KEVIN O'DONNELL

Kevin O’Donnell currently serves as the Young Professional Representative on the Sister Cities International Board of Directors, and has volunteered at SCI conferences since 2016. The first time Kevin left the country at age 10 was on a visit to his Southern Californian hometown’s sister city in Mexico. He didn’t know it at the time, but as he traveled to more international destinations, that experience would serve as a roadmap for how to develop personal connections with people he met from different countries and cultures. In college he studied abroad at Akita International University in Japan for one year, during which time he made it a point to visit his hometown’s Japanese sister city and rekindle his passion for citizen diplomacy.

Since 2014, he has worked as a Political Assistant for the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, where he is thrilled to be able to support the activities of the approximately 65 California-Japan sister city relationships in Northern and Central California. He is a proud Eagle Scout and active member of the San Francisco Japanese-English Toastmasters club. In his spare time he enjoys singing karaoke, reading fantasy and science fiction novels, and watching stand-up comedy. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from San Francisco State University and speaks “conversational” Japanese.