February 3, 2020

Linda Akutagawa, President and CEO Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP)

Linda Akutagawa is President and CEO of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP) where she is responsible for LEAP’s strategic direction, sustainability, relationships and collaborations. A passionate social entrepreneur for over 25 years and beneficiary of LEAP’s leadership programming, Ms. Akutagawa is an advocate for diversity and believer in the value and urgent need for diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership. She has dedicated herself to continuing the cycle of leadership development and inspiring Asian and Pacific Islanders to step up to leadership roles across sectors, industries, and communities. She is a nationally recognized speaker and facilitator on leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion, nonprofits, and board governance.

In her role as an advocate for diverse corporate boards, Ms. Akutagawa is the Chair of the Alliance for Board Diversity of which LEAP is a partner organization. She is an appointed member of the California Department of Insurance (CDI) Diversity Task Force and a member of the Asian/Asian American Institute Advisory Board at California State University at Los Angeles. Linda is also active in the community as a Board member of Japanese American Community Services (JACS), a community grantmaking organization and a Board member of the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON).

Linda received her B.S. in International Business with a minor in Economics from California State University at Los Angeles. She also has a Certificate in Nonprofit Board Consulting through Boardsource. She is married and a fur-mom to her Queen-of-the-home cockapoo, and aunty to eleven nephews and nieces.

George L. Shea, RPh, MS, MBA, Area Pharmacy Director, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Service Area

George is currently a healthcare executive serving as the Area Pharmacy Director at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Service Area which includes most cities in the Silicon Valley area from Mountain View to North San Jose with over 400,000 Kaiser members.

He worked as a pharmacist for only 3 years and spent the past 39 years in a variety of leadership positions within pharmacy as well as leading 18 other clinical and support services departments at different times with 4 organizations.

For the first 20 years of his career, George focused on development of his leadership skills to move up in the organizations he served. Once he had reached the executive level in the early 90s, he developed strong interests in mentoring. In the past 5 years, he has actively mentored 10-12 individuals in a variety of leadership roles.

George is married to a fellow pharmacist (retired) for 37 years and has 4 grown children, all work in the business side of healthcare. He has been an active athlete his entire life and still competes in races. He has travelled to 37 countries on 5 continents and visited 48 states.

Mala Ahuja, Assistant Superintendent, Sunnyvale School District

Mala Ahuja is an Assistant Superintendent at the Sunnyvale School District. In her role, she ensures equity of access to high-quality instructional materials, supports research-based instruction through Professional Development, provides principal evaluation/support, and monitors state and federal budget allocations/expenditures.

Mala is committed to closing the opportunity gap. She believes that all students can learn, and educators need to focus on the whole child to integrate Maslow and Bloom--academic learning with caring for the social-emotional well-being of the child.

Her commitment prompted her to start a targeted focus on early education for students in TK-2nd. Mala has seen remarkable growth since the launch of the initiative in 2016.

Mala has taught across three continents, in grades pre-K through graduate-level! She believes that global perspectives help incorporate the best of all worlds by understanding the value of culturally relevant teaching and learning.