Heart Mountain Site

The Executive Director oversees the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, representing the organization on a national and international stage, managing the staff, and coordinating with the Heart Mountain Board of Directors. She spearheads our grant writing and implementation and collaborates with all departments to ensure consistent policy and communications, sound museum practice, and general operations that live up to the Foundation’s mission.

Aura Sunada Newlin is a fourth-generation Wyomingite, fourth-generation Japanese American, and Executive Director for the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (HMWF). Her heritage involves intertwined stories of imprisonment at Heart Mountain and Tule Lake; segregated military service; and hardships suffered by railroaders who were fired because of their Japanese ancestry. Aura was elected to the HMWF board of directors in 2013 and served as board secretary for eight years. She is also on the board of directors for the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts and was a founding member of the National Steering Committee for Tsuru for Solidarity. She previously taught Asian American Studies courses at the University of Wyoming and was a tenured faculty member in
sociology and anthropology at Wyoming’s Northwest College.

Aura earned a BA in ethnomusicology from the University of Wyoming, and an MA in medical anthropology and a PhD in anthropology of law, both from Case Western Reserve University. Aura’s work has been profiled by the Women in Wyoming podcast and gallery exhibit; the University of Wyoming’s Featured Alumni series; and Wyoming PBS. She was named statewide Faculty Member of the Year by the Wyoming Association of Community College Trustees in 2018 and received the Community Member Award of the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice in 2021.

aura@heartmountain.org

The Deputy Director focuses on the museum aspect of the Foundation, including our education, public, and member outreach efforts and planning our annual Pilgrimage. She oversees and coordinates with the Director of Interpretation & Preservation, Collections Manager, Education Manager, and Membership & Development Manager.

Rebecca McKinley joined the Heart Mountain’s leadership in May of 2023 as the Deputy Director. She brings a wealth of museum, collections, and development experience supplemented by an academic background in anthropology and bioarchaeology. Rebecca worked previously as Special Events Coordinator and Donor Advisor at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody; Curator and then Interim Executive Director of the Washakie Museum & Cultural Center in Worland, Wyoming; and Collections Intern for the Meeteetse Museums in Meeteetse, Wyoming. Originally from Oregon, Rebecca has lived in Wyoming for the past seven years.

rebecca@heartmountain.org

The Director of Operations oversees the financial and technical operations of the Foundation and general running of the buildings, facilities, and technology, including the Interpretive Center and other structures around the Heart Mountain site.

Logan Christie joined the Heart Mountain team in February 2023 as Director of Operations. Logan is a third-generation Wyomingite, life-long Cody boy, and University of Wyoming graduate with a stint of work in New York City. For the past 13 years he has worked in the juvenile justice arena, serving most recently as the Youth Services Coordinator for Park County. Logan’s background includes criminal justice administration and IT. Logan chairs the Wyoming State Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice, which advises the state on a variety of topics including alternatives to incarceration for youth. Logan is the son of award-winning landscape artist Reid Christie, he has an encyclopedic memory for sports (all types) and music (all genres), and he has a 9 handicap on the golf course.

logan@heartmountain.org

The Director of Communications & Strategy focuses on projects produced through the Mineta-Simpson Institute, coordinates with the Executive Director on grants, and collaborates with the Graphic Design & Brand Manager on the magazine, marketing and general communications strategies.

Ray Locker is the Director of Communications and Strategy for the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. He has created the Foundation’s workshop for educators sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and overseen the publication of books by the Foundation. Before joining Heart Mountain, Ray spent 36 years as a reporter and editor at news organizations including USA TODAY, the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Tampa Tribune. He is the author of two books, Nixon’s Gamble and Haig’s Coup, which detail the history of the Nixon administration.

The Director of Interpretation & Preservation handles exhibit planning and creation, public programming, and monitoring the status of the historic buildings.

Cally first came to Heart Mountain as a graduate student in 2015. “Growing up in Indiana, I never learned about this history in school, but my graduate advisor knew about the site, and she knew that I spoke Japanese. So she basically picked me up by the scruff of the neck like a kitten and told me to go visit.” That first visit became the core of Cally’s PhD work, officially completed in August 2022, two years after she was hired by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation as Museum Manager. Today Cally is the Director of Interpretation & Preservation.

callys@heartmountain.org

The Education & Workshop Manager oversees Heart Mountain’s education and outreach programs, leads in-person and virtual school groups, coordinates our annual educator workshops, and ensures that our educational materials and messaging follow best practices and reflect the Foundation’s mission.

