convener has been one of Hawai‘i’s best- kept secrets.

It is this paradox that inspired Sharon Lucien, longtime supporter and East-West Center Foundation board member, to establish the East-West Center Distinguished Speakers Fund—an initiative designed to elevate the Center’s presence as a public gathering space for transformative dialogue.

Lucien’s connection to the East-West Center began through public service. In the lead-up to APEC 2011, she volunteered as director of the Asia-Pacific Business Symposium, an unprecedented convening of leaders from across the Pacific Rim. Partnering closely with the East-West Center during the planning process, Lucien witnessed firsthand the scale, sophistication, and global reach required to orchestrate international dialogue at the highest levels.

“That experience changed everything for me,” she recalls. “I had no idea the East-West Center had such deep reach into governments, policy, and media across Asia. They knew how to bring the world into one room.”

From heads of state to Nobel laureates and frontline journalists, Lucien suddenly found herself “one degree removed from the people who shape the world.” The exposure reshaped her understanding of Hawai‘i’s place in global affairs and led her to deeper engagement with the Center after APEC concluded.

After joining the East-West Center Foundation Board, Lucien began to see both the institution’s extraordinary potential and the power of philanthropy to realize that potential. Federal funding uncertainties underscored the need for private philanthropy—not only to sustain programs, but to further public engagement.

That insight led to the creation of the Distinguished Speakers Fund, which strengthens the Center’s most powerful asset: its expertise in convening. “I wanted to amplify the East-West Center’s role in Hawai‘i so that it matches how it’s viewed in Asia,” Lucien explains. “People pass through Hawai‘i every day who could change the way we think—if we invite the community into the room.”

The speaker series funded through her gift will bring globally influential voices—policy leaders, innovators, cultural thinkers, and intellectual change-makers— into direct dialogue with Hawai‘i’s business community, educators, emerging leaders, and the public. It reflects a broader goal: to expand who has access to global ideas and who gets to participate in shaping them.

Lucien is particularly focused on audience expansion. “Too often, I look around and see the same people in the room,” she says. “This fund is about opening the doors wider—to business leaders, creatives, students, chefs, architects—anyone whose perspective helps connect cultures and ideas.”

Her commitment to convening predates the Distinguished Speakers Fund. In earlier years, Lucien supported key infrastructure upgrades within the Imin Conference Center, funding technology upgrades to enhance international dialogue, as well as VIP meeting room improvements for visiting global leaders. “These spaces are where diplomacy happens,” she notes. “They need to be ready.”

To Lucien, convening is not a single event—it is a cycle. Leaders are trained, leaders emerge, and leaders return to share knowledge. “You bring leaders to make leaders,” she says.

At a time defined by geopolitical tension and global uncertainty, Lucien believes the Center’s mission is more relevant than ever. “APEC showed me what’s possible when an entire state comes together to orchestrate a significant and historic event,” she reflects. “The East- West Center with its network in the Indo-Pacific has the opportunity to continue to partner with the public and private sector to enhance Hawai‘i’s place as a global hub.”

With her support, the East-West Center is poised to do exactly that— bringing the world to Hawai‘i, and Hawai‘i more fully into the world.