U.S.-based Eisenhower Fellowships announced Jan. 30 the establishment of a permanently endowed fellowship in memory of Jeffrey L.S. Koo, chairman of Taipei-headquartered Chinatrust Financial Holding Co. Ltd.
Priority for prospective fellows will be given to accomplished mid-career professionals from Taiwan, followed by candidates from mainland China and the U.S., with the aim of cultivating outstanding leaders in these three areas and boosting the engagement of business and political circles in Taiwan with emerging leaders worldwide. The first fellow is expected to be chosen this year.
Fellows from outside Taiwan will be required to make a one-to-two-week visit to enhance their understanding of the island.
The Chinatrust Jeffrey Koo Eisenhower Fellowship is the first to be named for a non-American, joining fellowships honoring former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Thomas B. McCabe, founding EF trustee Ward Wheelock, former General Electric Co. CEO Philip D. Reed and former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford.
Koo was an Eisenhower fellow in 1971, helped found the Taiwan EF association in 1973, and became an EF trustee in 1980. In 2011 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the organization in recognition of his exceptional management skills and long-term contributions to economy, trade and diplomacy.
EF selects fellows every year from four regions of the U.S. and 47 nations for participation in its leadership programs. Awardees travel to the U.S. or other countries for two-month periods of study. Since the organization’s founding in 1953, 1,900 fellows have taken part.
Koo, who died Dec. 6, 2012, in New York City, aged 79, also served as a senior advisor to the ROC president and ambassador-at-large. (THN)