Board of Directors
The Little Tokyo Community Investment Fund is managed by a Board of Directors (the “Board”) elected by the Shareholders. While the Board will oversee the Fund and its Properties, it will not directly manage any of Properties. The Board is authorized to employ, on behalf of the Fund, at the Fund’s expense, legal, financial, tax, accounting, and other professionals.
Size of the Board: The Board will initially have twelve (12) total directors (each, a “Director”), although it may have as few as five (5) and as many as twenty-four (24) Directors, with the number to be fixed within these limits by the Board.
Makeup of the Board: To anchor the LTCIF to its social purpose, and in order to ensure that the LTCIF remains one based in the community, the Board has been designed to ensure that representatives of each class of Shareholders has the opportunity to participate in LTCIF decision-making and that its social purpose is ensured, as follows:
- Class A Directors: Irrespective of the amount of capital invested by Class A Shareholders, no less than one-third (1/3) of the directors of the Board shall be elected by the Class A Shareholders. Any fractional amount shall be rounded up.
- Class B Directors: All remaining directors shall be appointed by the Class B Shareholders.
- The Non-Profit Observer: The Board will invite no less than one non-voting representative of Little Tokyo’s social, cultural, and community institutions to attend, observe, and engage in meetings. The Non-Profit Observer must be a current employee or board member of an eligible non-profit institution (“Anchor Institutions”). Non-profit institutions may be added or removed to the list of Anchor Institutions at the discretion of the Board.
For illustration purposes, with an initial Board of 12 Directors, 4 could be Class A Directors and 8 would then be Class B Directors. 1 Non-Profit Observer would also attend, observe, and engage in Board meetings but would not vote.
Board Officers
Bill Watanabe, President
Bill Watanabe was the founding Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) in downtown Los Angeles. For 32 years, he guided its growth, in conjunction with the Board of Directors, from a one-person staff to a multi-faceted social service and community development program with 150 paid staff, many of whom are bilingual in any of eight Asian Pacific languages and Spanish. Bill retired from LTSC in June 2012. While at LTSC Bill helped to establish several key service organizations such as the Asian Pacific Community Fund, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Center, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, and the Little Tokyo Community Council (LTCC). Bill is also the founder of the API National Historic Preservation Forum. Bill has an MSW from UCLA, is married, and has one daughter. He lives in Silver Lake near downtown Los Angeles.
Miya Iwataki, Vice-President
Miya Iwataki’s lifelong commitment to community is reflected in programs ranging from Executive Director of the first Asian Women Center in the US, and media production at KCET-TV, and KPFK-FM radio. She was National Press Secretary for Congressman Mervyn Dymally; and national legislative director for NCRR, the grassroots organization that campaigned for successful passage of Japanese American Redress/Reparations legislation. She retired as Director of Diversity/Cultural Competency, leading the establishment of a cultural and linguistic infrastructure for the LA County Health system. Miya is Vice President of Little Tokyo Historical Society and columnist for Rafu Shimpo.
Steve Nagano, Secretary
Steve Nagano is a Little Tokyo resident, and has been involved with a number of community organizations and events. As a filmmaker he has shown his film shorts annually in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and various community organizations. Since 2011 he has been a board member of the Neighborhood Council. He has done extensive work on the preservation of the testimonies of incarcerees before the Commission WRIC (CWRIC). He has been a key organizer of the Little Tokyo Sparkle, the community-wide cleanup. As an early member of the LT CIF, he would like to work to see its
mission fulfilled.
Mark Masaoka, Treasurer
Mark Masaoka has lived in Little Tokyo in the 1970’s and organized residents to fight for housing in LT redevelopment. He helped the Oriental Builders Association and Asian American workers get construction work in the redevelopment. Mark was a Business Representative for the L.A. County Employees Union and later the Director of Strategic initiatives for the L.A. County Children’s Planning Council in the 2000’s. He worked as Policy Director for the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council until his retirement in 2017. Mark currently serves as Nikkei Progressives’ representative on the Little Tokyo Community Council.