Sybil came to Heart Mountain in June 2022 for a one-year service position through the Americorps VISTA program. In June 2023, she joined our full-time staff as Education & Workshop Manager. Her role allows her to connect with teachers and students from around the country, and gain new skills in many areas of the museum field. She is excited to expand the educational materials and programs offered at Heart Mountain! Sybil is from Cullman, Alabama, and holds a B.A. in Public History from Athens State University and a M.A. in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program.

sybil@heartmountain.org

The Membership & Development Manager handles donations, fundraising, and member relations, and manages Pilgrimage event registration.

Michael joined the Foundation in August 2023. He has lived in Wyoming for 39 years and holds a B.A. in Social Science and an M.A. in Political Science and Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Wyoming. Michael’s research focuses on exclusionary policy, paternalism, and hate speech. He is dedicated to examining social issues from the ground up and reimagining Wyoming and a world of greater understanding. Michael is using his role to build relationships in which the key component is restorative justice and a dedication to educating future generations on the dangers of racism and the erosion of civil liberties in times of unrest.

michael@heartmountain.org

The Governance & Leadership Coordinator supports the Executive Director and the Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, liaising between the two entities and collaborating on event planning, enabling communications and operations of the Foundation.

Tracey joined the Foundation in August 2023. Her background includes experience in marketing and communications, administrative support, and community organizing. She earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wyoming. Tracey is committed to community service, with her passion projects including disability support services, public health, community-centered criminal justice reform, and animal rescue.

tracey@heartmountain.org

The Graphic Design & Brand Manager oversees and creates visual communication materials related to the Foundation and Interpretive Center, including the magazine, the website, and all marketing, fundraising, exhibit, and event materials.

Kate started working at Heart Mountain in August 2014. After a break in 2015 to complete her Master’s degree, she re-joined the staff in 2016 and has worked full-time for the Foundation since then. Kate was born in Powell, Wyoming, to parents transplanted from New York & Connecticut who fell in love with the West. After leaving the area to earn her B.A. in History from Occidental College in Los Angeles, she returned to Powell to complete an A.A.S. in Graphic Design at Northwest College. Kate has also earned a CELTA certificate in Boston, a Post Graduate Diploma in Communication Design from the Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow, Scotland, and a M.A. in Museums, Galleries, and Contemporary Culture from the University of Westminster in London, England. In addition, she has worked and lived in Ireland, South Korea, Canada, and New Zealand.

Inheriting her love of travel and multicultural experiences from her parents, sister, and family, Kate enjoys drawing inspiration from a wide variety of cultures, time periods, geographic settings, films, photographs, literature, artwork, and the natural world for her work. Growing up in Powell with Heart Mountain on her doorstep, her interest in World War II and twentieth century history was sparked at an early age. As an adult, she made it her goal to combine her passions for history and visual arts in the museum setting.

Kate currently works remotely for the Foundation from New Zealand, where she has lived since late 2019 with her husband.

kate@heartmountain.org

The Community Projects Specialist develops and maintains relationships with neighbors surrounding the Heart Mountain site to facilitate the preservation of the land and to enhance partnerships and dialogues with the local community.

Carter was born and raised in Cody, Wyoming. The grandson of white locals who lived in Heart Mountain barracks after World War II, he grew up learning about the site. He has volunteered or worked at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center during the summers on and off since 2012.

After attending Northwest College in Powell, Carter finished his undergraduate education at California State University, Long Beach. Throughout college, he competed in speech and debate. This inspired him to attend the University of Nebraska College of Law, where he competed in moot court and graduated with distinction in 2020. After a short time practicing civil law back in Wyoming, Carter became a Ph.D. candidate in Rhetoric & Political Communication at the University of Kansas in 2022. His primary research interest is in the rhetoric of national identity regarding the human and constitutional rights abuses committed against Japanese Americans during their wartime incarceration and afterwards.

