Officers
Officers are elected for a one-year term at the Society’s Annual Meeting in April
Chair
Yuka ShimizuBellevue Children's Academy / Willows Preparatory School
Treasurer
Todd MasonSecretary
Chris CumminsBoard Member
Consul General of Japan in SeattleThe Honorable Makoto Iyori**
Committee Chairs
Membership Committee Chair
Mark HarmanCostco
Education Committee Chair
Yoshie PhilipsRussell Investments
Small Business Committee Chair
Kanako MatsumotoNishijin Accounting & Consulting
Golf Committee Chair
Hideo SuganumaKohtoku Enterprises, Inc.
Elected Directors
Directors are elected for three-year terms at the Society’s Annual Meeting in April
Directors to 2026
- Ambassador Michael Michalak
- Cara Craig, Port of Everett
- Christopher Cummins
- Cliff Rudolph, Parker, Smith & Feek
- Hideo Suganuma, Kohtoku Enterprises
- Kanako Matsumoto, Nishijin Accounting & Consulting, LLC
- Karen Swanson, Nichirei USA LLC
- Kaori Packard
- Matt Smith
- Shigeki Okano, Silver Bay Seafoods
- Yoshi Minegishi
Directors to 2027
- Akemi Sagawa
- Asami Tsuruta, Japan Business Association of Seattle
- Barbara Mizoguchi
- Jane Corddry Langill, Teatro ZinZanni
- Kazuhiro Hoshi, Ito En / Distant Lands Coffee
- Masamichi Kato, JAMCO America, Inc.
- Mike Nieman
- RADM, James Kelly (Retired)
- Rita Brogan, Mukai Farm & Garden
- Robert Munoz, Russell Investments
- Todd Mason, Weyerhaeuser
- Yoshie Phillips, Russell Investments
- Yuka Shimizu, Bellevue Children’s Academy
Directors to 2028
- Allen Nakamoto (welcome!)
- Diane Butler, Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP
- Dylan Rhodes (welcome!)
- Jane Stonecipher
- Joshua Ishibashi (welcome!)
- Keisuke Umeki, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc. (welcome!)
- Manabu Miroku, Japan Airlines
- Mark Harman, Costco Wholesale
- Naoko Inoue Shatz, Shatz Law Group
- Sarah Okawa Ellerbrock
- Satoko Valdes, Moss Adams, LLP
Former Board Chairs (Past Presidents)
Starbucks
Russell Investments
UW Japan Studies Program
Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)
Port of Seattle
Individual member
Russell Investments
Port of Seattle
Costco Wholesale
Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)
Washington State Department of Commerce
Aon Corporation
- 2011-2012 Megumi Kobayashi
- 2010-2011 Doug Palmer, Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson, P.S.
- 2009-2010 Dennis Yamashita, Aon Corporation
- 2008-2009 Linda Salomon, Gobo Enterprises
- 2007-2008 Dick Dudley, Weyerhaeuser Company
- 2006-2007 Tom Sasaki, ECORE Global
- 2005-2006 Andy Read, Deloitte & Touche LLP
- 2004-2005 Paul Rollins, Bank of America
- 2003-2004 Chris Helm, Davis Wright Tremaine
- 2002-2003 Sara Sandford, Garvey Schubert Barer
- 2001-2002 Mic Dinsmore, Port of Seattle
- 2000-2001 Roger Williams, Mithun Partners
- 1999-2000 William Glassford, Bank of America
- 1998-1999 Don Lorentz, Port of Seattle
- 1997-1998 James R. Ladd, EnCompass Globalization, Inc.
- 1996-1997 Jim Fitzgerald, Quadrant Corporation
- 1995-1996 Gary R. Severson, First Interstate Bank
- 1994-1995 James K. Doane, Preston Gates & Ellis
- 1993-1994 Lawrence W. Clarkson, Boeing
- 1992-1993 Mary Bernson, East Asia Resource Center, UW
- 1991-1992 Victor S. Hirakawa, Mitsubishi
- 1990-1991 Governor John B. Spellman, Carney Stephenson Badley Smith & Spellman, P.S.
- 1989-1990 Dennis Okamoto, US West, Inc.
