Director of Communications
Keith Kamisugi is the Director of Communications at the Equal Justice Society, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit co-founded and led by Eva Paterson transforming our nation’s consciousness through law, social science, and the arts.
Keith joined EJS in October 2006 and brings more than 20 years of communications and marketing experience, including positions as a media relations manager for a Fortune 10 company, an account manager for a technology PR agency, and serving a diverse portfolio of companies as an independent consultant. He also served on the executive staffs of Hawai’i governors John Waihee and Benjamin Cayetano.
He has presented talks on public relations, online strategies, politics and business for numerous organizations and events, including: Netroots Nation, University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, University of San Francisco, Golden Gate University, The Anderson School at UCLA, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Marin County Youth Commission, staff of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the Public Relations Society of America, the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, Greenlining Institute, EEOC Quad Council, and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network.
He previously managed communications for several Asian American Journalist Association national conventions and served as communications director for the UNITY 2004 convention, which was attended by more than 7,000 journalists of color in Washington, D.C.
Keith received AAJA’s national award for Member of the Year in 2004, the only non-journalist/media professional to receive that recognition. He also received the Friends of Port Chicago National Memorial Commemorative Hero 2021 and the
Community Service Award from For People of Color, Inc. in 2005.
He has chaired the board of directors of Chinese for Affirmative Action, and served on the boards of the San Francisco Japantown Foundation, APIAVote, Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, Asian Law Caucus, Nichi Bei Foundation, Chinatown Community Development Center, Asian American Theater Company, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, and the Hawai’i Chamber of Commerce of Northern California. He served on the advisory council of Netroots Nation.
Keith also served as president of the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce (where he founded the Young Business Roundtable) and is a past chairman of the Young Democrats of Hawai’i. He was a member of Hawai’i’s delegation to the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
Keith was born in Hawai’i and attended the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, where he served as student body president and as co-founder and co-chair of the University of Hawai’i Student Caucus.