Since 2023, Carter has been working summers as a project specialist with the local community. He is helping develop relationships between the Foundation and our neighbors. Ultimately, the Foundation hopes to work with our local friends to preserve the land of the Heart Mountain incarceration site.

carter@heartmountain.org

The Collections Manager oversees the care and preservation of the Foundation’s collections, coordinates traveling exhibits, and assists in the creation of in-house exhibits.

Rachyl Soloai is the Collections Manager at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, where she brings her deep commitment to preservation and storytelling to the care and interpretation of the Center’s historical collections.

Rachyl earned her undergraduate degree in Technical Writing from Brigham Young University–Idaho, where she was recognized with an award for academic excellence. Her early professional experience is rooted in librarianship, having served both as a Reference Librarian at the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette, Wyoming, and as a Young Adult Librarian. These roles nurtured her passion for connecting people with information, stories, and resources that deepen understanding and spark curiosity. She went on to earn a dual Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and Archival Studies from Louisiana State University, graduating at the top of her class. Her academic and professional background have equipped her with a strong foundation in archival theory, information organization, and preservation practices—skills she now applies to safeguard the artifacts and personal histories entrusted to the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

Rachyl began volunteering with the Center in June 2025 alongside the previous Collections Manager. She was inspired by the Center’s mission to preserve and share the experiences of those incarcerated at Heart Mountain during World War II. Outside of her professional work, Rachyl enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family and her cats. She is passionate about the power of history to connect generations and is deeply committed to preserving the voices and memories that shape our collective past.

rachyl@heartmountain.org

The Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) Coordinator introduces Japanese culture to the local community through cultural workshops and activities to deepen their understanding of Japan and the cultural heritage of Japanese Americans.

Haruka Takaku is from Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. She joined Heart Mountain in August 2024 through the Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) program. Haruka holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in International Studies in Meiji Gakuin University. She spent her school life traveling around Japan and abroad during every long vacation. After working at the International Peace Research Institute affiliated with the university, she joined a travel agency specializing in study tours. She was involved in planning, arranging, escorting, and selling the tours she was in charge of. After that, she worked as a conference coordinator for medical conferences and seminars.

She is passionate about traveling, eating, and cooking.

haruka@heartmountain.org

The Historic Site Caretaker maintains the grounds, monitors our historic structures, and leads guided tours of the barrack, hospital complex, memorial honor park, and guard tower in the summer season.

Johnny Tim joined the Heart Mountain team in January 2022. He is a member of the Apsáalooke nation, commonly known as the Crow nation. Johnny Tim is a Men’s Traditional Dancing Champion who has represented Apsáalooke traditions in Spain, Canada, and at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He is also trained in archaeological monitoring and twice helped repair the roof tarp on the Heart Mountain root cellar when full restoration was delayed during the pandemic.

In his role as Historic Site Caretaker, Johnny Tim is tending to the physical, historical, and spiritual dimensions of this land that is sacred to Japanese Americans and Indigenous peoples alike. He is also serving as tribal liaison as the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation seeks to deepen our connections with the Indigenous peoples that have called this place home.

johnnytim@heartmountain.org

The daughter of two former Heart Mountain incarcerees, the late Dr. William I. Higuchi and Setsuko Saito Higuchi, Shirley became a lawyer in part because of her discomfort with how the legal system treated her parents and her family. She was the Associate Chief for Professional Practice at the American Psychological Association, president of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, past president of the mandatory District of Columbia Bar and was appointed by Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton to the Federal Nomination Commission—recommending federal judicial nominees for consideration to the federal bench. As with her DC Bar presidency, she is the first Asian American president in the 154 years of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Her book Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration was published by the University of Wisconsin Press. “I would not be here but not for the incarceration,” she said. Shirley serves as the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation board chair as a tribute to her family and all those individuals who were incarcerated during WWII to ensure something like this never happens again.

Douglas made his first trip to Wyoming in 1968 as a graduate student at the University of Wyoming. That’s when he first learned about the concentration camp at Heart Mountain, which became the topic of his master’s thesis. The thesis became a book – Heart Mountain: The History of an American Concentration Camp – and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Doug is the retired president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which for more than 20 years he transformed from a philanthropic organization to one of the nation’s most influential and respected large foundations. In 2010, President Jimmy Carter commended his leadership, saying that “his service to our most disinvested and disenfranchised populations and to the overall betterment of America’s philanthropic missions has been extraordinary and all too rare.” Among many other roles, Doug serves as chair of the CDC Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia; and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Carter Center. He is former chair of Living Cities: The National Community Development Initiative and former vice chair of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation Center in New York City. Doug is also one of the creative forces behind the new Mineta-Simpson Institute, which is developing content to spread the word of the incarceration beyond the confines of the former camp site.