- 1988-1989 Gail Ingersoll Ransom, Individual member
- 1987-1988 Gene B. Brandzel, Stoel Rives Boley Jones & Grey
- 1986-1987 Edward M. Burke, Burke Assoc. Architects
- 1985-1986 Tomio Moriguchi, Uwajimaya
- 1984-1985 Wayne B. Gentry, Individual member
- 1983-1984 Richard W. Buchanan, LeGros, Buchanan & Paul
- 1982-1983 Wilfred A. Pascoe, Ehrig & Assoc.
- 1981-1982 David R. Enroth, Alaska Maritime Agencies
- 1980-1981 George R. Cruickshank, Seattle Stevedore Co.
- 1979-1980 William P. Ellis, Cascade Shipping Co.
- 1978-1979 John M. Swihart, Boeing Commercial Airplane Co.
- 1977-1978 Mason J. Hoffman, George S. Bush and Co.
- 1976-1977 Theodore A. LeGros; Howard, LeGros, Buchanan & Paul
- 1975-1976 Peter N. Beckett, Jones Washington Stevedore Co.
- 1974-1975 Robert C. Buckingham, Seaport Shipping
- 1973-1974 Gordon S. Clinton, Clinton, Fleck, Glein & Brown
- 1972-1973 William Y. Mimbu, Mimbu & Wong
- 1971-1972 Walter B. Williams, Continental, Inc.
- 1970-1971 Jack Greaves, Seattle Public Schools
- 1969-1970 Clayton R. Jones, Rothschild Intl. Stevedoring Co.
- 1968-1969 John W. Money, Kerr Steamship Co.
- 1967-1968 Charles L. Spence, Pacific Lumber & Shipping Co.
- 1966-1967 G. Raymond Seefeldt, Olympic Steamship Co.
- 1965-1966 Kenneth W. Sorrells, Kenneth W. Sorrells Appraisals
- 1964-1965 Capt. James R. Topper USN(ret), Peoples National Bank of Washington
- 1963-1964 Clemens Bursett, American Mail Line
- 1962-1963 Wheeler Grey, Jones, Grey, Bayley & Olsen
- 1961-1962 M.J. Weber, Weber Industries
- 1960-1961 Ralph A. Johansen, Ralph A. Johansen Associates, Inc.
- 1959-1960 Forest G. Scott, Northern Pacific Railway
- 1958-1959 Charles B. Howard, Summers, Bucey & Howard
- 1957-1958 Dr. Richard E. Fuller, Seattle Art Museum
- 1956-1957 George A. Jensen, Jensen-McLean Co., Inc.
- 1955-1956 Merville W. McInnis, McInnis & Co.
- 1954-1955 Lane Summers, Summers, Bucey & Howard
- 1953-1954 William F. Devin, Devin Hutchinson & Rolf.
- 1952-1953 R. Adm. Gordon Rowe, U.S.N. (ret.), elected president when society reorganizes.
- 1941-1952 Arthur E. Goodwin, Port of Seattle
- 1939-1941 Harry B. Jones, attorney
- 1938-1939 Wylie Hemphill, Preston Thorgrimson
- 1937-1938 Arthur Murphy elected, then resigned, replaced by Wylie Hemphill, Cumberland Coal
- 1936-1937 Arthur Murphy, Union Pacific Railroad
- 1935-1936 L.E. Force.
- 1933-1935 Corwin S. Shank, Shank, Rode, Cook & Watkins
- 1931-1933 K.J. Middleton, Dodwell & Co., Ltd.
- 1929-1931 J.W. Spangler, Seattle National Bank
- 1928-1929 Dr. Herbert H. Gowen, Professor of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington
- 1927-1928 Reginald H. Parsons, President, Dexter Horton National Bank
- 1925-1927 Corwin S. Shank, Shank, Belt and Fairbrook
- 1923-1925 E.G. Anderson, Western Dry Goods co.
** The Consul General of Japan at Seattle is automatically conferred director status without election or respect to term limit.
*** Any past chair/past president who is still an active member of the Society is automatically conferred director status without election or respect to term limit. Any remaining past chair/past president may be conferred to Advisory Board status.