Britt Yamamoto, an ‘88 graduate of Laguna Beach High School, was recently awarded the Humanitarian Service Award by University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
The award recognizes alumni whose character, citizenship, and service to humanity promotes greater understanding.
Yamamoto, a 1992 Michigan graduate, and his wife Izumi have founded iLeap, a leadership-training program in Seattle, where they live. The business grew out of the failure and frustrations of working with nonprofits and social business from Nicaragua to Uganda.
Each year, iLeap selects 10-15 grassroots leaders from around the world from a competitive pool of hundreds to join in a unique, cross-cultual and global leadership training in Seattle for eight weeks. The program is a balance between personal reflection and retreat, group learning and dialogue, and professional training in partnership, communication and effective leadership. iLeap Fellows return home to lead their communities with a renewed clarity and commitment to who they are and what they do.
Growing up in Laguna, where his parents have resided since 1975, Britt’s childhood included playing Little League and for the LBHS 1986 league champion football team.
He went on to earn a doctorate degree at the University of Washington. Currently, he is executive director of iLeap and a professor in creative social change at Antioch University extension
