Kevin Rice - Vice President

Kevin Michael Rice is a retired Army Colonel. He was commissioned in the Infantry and served for 30 years all over the world to include eight years overseas in Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Beijing, China. He is the former Commandant of the Defense Language Institute (DLI) and Installation Commander of the Presidio of Monterey. He served for three years as the Army Attache to China where he was stationed at the U.S.Embassy in Beijing. Upon retiring from the Army, he served for nine years as the City Manager of Pismo Beach, CA. He has a BS in Engineering from West Point, an MA in National Security Affairs (East Asian History and Politics) from the Naval Postgraduate School, and an MS in National Security Strategy from the National War College in Washington D.C. He is a graduate of DLI's Basic year long Chinese Mandarin Course, and also studied Chinese at the British Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School in Hong Kong.Kevin and his wife Kitty have twin sons, and reside in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Doug Rogers

 An “Army brat,” Doug was born on Cape Cod and grew up in New York state, Texas, Georgia, Alaska, and Japan. Doug graduated from West Point, where he was awarded a BS in engineering in 1969. Around this time, he married Ginny; they had two sons and were married for fifty years, until Ginny passed away in 2019. Doug became an artillery officer and served in the Army for ten years, including a stint in Vietnam during the war. His last three years in the Army were spent at Fort Ord. After earning a master’s in human resources management from Pepperdine, Doug went to work for Kurt Salmon Associates (KSA), a management consulting firm based in Atlanta. This job took him all over the US and Puerto Rico. In 1985, he was sent to Asia, where he remained until he retired, living in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong, while working for KSA, Polo Ralph Lauren, and as an independent consultant in just about every country in Southeast Asia and the subcontinent. His work involved creating and implementing production efficiency projects and personnel training, and assisting with strategic planning.

Suzanne Safar

Suzanne is a mathematician, statistician, and educator. Born in Tehran, Iran, Suzanne studied at Washington State University, UC Berkeley, Pepperdine University, and CSU Northridge. She holds three master’s degrees and multiple credentials, and taught at CSU Hayward (now CSU East Bay), Tehran Polytechnic University, Moorpark College, and the Oxnard High School District. Since retiring, Suzanne has been an active community volunteer.

Alan Scott

David Thon

After growing up in Illinois, David moved to Indiana for college, earning a BA with a double major in Philosophy and English Literature from Valparaiso University, followed by a BS in Electrical Engineering from Valparaiso Technical Institute. He worked his way through college by designing, building, and operating the stage lighting and sound systems for a 500-seat dinner theater near Chicago. After graduating, he was a technical editor for Motorola, then worked for several years as a hightech recruiter (aka headhunter) before settling into a career in marketing in the tech industry, doing both Product Marketing and Marketing Communications at Cadence Design Systems. Along the way, he earned an MBA from CSU Hayward (now CSU East Bay). David and Susann made their home in the Bay Area, where they operated The Registration Desk, a conference registration and service company, for several decades. They served some very large events, include the California Governor’s Conference for Women with over 10,000 attendees. As the chief technologist, CIO, and janitor, David built the office systems, wrote the database applications, created the website, and was the one and-only person on the helpdesk. After retiring in 2016, David and Susann moved to Pacific Grove full-time.

Mike Wilson

After Mike was discharged from the Army and finished up his cardiology training at Ohio State, he and Maryellen settled in Modesto, where they raised their daughter and identical twin sons, and where Mike worked as a clinical cardiologist for almost 24 years. Then, given how young both of his parents had been when they passed away, Mike retired at 55 and the family moved to Truckee, from which they pursued their two passions of skiing and traveling. When they weren’t able to be on the slopes, they hiked, golfed, and played tennis. They began to spend five months of each year in Carmel. After 20 years in Truckee, Mike and Maryellen were still alive and quite well, and so they decided to move to Carmel full time.

Eric Tao

Dr. Eric Tao is Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at California State University, Monterey Bay where he joined the faculty in 1998. He served as Founding Director of the School of Computing and Design and Director of the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development. His expertise includes innovation, entrepreneurship, economic development, artificial intelligence, and health technology.
Dr. Tao has mentored numerous Silicon Valley startups and currently chairs the Silicon Valley Research Institute and the Monterey Bay Chinese Chamber of Commerce. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan. From 2018 to 2022, he was President of the University of East-West Medicine.
His research includes political participation and Sino-American relations. He lives in Carmel, California, and enjoys cycling, tennis, and classical music.

Shyam Kamath

Shyam Kamath, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized scholar, entrepreneur and educator who has gained recognition as a global innovator and expert in the areas of economic development, experiential learning and business program innovation. His distinguished career has also focused on building companies, programs and institutions that create economic and social opportunity, and human excellence for others. He is the Founding Dean Emeritus of the College of Business at CSU, Monterey Bay and has held academic and administrative positions at leading universities in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe. As an entrepreneur, Shyam co-founded three business start-ups, pioneered a number of successful academic start-ups, and worked as a corporate executive for leading international firms in the energy equipment and consumer goods areas industries. He has served as a consultant to the governments of Austria, Brazil, Canada and India and for over 100 companies and nonprofits in numerous countries. Shyam has published over eighty articles in leading peer-reviewed scholarly and trade journals and is the author or co-author of three books. Currently, Shyam serves as an advisor or on the boards of four nonprofits, a university board, and one for-profit company.

Chris Keehn

Judy Sloan

Judy Sloan is Chairman of our seven-member Program Committee. Prior to joining the board, she worked in Washington, D.C. where she was Director of the Washington office of the Asia Society, a nonprofit, public education organization founded by John D. Rockefeller 3rd. Prior to that, Judy was on the staff of the International Rescue Committee, an international humanitarian organization, and the Asia Foundation in San Francisco, a development assistance organization. Judy is a watercolorist and has shown her work in Carmel. A native San Franciscan, she earned her B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, Davis and her M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University.

Nancy Johnson - Secretary

Nancy Johnson earned her B.A. in Theatre with a minor in English from the University of the Pacific. She later served as the English Placement Coordinator at Hartnell College while completing her M.A. in English Literature. She went on to teach in the Gentrain program at Monterey Peninsula College, where she developed interdisciplinary courses that blended literature and theatre with art history, architecture, philosophy, and religion—each explored through the lens of various historical periods and cultures. In addition, Nancy coordinated and taught in the Worldtrain program, a world-history extension of Gentrain, and led both domestic and international travel-study tours. Her work included numerous theatre-focused trips to London and New York City.

Fred Meurer

Fred Meuer is the owner of Meurer Municipal Consulting, LLC, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business with a primary focus on assisting military communities and the Installations they host in developing relationships to enhance their common need for critical infrastructure resilience and mission assurance. He was the catalyst for creating the concept of Intergovernmental Support Agreements with the Military bases in Monterey and partnership agreements between the Cities on the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey County, and the State of California for shared public safety and municipal services. During his military career, Fred had assignments in Germany, Korea and a combat tour in Viet Nam. As City Manager he completed a pro bono assignment for USAID in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which led to the City of Monterey becoming their sister-city. Mr. Meurer received a BS in Engineering and Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a MS in Civil Engineering and an MS in Water Resource Planning from Stanford University. He attained the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army. After his Army career, Mr. Meurer served as Monterey Public Works Director for five years and City Manager for the next 22+ years. He is Chairman of the Monterey Bay Defense Alliance, a member of the California Governor’s Military Council, and a member of the California Space Task Force.

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