Karen Tani, President

Karen Tani presently serves as the Chapter’s President. Karen has previously served several terms as Chapter President during the 1990’s. Additionally, she served on JACL’s PSW District Board of Directors, including a term as the District’s Secretary. Karen has chaired the JACL Annual Picnic and is the editor of the Borderline newsletter.

Suzanne Okazaki, Vice President

Suzanne Okazaki has over 12 years experience in the banking industry. In June 2008, Suzanne retired from banking to fulfill her dream to open her own store as a franchisee of The UPS Store in East Village. She currently serves as elected Vice President for the JACL. Suzanne has chaired the newest JACL event, the Community Japanese Breakfast at Kiku Garderns.

David Iwashita, Secretary

David Iwashita, has specialized in Entitlements, Project Management, and Supervision on many projects with Ito Girard & Associates and as a consultant for non-profit organizations such as San Diego Habitat for Humanity. David is a native of San Diego having been raised in Coronado. He is a graduate of The Marshall School of Business at USC with emphasis in Real Estate, Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing. As a Founder of Four Eyez Inc., and President of Iwashita Real Estate LLC, David has developed and managed projects from start to finish. David’s Community Involvement includes being a LEAD San Diego graduate, an officer on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Japanese American Citizen League, and an Advisory Board member of Green Beach, a Veteran Affordable Housing Non-Profit.

Patty Nakamura, Treasurer

Patty moved from Pasadena, CA, to attend San Diego State University. After graduation she was employed by the San Diego Unified School District as a speech/language pathologist. She co-chaired the San Diego JACL’s Kids’ Culture Day program for the 10 years of its existence and has served on the JACL Board for the past two terms.

Coreen Fujinami

Coreen Fujinami moved to San Diego from the Bay Area in 2003. She left behind a busy professional life and is now volunteering at Pioneer Ocean View United Church of Christ , Scripps Ranch High School and the Tsunami Swim Team. This past year Coreen served on the JACL scholarship committee. Coreen has an undergraduate degree from UCLA and a MBA from Monterey Institute of International Studies. Coreen is married to Bruce and they have two teenage daughters.

Eugene Kaneko

Eugene Kaneko is a product design engineer turned iPhone app developer. Originally from San Diego, he was a recipient of the JACL Scholarship in 1996 and attended U.C. Berkeley. He worked in Japan for two years as an engineer for National Instruments and worked four years in New York City at OXO International in product development. He currently serves on the board for San Diego Chapters of JACL and Engineers Without Borders.

Carol Kawamoto

From 2004 to 2008, Carol Kawamoto served two biennial terms as the National JACL Vice President for Planning & Development. In 2002, she received National JACL’s highest membership honor, JACLer of the Biennium. She is noted for her work with National JACL’s teacher training workshops. Carol has served seven terms as Chapter President and was also JACL’s PSW District Governor from 1991 to 1993. Carol is a recipient of the JACL Sapphire Pin, which is awarded for over ten years service to JACL at the local, District and National levels.

David Kawamoto

David Kawamoto is presently the National JACL Vice President for Planning & Development. From 2000 to 2004, David served two terms as the National JACL Vice President of General Operations, the second highest ranking elected official in JACL. Additionally, David has served two terms as the PSW District Governor (1995-99) and six terms as the San Diego Chapter President (1990-93, 2003-2005). David Kawamoto is a recipient of the JACL Sapphire Pin and in 2006 he became only the second San Diego Chapter member to be awarded the JACLer of the Biennium, National JACL’s highest membership honor. He is recognized for his work with the National JACL Scholarship Program.

Conrad Ohashi

Conrad Ohashi is a recent graduate from UCSD with a BA degree in History. Conrad served as a summer intern with the Little Tokyo Service Center in Los Angeles working on promoting the Little Tokyo Recreation Center. He has been very active with the Nikkei Student Union of UCSD and as the Youth Representative to the Pacific Southwest District of the JACL. Conrad is currently helping the SD JACL board promote civil rights and youth engagement.

Miyo Reff

Miyo Reff is a sansei who grew up on the Monterey Peninsula and is the daughter of active JACLers George and Naoko Tanaka. She has a BS from Stanford University and interned in Medical Technology at UCLA. Miyo is a community volunteer involved with the Mission Beach Town Council, Planned Parenthood Action Fund Board, and the Rueben H. Fleet Science Center Board. In 2004, she was a school board candidate for San Diego City Schools.

Kimberly Shintaku

Kimberly Shintaku is presently the National JACL Youth Chairperson in which she chairs the National Youth / Student Council of the JACL and is responsible for youth and student-related activities in National JACL. Kimberly currently is the Research Safety Assistant for University of California, San Diego Environment, Health & Safety. She began her involvement with the JACL while in high school, and was instrumental in forming the Fresno JAYs for those in her peer group. She was also active with the UCSD Nikkei Student Union throughout her years as an undergraduate. Her capacity on the San Diego Chapter board includes programming and youth involvement.

Hiro Suzuki

Hiro Suzuki is a budding entrepreneur who has worked in the real estate private equity field at Phoenix Realty Group. Prior to joining Phoenix, Hiro was the Council Representative in SD City Council District 8 responsible for housing, redevelopment, budget and stadium issues. Hiro has also worked as a management consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton and played minor league soccer in San Diego and Minneapolis. He holds a MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA and graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Economics from Yale.

Mitsuo Tomita

Mits Tomita is a physician who retired from Kaiser Permanente. In addition to being a current Board member of the San Diego JACL, Mits was on the Board of Directors for the Union of Pan Asian Communities (UPAC). Most notably, he served as the Chair of the (City of San Diego) Mayor’s Asian Pacific Islander Advisory Board.

Robert Ito

Robert Ito is a long time volunteer with the San Diego JACL. He served as the Secretary for many years and chaired the Chapter’s Property Committee. He and his family always helps coordinate the Chapter’s annual beach picnic. Robert is an active volunteer with the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego, chairing its Facility Committee. Robert was Chair of the 1990 JACL National Convention in San Diego. He is active in the community, serving with many other organizations including the San Diego Workforce Investment Board. He is a past president of Kiku Gardens and the Asian Business Association. He is also a former board member of the Centre City Development Corporation, Neighborhood National Bank, San Diego Automotive Museum, and the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the SDSU College of Health and Human Services.

Roy Muraoka

Roy Muraoka is an active member of many community organizations. He has been a Commander of the Asian Pacific VFW Post #4851. Roy is a past President of the Japanese Coordinating Council and also a past president of and remains active with the Japanese Friendship Garden.

Steve Sato

Steve Sato is the Executive Director of Kiku Gardens. He is also the Treasurer and a Director of the Japanese Friendship Garden and Chair of the San Diego Nikkei Golf Club. He presently serves on the SD JACL Chapter Board as the Chair of the Investment Committee and Chair of the Nikkei Senior Housing Committee.

Tom Yanagihara

Tom Yanagihara is active with many community organizations. He is a past president of the San Diego JACL Chapter as well as past president of the Buddhist Temple of San Diego and the Japanese Friendship Garden.