MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (September 26, 2022) — Accomplished public servant Karen Krueger ('72) of Arlington, Virginia, and high-tech industrialist Hiroyuki Fujita ('92) of Cleveland are the two Monmouth College alumni who will be inducted this year into its Hall of Achievement, the highest honor the College bestows upon its graduates.
Krueger and Fujita will be inducted as part of Homecoming weekend festivities at the College September 30-October 2. The College's Alumni Impact Awards ceremony will be held at 5PM, Friday, September 30, in Mellinger Commons in the Center for Science and Business and will also be livestreamed.
Behind-the-scenes contributions
In sports terminology, Krueger's career can be likened to the player whose name doesn't appear in the box score, but whose contributions were essential to the team's success or, in Krueger's case, to the success of the United States government, both abroad and domestically.
She retired twice during a 41-year career with the US Department of State — first, from the foreign service in 2005, and again in 2018, after thirteen years as a civil servant. As a foreign service officer, Krueger was stationed in Mexico, Spain, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Canada.
Krueger was at the US Embassy in Ottawa during the 9/11 terrorist attack. Her portfolio included responsibility for terrorist and border-related issues — which had just become America's highest priority. To address the concerns of both nations and improve coordination, she arranged and served as liaison for several visits by the US Attorney General and his staff with Canada's Justice Department. Reaching out to a wider audience, she drafted editorials and speeches that the ambassador used to bolster the nations' relationship.
In the late 1980s and early '90s, as Peru became a focal point for the US government due to increased narcotics trafficking, deadly terrorism, and human-rights abuses, Krueger was the Department of State's Washington-based coordinator for that growing relationship. Later, she was the sole political officer and principal reporting officer for Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu during a period of fitful nation-building and political unrest in all three South Pacific countries.
In an analyst role stateside, Krueger was a senior member of a team that developed the first-ever joint State/United States Agency for International Development Strategic Plan.
After retiring from the foreign service, Krueger's unique skill set and wide-ranging experience led to an offer to serve as Director for the Bureau of Human Resources' Policy Coordination Office during a time of workforce stress due in large part to staffing shortages and Iraq and Afghanistan. She concluded her career as a senior adviser in the Office of the Director General of the Foreign Service and Human Resources, where she led a major initiative to improve the work experience of civil-service employees, requiring creativity within the constraints of civil-service rules and regulations.
Company founder and CEO
An immigrant from Japan, Fujita is the founder and CEO of Quality Electrodynamics, a global developer and magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) technology manufacturer. In 2019, QED became a subsidiary of Canon Inc, based in Tokyo, with Fujita serving as chief technology officer of the CT-MR Division of Canon Medical Systems Corporation, headquartered in Tochigi, Japan.
After studying at Waseda University in Tokyo, Fujita completed his Bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics at Monmouth and his doctorate in physics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He has authored seventeen patents and has published more than forty peer-reviewed scientific papers and abstracts.
Fujita serves as an adjunct full professor at Case Western Reserve in the departments of physics and radiology and is a senior fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He is the honorary consul of Japan in Cleveland and an active member of numerous boards and committees, including The Ohio State University and Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital, serving as chairman of the Board of Trustees at both.
In 2009, QED was recognized in Forbes' top 20 list of "America's Most Promising Companies" and was granted the Ohio Governor's Excellence in Exporting E-Award. In 2010, Fujita received the Industrial Manufacturing Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Northeast Ohio and the Young Alumni Award for exemplary professional achievement and service to Case Western Reserve. In 2021, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor bestowed by the university's alumni association.
In recognition of growing an impactful, high-tech manufacturing company in the United States, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama invited Fujita to be an honored guest and sit in the first lady's Box at the 2012 State of the Union Address.
Fujita served two terms on the US Manufacturing Council for the US secretary of commerce during the Obama administration, sat on its US Tax and Export Subcommittee, and co-chaired the Energy Policy Subcommittee.
He is a frequently-invited lecturer, both nationally and internationally, and published his autobiography, A Pathfinder and Fail Fast! Creating the Future by Learning Lessons from Our Mistakes. He also authored a monthly editorial in Wedge magazine.