Claudia was born and raised in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming – just 72 miles from Heart Mountain. She recently retired as executive director of the Park County Travel Council and has been doing destination marketing for Cody and Park County Wyoming for more than 35 years. Claudia believes the valuable lessons of Heart Mountain must be shared with a global audience and never hesitates to tell the story of the confinement site and its people & importance in Wyoming, American, and world history. Claudia serves on the Board of Directors as one of the co-chairs of the Mineta-Simpson Institute, dedicated to the work of Norman Mineta and Alan Simpson.

An attorney practicing law in Boulder, Colorado, Julia is a graduate of Stanford University Law School with a bachelor’s degree from Stanford as well. She has been active in environmental and reproductive law issues. Her grandfather, George Ishiyama, was a Heart Mountain incarceree who later established a company that worked extensively in Japan and around the world.

Ann Burroughs is an internationally recognized leader in the field of human rights and social justice. She is the Chair of Amnesty International’s Global Assembly and was formerly the Chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA. Her life-long commitment to racial and social justice was shaped by her experience as a young activist in her native South Africa where she was jailed as a political prisoner for her opposition to apartheid and by her work at the South African Council of Churches, one of the key organizations that led the internal resistance to apartheid.  She is currently the President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum, which uses a social justice lens to tell the story of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans and to combat rising divisiveness and discrimination in the US. For more than 25 years, she has worked with leaders, organizations, and networks in the US and globally to promote diversity, racial justice and a rights-based culture. She has previously served as Executive Director of the Taproot Foundation and as the Executive Director of LA Works and has worked as a consultant for the Omidyar Network, the Rockefeller Foundation and to the government of South Africa.

A native of Cody, she is the co-owner of the Simpson Gallagher Gallery in Cody with her husband, John Gallagher. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art and was the first curator of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, before returning to Cody in the early 1990s. She has served on the Wyoming Arts Council, Park County Arts Council, and currently serves as a trustee of the National Museum of Wildlife Art and on the Advisory Board of the Whitney Western Art Museum. She is a long-standing committee member of the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale.

Kris grew up in Los Angeles, and currently lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Her father, Katsuhiro Horiuchi, and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain. She is a founding principal of Horiuchi Solien Inc, an award-winning landscape architecture practice that designed the 9/11 Memorial Park at Boston Logan Airport. She has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects for her distinguished contributions to the profession. Kris holds a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College, a Master of Forest Science from Yale University, and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Kris joined the board after a family reunion at the opening of the Interpretive Center in 2011.  Since then, she and her parents have returned to the annual pilgrimages, and both her children have volunteered at the Interpretive Center.” Heart Mountain has connected all of us as we honor our family’s history, their personal hardship and their extraordinary perseverance to rebuild their lives after the war,” she said. Kris’ work on the Facilities Committee focuses on preserving and interpreting the original camp property. “The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center — and the stories that we tell — shine a light on a dark chapter of American history and the unjust mass incarceration of Japanese Americans.  Our stewardship here, combined with our broader efforts to protect civil liberties everywhere, ensure that the lessons of Heart Mountain remain relevant and endure.”

Takashi was 16 when he first arrived at Heart Mountain in 1942 after spending his childhood in Hollywood, where his father owned a grocery store. Early in the incarceration, he determined that he would not enlist in the Army while he and his family were imprisoned without trial. He carried that commitment to federal prison in 1944 after he and 62 other Nisei men were convicted of resisting the draft. He spent two years in the federal prison in McNeil Island, Washington, returned to Los Angeles and attended college. Takashi earned his doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1961, worked as a research scientist at the Space Biology Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, UCLA for 13 years and retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology in 1989. He was twice president of the Southern California Academy of Sciences; published numerous scientific papers and articles; served as a consultant to NASA, Los Angeles County and the Encyclopedia Britannica. Takashi did not resist the draft because he did not want to serve in the military; he did not want to serve a country that had unjustly imprisoned him, his family and 120,000 other Japanese Americans. During the Korean War, he was drafted again and served two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.