Class A Directors
Natalie Masuoka, PhD
Natalie Masuoka comes from a family with long roots in Little Tokyo. Her grandfather served as a minister at Nishi Hongwanji Temple and her family lived for many years in an apartment next to the temple. Like for many other families, Little Tokyo is a place to build community, remember our history and where we can come together to practice faith and culture. Currently, she is Associate Professor in the Political Science and Asian American Studies departments at UCLA. She has dedicated her academic career studying the role of race in American politics and teach courses that highlight the contributions of the Asian American community.
Midori Mizuhara, MCP
Midori Mizuhara is a multi-disciplinary designer whose work spans urban planning, architecture, and community engagement. For over a decade she has passionately worked throughout Los Angeles to bring quality design solutions to the built environment and engage communities in the process of shaping their neighborhoods. In her most recent roles, Midori has been a project manager on various planning and outreach efforts, designed affordable housing, curated and managed public festivals, and led various large-scale mixed use and master planning projects. Midori holds a Master of City Planning from MIT and Bachelor of Architecture from SCI-Arc.
Stephanie Nitahara
Stephanie Nitahara is a former Executive Director of Kizuna, a Nikkei youth organization with the mission of building a community for the next generation of leaders through education, empowerment and engagement. She was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs and following her passion for Nikkei community programming moved to Los Angeles in 2012 to work for the Japanese American Citizens League. She worked in the Pacific Southwest regional office for over five years and through her work built deep roots in the Little Tokyo community. Stephanie believes in inclusive community building and currently serves on the Little Tokyo Community Council’s board of directors as well as an organizing committee member of Okaeri: A Nikkei LGBTQ Gathering.
Kevin Sanada, MPP
Kevin Sanada worked for more than ten years in the non-profit sector before transitioning to his current position as a contract administrator at Northrop Grumman. Prior to his current role, he worked with various community economic development organizations. He worked on the as a policy analyst for the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD); as a field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and as Director of Programs and Policy for the California Community Economic Development Association. Kevin has experience in real estate, policy and advocacy, fundraising, business planning, and project management. He’s excited to continue to serve the Little Tokyo community and looks forward to contributing to a strong and inclusive future for generations to come.
Eileen Ung
Eileen Ung is an impact investor focused on increasing capital access in historically disenfranchised communities. Her work at Calvert impact ranges from investing in affordable housing developers and microenterprise lenders, to designing products that enable community-facing intermediaries to tap into the capital markets. She spent many formative years working in downtown LA, where she got to know Little Tokyo through the eyes of her Japanese American colleagues at MUFG. Growing up helping out at her grandfather’s donut shop, Eileen is passionate about supporting small businesses and hopes to help the Little Tokyo Community Impact Fund achieve the milestone of property acquisition during her board term.
Class B Directors
Miya Iwataki
Miya Iwataki’s lifelong commitment to community is reflected in programs ranging from Executive Director of the first Asian Women Center in the US, and media production at KCET-TV, and KPFK-FM radio. She was National Press Secretary for Congressman Mervyn Dymally; and national legislative director for NCRR, the grassroots organization that campaigned for successful passage of Japanese American Redress/Reparations legislation. She retired as Director of Diversity/Cultural Competency, leading the establishment of a cultural and linguistic infrastructure for the LA County Health system. Miya is Vice President of Little Tokyo Historical Society and columnist for Rafu Shimpo.
Matthew Kobata
Matthew Kobata is Vice President, Regional Wealth Management Consultant for AmericanCentury Investments. He has 23 years experience in the financial services industry. He is responsible for providing investment consulting, financial advisory services and marketing support to financial advisory firms. Matt is a graduate of California State University Northridge, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics. He also holds the Certified Financial Planner designation.
Vivienne Lee
Vivienne Lee is an L.A. native who is passionate about creating an equitable economy by building community wealth, both the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors with specialization in community development, social enterprise, and cross-sector impact.
