Board of Directors
Michael K. Iwahiro
President
Mike continues to spearhead the Foundation's steady push to expand program offerings and grow leadership in furtherance of its overarching mission to promote legal education and fair and equitable treatment for all. Mike fondly recalls chairing the very first ABAS scholarship committee back in the late '80s after proposing the idea to the ABAS President who, after giving a quick thought to the ABAS bank balance said something like, "good to support the law students, we should be able to afford a couple hundred dollars." (It might have wound up being $250. Those were the days.)
miwahiro@lawburton.com
Henry D. Nanjo
Secretary
Henry D. Nanjo, Secretary, who has a decade in private practice as a litigator and over twenty years as a government lawyer, currently is Chief Counsel with the CA State Board of Equalization. He is a past President of ABAS, Asian/Pacific Bar Assn. of CA, and the APSEA Foundation. Henry is a founding member of CAPITAL, and continues to be active in a number of community and church activities.
secretary@abaslawfoundation.org
Jerilyn Paik
CFO/Treasurer
Jerilyn (“Jeri”) Paik formed the ABAS Law Foundation in 1997, and is the CFO. She serves as a co-chair of the Speaker Series and formerly chaired the ABAS annual golf tournament. When not helping her favorite non-profit, she can be reached at her law firm. She is certified by the State Bar of CA, Bd. of Legal Specialization, as a specialist in her principal areas of practice, which are estate planning, probate and trust administration. For more information about her, visit www.jplawoffice.com.
cfo@abaslawfoundation.org
Yoshinori H. T. Himel
Immediate Past President (Board Advisor)
Yoshinori Himel is a 1975 King Hall graduate, a part-time law teacher there, and a retired Assistant United States Attorney. He wrote his first computer program in 1955 and got his bachelor's in mathematics from Harvard. He was ABAS's founding President. ABAS, the State Bar, VLSP, the King Hall Alumni Association, and others have honored him for his pro bono work. He served as president of the Foundation from 1999 through 2023.
YHimel@LawRonin.com
Jeannie Lee Jones
Board Member
Jeannie Lee Jones was the ABAS President in 2010 and served on the SCBA as an elected board member from 2011-2014. She has previously interned for LSNC and volunteered in VLSP’s debt collection clinic. Ms. Jones has helped plan and organize numerous events such as the annual ABAS dinner and the SCBA Bench Bar reception.
Scholarships@abaslawfoundation.org
Timothy G. Yeung
Board Member
Tim Yeung is the Managing Partner of Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP where his practice includes all areas of labor and employment law. Tim is the former Chair of the 6,000 member State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section. He is also a contributing author to the California Public Sector Employment Law treatise and the California Public Sector Employment Law treatise, both published by LexisNexis.
tyeung@sloansakai.com