John Kim comes to the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation as the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s inaugural chief administrative officer. In this role, he oversees all administrative and operational functions at the Foundation. Before his most current position, he also served as director of grants managements, chief of staff, and vice president of the Foundation. John earned his law degree from the University of Baltimore while working at Casey. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago.

Growing up in a Korean-immigrant family that worked in retail in the South Side of Chicago, John noticed at an early age that there were vast disparities in the opportunities people had depending on where they grew up in the city. He firmly believes that if you are actively engaged in finding the right solutions, have the right resources and point of view about what it takes to bring about change, you can actually improve lives.

He decided to join the board because he believes HMWF’s efforts to educate and remind all Americans of the dark history of the incarceration of Japanese Americans will help safeguard the American values of liberty and freedom from oppression. In serving on the HMWF board, he hopes to contribute to honoring those whose family histories include Heart Mountain, and to make certain that the Center remains a poignant reminder of what we must never allow to happen again.

Darrell worked for the Los Angeles Times for 40 years in the communications department, giving speaking engagements on behalf of the newspaper and giving tours around the newspaper’s offices to individuals and groups. Over that time, he has become the company’s historian. He has also written articles on the outdoors for The Times. Darrell is a member of the Grateful Crane Theater Ensemble, an organization that creates performances around Japanese and Japanese American stories. He is a member of two of the most notable families of the incarceration. His father Jack was the sports editor of the Heart Mountain Sentinel and a member of the Military Intelligence Service. His aunt Sue Kunitomi Embrey was a leader of the Manzanar pilgrimages and the Manzanar Committee. His uncle Ted Fujioka was the first student body president of Heart Mountain High School; Ted died in France while serving as a member of the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team. Darrell’s older brother Dale was born in the Heart Mountain hospital.

Sam is a second-generation Japanese American who was born and raised in San Francisco. He and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain, where his grandfather died because of poor medical care and his father went blind because of the harsh conditions and lack of access to proper treatment. After the war ended, the family returned to San Francisco. Sam attended Lick Wilmerding High School, UC Berkeley, and UCLA, where he obtained graduate degrees in engineering. He became a rocket scientist and executive with The Boeing Company. Following retirement from Boeing, Sam created his own high-tech consulting firm with clients around the world. Sam is one of the few survivors of the Japanese American imprisonment who actively speaks about his experiences in engagements around the country to schools, colleges, attorney groups, and other interested organizations. Since 2011, he has spoken in person to more than 125,000 people. His presentations document how he and his family were forced out of their home by soldiers, moved to the guarded camp where they lived and suffered throughout the war, and finally released to return home after the war ended. He received the National Council of History Education’s Paul A. Gagnon Prize in 2018 for his teaching of the Japanese American incarceration and its lessons for today. In February 2025, he presented the 51st Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A native of San Jose, he has spent his career in social work and mental health after earning a master’s degree from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s from the University of California, Berkeley. He spent 14 years as the Asian American Recovery Services Deputy Director in the Bay Area. He served as deputy director for demand reduction in the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Barack Obama administration and returned to California to become president and CEO of Momentum for Health.

A native of Torrance, California, Lia is senior director of technology, telecommunications and media policy at Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. Her experience in economic development policy spans the local, state, and international levels. She also serves on the board of directors of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs (APAPA) Greater Sacramento Chapter. Lia holds a B.A. from California State University Long Beach and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Lia is the granddaughter of Heart Mountain incarcerees and her grandfather served in the Military Intelligence Service.

