Maho Nakayama is the Director and Senior Program Officer of the Peacebuilding Program at Sasakawa Peace Foundation. She began her philanthropy career in 1996 at The Japan Foundation, where she later served as Assistant Director of the Japan Foundation Jakarta Cultural Center (2001–2005) and as Assistant to the President (2007–2008). She holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Tokyo and an M.A. in Social Anthropology from SOAS, University of London.