Introduction by Ambassador Caroline Kennedy in Presenting Asia Society Game Changers Award to Dr. James S. C. Chao & Secretary Elaine Chao

Asia Society

Cipriani 25 Broadway, New York

October 15, 2025

Learn more about Asia Society Game Changer Award: https://asiasociety.org/asia-game-changer-awards

Good evening!

It’s wonderful to be back at the Asia Society Game Changers Award ceremony where I once introduced the champion Afghan Women’s Robotics team. As a Board member, I am proud to have been a part of the opening of the Tokyo Center at I-House and to watch my former colleagues, Danny Russell and Wendy Cutler build the Asia Society Policy Institute into the go-to think tank on the most important issues of the day – from trade and energy security to great power politics shaping the region. Not to mention the leadership of my Ambassadorial counterpart His Excellency Prime Minister Ambassador Dr Kevin Rudd – as he likes his close friends to call him.

My own time in the Asia Pacific was the most meaningful of my life. Not only did I learn much about the region and the challenges ahead, but I also learned about the United States.

I saw first – hand how President Kennedy’s call to service, and his vision for America still resonates around the world . I heard over and over that America is still the place people want to be – and I gained a deeper appreciation for the contributions that generations of Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants have made to the United States.

No one embodies that spirit, or that history better than the Chao family. As U.S. Ambassador to Japan, I was privileged to attend the christening of one of Foremost’s newest greenest ships with Dr Chao and Secretary Chao at a shipyard near Nagasaki. I was struck by their commitment to excellence and the deep respect and long-term relationships they had built with their Japanese partners and shipyard workforce.

The deep love and immense pride that father and daughter took in one another was familiar to me having grown up in a family where work and family were intertwined inseparable. Dr Chao’s belief that his daughters could do anything was shared by his extraordinary wife, Ruth. Together they raised six talented and amazing women – and made sure that every student privileged to attend HBS knows the power of love and of giving back by naming the Executive Education and Student Center after their beloved matriarch, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao.

As the video will show, Elaine arrived in New York as an 8- year-old girl and was the first to become an American success story in every field of endeavor- business , non-profit and philanthropy, politics and government . She became the first Asian American woman to serve as a Cabinet Secretary - and not once but twice. She led the way for her five younger sisters and for generations of little girls who have followed their own dreams.

I got to know Elaine through my uncle Senator Edward Kennedy. They worked closely together on issues that were close to his heart and central to his career – building bridges internationally through Peace Corps, helping the American workers through the Labor Department, celebrating the arts at the Kennedy Center, and inspiring the next generation to enter public service through the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Teddy admired Elaine’s judgement, experience, intelligence and effectiveness and understood her power as a role model for young women. In return, she always referred to him as My Chairman.

Although their lives were very different, they shared a devotion to family, a pride in our immigrant heritage, a belief in the power of government to make life better, and a commitment to the American Dream.

At a time when those values are under attack, and the contributions of our immigrant communities are being denigrated and destroyed, I am honored to present the Asia Society Game Changer Award to the extraordinary father and daughter, Dr James Chao and Secretary Elaine Chao.

Now, let’s turn to the video.