Executive Board

Please contact us if you are interested in taking a position on the board!

We are looking to fill the following positions:
– Vice President
– Secretary

Dylan Mori, PhD

President

Dylan is a Nikkei currently serving as the president of the Mile High JACL chapter. His grandfather’s family was imprisoned at the Tule Lake concentration camp, and his grandmother’s family is originally from Kobe, Japan. Dylan was born in Los Angeles, spent time in his youth in the Midwest, and moved to Colorado in 2013 to pursue a doctorate degree. He has been a member of the Mile High Chapter since 2016 and formally joined the board that same year. He has previously held the positions of Newsletter Editor, Scholarship Chair, and Day of Remembrance volunteer coordinator. In addition to JACL, he has also participated in other community groups such as the Colorado People’s Alliance. He is motivated by the pursuit of justice, building community power, and education.

Richard Hamai

Treasurer

Richard has been a Board Member since 1993. His interest in the JACL is to re-connect and give back to the Japanese American (JA) and Asian communities and to learn more about the JA experience. His mother was Nissei born and raised in Denver, CO. His father was Sansei and his grandparents were Kibei, born in the US but educated in Japan. His father’s family was relocated from Seattle, WA and interned at Minadoka, Idaho during WWII; his father was 10 years old. Growing up, Richard was unaware of the Relocation Camps as neither his father nor grandparents ever mentioned it. Not until he joined JACL did he begin to learn more about the forced evacuation and the trauma on those incarcerated, including those remaining on the outside, like his mother’s family who also experienced their own type of Asian prejudice.

Gary Yamashita

Membership Chairperson

Gary has served on the Mile High JACL Board of Directors for over ten years and is currently the Membership Chairperson for the chapter. He believes strongly in the organization’s mission to preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American Community and to protect the civil and human rights of all people. His father, a US citizen was unlawfully imprisoned in internment camps during World War II based solely on public hysteria and racial prejudice. Gary is active in the chapter to ensure that underrepresented communities have a strong voice to advocate for their civil liberties that are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Marge Taniwaki

Board Member

Longtime community activist, Marge Taniwaki, has been a member of the Mile High JACL since the late 1960’s, serving as the first female President of the Chapter as well as Secretary in the following decades. Her emphasis continues to be on service to the Japanese American community and to the betterment of humanity. Her childhood imprisonment near Death Valley at Manzanar Concentration Camp during WWII motivates her activism.

Photo credit: Anthony Camera [portfolio]

Bonnie Clark, PhD

Board Member

Dr. Bonnie J. Clark is an archaeologist and professor at the University of Denver (DU). Since 2008 she has led the DU Amache Project, dedicated to researching, preserving, and interpreting the physical remains of Amache, Colorado’s WWII-era Japanese American incarceration camp. Serving mostly in an advisory capacity for issues regarding Amache, Bonnie has been a board member of Mile High JACL since 2011.

Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen

Board Member

Mykaela grew up in Denver and has been volunteering with Mile High JACL since 2016. Mykaela is also a member of the DBT Minyo Kai.

Michael Coppola

Board Member

Michael joined the board of Mile High JACL in 2021 to advocate on behalf of the Japanese American (JA) community on a local and national basis. His dedication to JACL and motivation to make a difference in society stems from his knowledge and recognition of the wrongful treatment that occurred to his direct ancestors in Northeastern Colorado throughout WWII and the long lasting impacts that these choices have had on the JA community. These impacts have continued to be felt throughout everyday life as Michael works alongside JA members, supporters, and other minority groups to help further the lives and wellbeing in order to create a more inclusive and understanding culture for the current and future generations of society. When he’s not advocating on behalf of the JA community, Michael can be found working as an established broker for the highly reputable firm, Cushman and Wakefield.

Allison Yaguchi, PhD

Webmaster

Allison joined Mile High JACL in 2021, shortly after moving to Colorado to begin her post-doc position at NREL. She is excited to become involved with the local Japanese American community, advance social justice causes, and promote equity for all identities. She is motivated, in part, by the forced relocation of her paternal grandparents and their families from Seattle, WA to Minadoka, ID during WWII. Despite this treatment, many of her family have proudly served in the US military. Outside of JACL, she is a mentor for students interested in science, technology, engineering, math, and medical (STEMM) fields through Clear Direction Mentoring and dances with DBT Minyo Kai and Golden Theater Ballet.