One University of Oklahoma staff member recently participated in an international leadership summit in Tokyo.

Chris Howard, vice president for Strategic and Leadership Initiatives, spent Friday through Sunday sitting across from tribal leaders from Pakistan, investment bankers from Tokyo and activists from India, among others.

"It was just a phenomenal cross section of civil society," Howard said in a phone interview Wednesday.

He was one of 160 emerging leaders from 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region who participated in the Asia Society's third annual Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit.

The leaders met in Tokyo to explore the common challenges in the region and to develop collaborative proposals to address them. The summit focused on the areas of environment, energy, education, human rights and good governance.

Those first two categories were ones that OU has particular expertise in, Howard said. As a result, he was able almost to lead some of the discussions on those challenges.

Many of the other leaders were impressed when Howard told them about OU's initiative to make the transition to the exclusive use of wind power at OU by 2013.

"You could have heard a pin drop," Howard said. "And people said, 'Where now? Oklahoma?'"

Howard was selected to attend the summit not only because of his association with OU, but also because of his past career.

He graduated with distinction from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1991, and was named a Rhodes Scholar. After serving as a military adviser in South Africa with Secretary of Defense William Cohen, he went on to join Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he served as manager of a $100 million HIV/AIDS initiative in southern Africa.

After earning his master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School in 2003, Howard worked with General Electric's Corporate Initiatives Group before being called to active duty. Serving as chief of the Human Intelligence Operations Cell in Afghanistan, he was awarded the Bronze Star. He joined OU in 2005.

At the summit this past weekend, Howard attended speeches, breakout sessions and group discussions that centered on the global financial crisis and the increasing scarcity of vital resources.

Howard said one of the events was a moderated debate about whether resources were too scarce for the earth to survive. After the debate, the participants discussed the issue in small groups.

The summit, however, wasn't just intended to talk about issues. The participants also came up with positive plans using the networks available at the summit, Howard said.

"It's not just supposed to be a talk shop," he said.