The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) has added William T. Fujioka and Kenneth S. Hamamura to its Board of Trustees and David Nishida to its Board of Governors.
Trustees serve for three-year terms; governors serve two-year terms. In both roles, individuals may be reelected for additional terms.
Fujioka is a third-generation Japanese American. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz and first working for the City of Los Angeles, he was hired by the Los Angeles County Department of Personnel in 1978. Over the next 19 years, he held positions in several county departments.
In 1997, Fujioka became the director of personnel for the City of Los Angeles, and two years later, Mayor Richard Riordan appointed him to the position of city administrative officer. He held that post under mayors Riordan, James Hahn, and Antonio Villaraigosa, until retiring in February 2007.
Later that year, Fujioka re-entered public service when he was appointed chief executive officer for Los Angeles County by its Board of Supervisors. He retired from that position in 2014.
Hamamura is a retired business executive with more than 30 years of experience in the human resources field, including lengthy stints with Security Pacific National Bank and Fannie Mae. He served on the JANM staff as project director for the establishment of the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, including the expansion and redesign of the museum’s Historic Building and construction of the Tateuchi Democracy Forum. After the completion of construction in 2005, Hamamura again retired and returned to serving as a museum volunteer, joining the Board of Governors in 2013.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from CSU Long Beach, and participated in advanced professional development for human resources executives through the University of Michigan’s Graduate School of Business Administration.
Nishida has over 30 years of experience in the accounting and finance industries in Japan and the U.S. Most recently, he served as president and chief financial officer of Hudson Japan KK, Lone Star Funds’ captive asset management company. He has also worked for Morgan Stanley and Deloitte. Nishida began his career with the accounting firm of Kenneth Leventhal and Company, which is now part of EY.
A certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner, Nishida earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA. He currently serves as treasurer of the Board of Directors of the U.S.-Japan Council and is a board member of several cyber security companies.
For more information on the museum, visit www.janm.org.