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Jeanette Ishii

Board Member
Jeanette Ishii has always treasured her family. She was raised in the small community of Livingston, California on the Kaji family farm that today has been the work of four generations. Over the years she saw her parents work long hours to make their business a success and provide a loving home for their family of four children. The importance of family, education, work, and doing one’s best were exemplified in her parent’s lifestyles. Jeanette graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by graduate work at California State University, Sacramento. Much of her career focused on public administration, government relations, and work in the community. Serving in the Fresno County Administrative Office as Deputy CAO and Assistant CAO for Operations and Legislation was a career highlight. Jeanette’s strengths were in operations and advocacy. For a period of fifteen years, Jeanette owned a business that conducted packaging, shipping, marketing, and sales of pistachios. She enjoyed taking the company national with a national sales team and 16 distributors. The company was sold when it became a potential conflict of interest for her husband’s work.
Jeanette retired in 2014. With the support of her husband, she was blessed with free time to remodel their home, relandscape, and do some volunteer work. Jeanette is currently active with the United Japanese Christian Church and serves on the San Joaquin Valley Town Hall Board of Directors, the Central California Blood Center Board of Directors, and most recently the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust Board of Directors.
One of Jeanette’s passions is traveling the world to learn about ancient civilizations, experience other cultures, see the many wonders of nature, and enjoy wildlife in its natural habitat. Having traveled to the Galapagos, safaris in Tanzania and Kenya, and destinations in Europe, Australia, and Asia...I see how fragile our environment has become. It is encouraging to see how some other countries have taken action to preserve and protect what they have. The San Joaquin River Parkway is a gem that should be restored. Our region needs more parks and outdoor spaces. It is important to our quality of life and future generations.