Dr. Sachiko Kuno is the founder and visionary creative behind Halcyon and its mission to catalyze and nurture emerging creatives striving for a better world. Driven by Dr. Kuno’s vision, Halcyon’s family of innovative programs, including the acclaimed Halcyon Incubator, is growing rapidly to include Halcyon Stage, a pioneering creatives series of performances and conversations; Halcyon Arts Lab, a residency based studio arts program; and Halcyon Dialogue, a series of high-level discussions among global experts focusing on major topics including implications of robots for global society and social impact-based sciences.
Dr. Kuno also serves as CEO of S&R Foundation, an organization she co-founded in 2000 to support talented individuals with great potential and high aspirations in the arts, sciences and social entrepreneurship, especially those who are furthering international cultural collaboration.
Dr. Kuno was co-founder and the founding CEO of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCMP) until she stepped down in 2012. She is also a founding member of the Greater Washington Partnership, a group of civic-minded business leaders committed to improving the greater Washington region.
Dr. Kuno currently serves on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Directors, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation Board of Directors, and THIS for Diplomats at Meridian International Center’s Advisory Board.
Dr. Kuno has received a number of awards over the years, including the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Greater Washington Area in the Life Sciences Category (2007), and recognition as one of the 25 “Women Who Mean Business” by The Washington Business Journal (2009). She has also been named in the Forbes Magazine’s Top 50 America’s Richest Self Made Women (2015) and the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes Japan (2015). Most recently, Dr. Kuno was awarded Stateswoman of the Year 2016 by the Harvard Business School of Japan and received the AVON Awards to Women 2016.
Dr. Kuno is a graduate of Kyoto University, where she received her Ph.D. in bioengineering chemistry.