Staff & Volunteers

Staff


Executive Director/CEO - Lon Saavedra

Executive Assistant - Mary Lou Ortiz
Event Manager - Kyongmi Ader
Bookkeeper – Chiharu Yabe

Gift Shop - Kayoko Ono, Chiharu Yabe, Griselda Lerma

Japanese Garden Specialist - Jacob Kellner
Assistant Gardener - Jesus Chiprez, Daniel Diaz

Maintenance & Cleaning - Cruz Romo

Event Staff - James Lucarotti, John Lazzarini, Ricardo Diaz, Jesus Mestas, Marissa Silva, Richard Ngo.


Volunteers


Many volunteers assist as Docents, providing tours of the gardens for visitors. Others help in the Gardens, the Gift Shop, or the office. Many special projects also benefit from volunteer assistance. For example, in the Gardens, various wood and bamboo substructures such as the bridges, the wooden lamp posts around the pond, the well, the main gate, and the fences that lead up to the gardens have been restored with the help of volunteers like Bruce Heister and Jim Sugai.


Cultural programs: Volunteers include Kathy Toy, John Larissou, Marty Matsuo, John Tauchi, Elaine Salter, Micky Shimabe, and many others.


Docents: Current volunteer docents include John Tauchi, Don Morgan, Michiko Kelly, Deborah Lecover, and June Kanazawa.


Gardens: Bruce Heister, Jim Sugai, Arnold Gome and others

Become a Member

Join the Hakone family! Enjoy unlimited visits to the Estate and Gardens, special members-only pricing on events and classes, and special discounts.

Click here for more information.

Classes

Learn about the educational opportunities at Hakone. For a class schedule, click here.