As the former Chief Impact Officer at Common Future, Vivienne advanced efforts to change the structures, terms, rules, and norms of utilizing grant and investment capital to better support BIPOC communities. At REDF, she built partnerships and created pilot programs that served as models to scale a nationwide social enterprise ecosystem. She was the lead architect of LA:RISE, a nationally recognized collaborative model that integrated the traditional workforce system and social enterprises to systematically address the overwhelming needs of the unhoused and re-entry populations. Prior to joining REDF, Vivienne led Citi Community Development’s efforts managing a philanthropic portfolio of grantees in Los Angeles focused on affordable housing, homeownership, small business, and financial inclusion in low-income communities.
Mark Masaoka
Mark Masoka lived in Little Tokyo in the 1970’s and organized residents to fight for housing in LT redevelopment. He helped the Oriental Builders Association and Asian American workers get construction work in the redevelopment. Mark was a Business Representative for the L.A. County Employees Union and later the Director of Strategic initiatives for the L.A. County Children’s Planning Council in the 2000’s. He worked as Policy Director for the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council until his retirement in 2017. Mark currently serves as Nikkei Progressives’ representative on the Little Tokyo Community Council.
Stephen Nagano
Stephen Nagano – A Little Tokyo resident, Steve has been involved with a number of community organizations and events. As a filmmaker he has shown his film shorts annually in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and various community organizations. Since 2011 he has been a board member of the Neighborhood Council. He has done extensive work on the preservation of the testimonies of incarcerees before the Commission WRIC (CWRIC). He has been a key organizer of the Little Tokyo Sparkle, the community-wide cleanup. As an early member of the LTCIF, he would like to work to see its mission fulfilled.
Glenn Sanada
Glenn Sanada began as the development director for a non-profit community development organization focusing on affordable housing and income generating business activities. Subsequently, Glenn served for 13 years at Bank of America’s new Community Development Bank, ultimately serving as a Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for the Bank in affordable housing lending while specializing in community-based lending and investments. In the last 15 years, Glenn initiated and managed the training and technical assistance programs for the California Community Economic Development Association. Glenn has a degree in Urban Planning and advanced training from the Development Training Institute and the Pacific Coast Banking School.
Takao Suzuki
Takao Suzuki currently serves as the Director of Community Development for the LTSC Community Development Corporation (LTSC CDC). Takao manages a department that consists of Real Estate Development, Asset & Property Management, Community Organizing & Planning, and Little Tokyo Small Business Assistance. He currently serves on the board of the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, Mercado la Paloma, Inc. and is on the Affordable Housing Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He served as the District 1 appointed Housing Commissioner for the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles until May 2019, and now is a Housing Advisory Committee Member of the Los Angeles County Development Authority. In 2019, he also joined the Real Estate Advisory Committee of NeighborWorks America. He holds a B.A. in Social Work from the California State University of Los Angeles and a M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of California of Los Angeles.
Dean Toji
Dean S. Toji – Little Tokyo Service Center, Board of Directors (1994-2020). Ph.D., Geography, UCLA, 1999. California State University Long Beach, Asian American Studies Department, Assistant Professor Emeritus. Co-founder of theA3PCON Environmental Justice Committee and co-chair of the Long Beach 350 (350.org) steering committee. Worked with Gidra magazine (staff) and Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization (an LTSC predecessor) (member) in the 1970s. Long Beach resident.
Bill Watanabe
Bill Watanabe worked for 32 years as the founding Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center Community Development Corporation, which has a long history of community and economic development in Little Tokyo and the broader LA area. He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Directors of the Fund.
Nonprofit Observer
Kristin Fukushima, Little Tokyo Community Council
Advisory Board
Lisa Hasegawa
Patty Nagano
Casey NishizuRyan SugasawaraKenta TakamoriMike Wright
Featured image: Original artwork by Shizu Saldamando