Board of Directors

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Paul Y. Watanabe, President
Jean Y. Hibino, Executive Secretary
Stephen Y. Hibino, Treasurer
Kesaya E. Noda, Recording Secretary
Yutaka Kobayashi, Awards Committee Liaison

Jean

Jean Y. Hibino

Jean is from Portland, Connecticut. She spent her adult life in San Francisco where she was active in the Japanese American community. After moving back to New England, she joined the board of directors for the opportunity to work with her mother, Nobu Kumekawa Hibino, and the other Nisei serving on the board. Today, she proudly continues in her mother’s footsteps, currently serving as the Fund’s Executive Secretary.

Stephen

Stephen Y. Hibino

Steve grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and attended Skidmore College where he double majored in business/economics and Spanish. He currently works as manager of the Bank of America's branch in Portland, Connecticut, and serves as treasurer of the NSRC Fund.

 

Islanda Khau

Islanda recently joined The Cambridge Historical Society as its Assistant Director for Memership and Events. She graduated from the University of the Arts with a Master's Degree in Museum Communication and has worked with several cultural institutions including Legacies of War and The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Islanda is also the Principal of artSEA, an organization offering creative design and project solutions for non-profits, museums and small businesses.

Yukata

Dr. Yutaka Kobayashi

Yutaka is a retired biochemist best known in science as an authority on liquid scintillation counting, responsible for the golden age of steroid biochemistry. He resides in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife, Maureen, and divides his time among the following: a board member of NSRCF, a senior tennis player, and a fisherman.

Glenn

Ryozo Glenn Kumekawa

Glenn is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Rhode Island after serving in municipal, state, and regional governmental positions for over 40 years. At present, he serves as a Commissioner of the Capital Center Commission redeveloping the center of the City of Providence, Senior Fellow of the Coastal Institute, URI, and Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Bob

Robert Maeda

Bob retired in 2000 from Brandeis University where he taught Asian Art History. He is a Board Member of the New England Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.

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Fumio Robert Naka, ScD (Harvard), PE

Bob, a scientist and electronic equipment design engineer, is semi-retired. He is known for his work on radar signal detection, a pioneer in aircraft stealth design, managing director of the super secret National Reconnaissance Office, and has received many honors. He married his college sweetheart Patricia Ann Neilon, a licensed clinical psychologist, who gave birth to their four children, who in turn provided nine grandchildren.

Kesaya

Kesaya E. Noda

Kesaya is a writer and administrator who recently retired from Dartmouth College after ten years as an assistant to the president. Author of The Yamato Colony (a history of one of the earliest successful Japanese settlements in California) and a published poet, she has established a business as a personal historian — In Your Own Words — to assist individuals in the writing and publication of their memoirs. She and her husband Christopher Dye run a blueberry and Christmas tree farm established by her parents.

May

May O. Takayanagi

May is retired after 27 years working with the Ameircan Friends Service Committee in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is an Overseer with WGBH, on the UMass Boston Asian American Studies Advisory Committee, and on the Boards of the New England Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and the Japan Society of Boston. She is also active on Community Change and the Women's League for Peace and Freedom.

Phitsamay

Phitsamay Sychitkokhong Uy

Phitsamay is an assistant professor at University Massachusetts Lowell Graduate School of Education in their Leadership in Schooling program. She has over 15 years of teaching experience including as an elementary teacher, literacy specialist, Asian American Studies instructor, diversity trainer, and curriculum developer. Phitsamay has served on several community boards of directors including Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC), Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), Chea Uy Trust Fund, and Legacies of War.

Paul

Paul Y. Watanabe

Paul is currently Director of the Institute for Asian American Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also a member of the U.S. Census Advisory Committee on the Asian Population, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

Margaret

Margaret Yamamoto

Margie is retired after 40 years in public relations and marketing for educational and health care organizations and corporations in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. They included WGBH television (Boston’s PBS station), Walt Disney Productions, General Electric, and the State University of New York. Currently, she is co-president of the New England Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.