Eric is professor emeritus of American studies at the University of Wyoming. He was also the founding director of the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research. His scholarly writing concentrates on American photography, including depictions of the wartime Heart Mountain experience, and American landscapes. He became involved in the development of what became the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center in the late 1990s and maintained contact through seminars that he taught at UW, several of which involved field trips to northern Wyoming, often in winter. He is particularly interested in locating the many barrack fragments that were the building blocks of the post-war landscape between Cody and Powell. Eric was a leader in developing the teaching programs that won a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and proudly serves on the board of directors at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

Pete grew up in the shadow of Heart Mountain in nearby Cody, Wyoming, and visited the camp as a Boy Scout for jamborees with the incarcerated Japanese American scouts. Pete is an adjunct professor and the Milward Simpson Professor of Political Science at the University of Wyoming. He began his career as a college administrator. While serving as dean of instruction at Sheridan College, he was elected to the Wyoming State Legislature. In 1984, he became vice president for development and executive director of the University of Wyoming Foundation and later served as vice president for Institutional Advancement. He is the brother of the late U.S. Senator Alan Simpson (retired) and son of former Wyoming governor and U.S. senator Milward Simpson. Pete’s commitment to Heart Mountain is deeply rooted in the experiences of him and his family during the war and their friendship with many of the former incarcerees and their families.

Marc is the principal software engineer at 2600Hz. A Bay Area native, he is the son of incarcerees of Heart Mountain and Topaz. His uncle, Takashi Hoshizaki, is also a board member. Before he joined the Heart Mountain board of directors, Marc served six years on the board of the trustees of The College Preparatory School in Oakland, California, his alma mater, and led multiple committees and task forces. Marc has more than 30 years of software development experience. A published author, he wrote his first magazine articles and books while in high school. He has presented at Sybase User Group Meetings, the Colorado Software Summit, Erlang Factory San Francisco, and the Erlang User Conference Stockholm. He delivers tutorials and training classes at conferences, meetups, and in private sessions with clients. He holds a B.S. in engineering and a master’s of Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. Marc brings a strong sense of social justice to his work on the board of directors and a commitment to ensuring the foundation’s finances are strong enough for it to endure long into the future.

Kathleen was one of the 556 children born at Heart Mountain, where her parents, two older brothers and older sister were incarcerated. After the war, the Saito family returned to San Francisco, where Kathleen graduated from high school before attending the University of California, Berkeley. She now lives in Milwaukee, where she became an active member of the Milwaukee Art Museum. For nine years, she served on the Art Museum’s Board of Trustees. In 2009, Kathleen joined the Heart Mountain Board of Directors. She is now a tireless advocate for the preservation of the memory of the Japanese American incarceration, an interest that began when her daughter’s fifth grade class assignment rekindled her sense of family history.

Dana is currently an executive-in-residence at several U.S. universities where he is involved in the creation of life science companies from promising inventions and technologies. Prior to this activity, Dana was most recently the co-founder and managing director of the VIMAC Milestone Medica Fund LP, a Boston-based early-stage life sciences fund. He is the son of a Heart Mountain incarceree, Fumi Yokoyama. Dana’s experience includes over 30 years of general management at public and private biotech companies in addition to venture capital. A founding director of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Inc., Dana is a frequent spokesperson for the industry. An evolutionary biologist, he served on the Board of Trustees of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and is a member of the Explorers Club. He also served on the board of directors of the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund. Dana received his A.B. in Earth & Planetary Sciences from The Johns Hopkins University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University, where he also completed a program in business administration. In his spare time, Dana is an avid fly fisherman and has fished all over the world in pursuit of anything that will take his fly!

Shigeru “Shig” Yabu was born in San Francisco, was sent as a child to the Pomona Assembly Center and then to Heart Mountain, where he enjoyed having variety of pets. His favorite was a magpie bird that he named Maggie, who was able to say many words, whistle and imitate laughter. His family was on the next-to-last train leaving Heart Mountain in November 1945, just days after Maggie the magpie died. When Shig attended Galileo High School, he participated in the basketball and swim teams. In 1951, he joined the Navy and after recruitment training, attended the Hospital Corps School. He was stationed at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego and later transferred to the Eleventh Naval District Headquarters in San Diego. After being honorably discharged, he graduated from San Diego College. Afterwards, he was involved with the San Diego Boys Club, the Santa Monica Boys, and became the executive director of the Boys Club of Camarillo. He joined the Heart Mountain Board of Directors around 1997 and wrote two books – Doggone Excuses People Make for Smoking and Hello Maggie: A Boy of Heart Mountain with Barbara Bazaldua and legendary animator Willie Ito.

In 2025, Hello Maggie! was adapted into an animated film with Ito, director Tony Tarantini and composer Carlo Chiarotti. It had its world premiere during the 2025 Heart Mountain Pilgrimage.