Yoriko Kishimoto
VTA Board Member

Newly appointed for 2008, Palo Alto City Council Member Yoriko Kishimoto serves on the VTA Board of Directors representing City Group 2 (the North County Cities 0f Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale).  She also serves on VTA’s Congestion Management Program & Planning Committee and on the Dumbarton Rail Project Policy Advisory Board.  She previously served for five years on VTA’s Policy Advisory Committee representing Palo Alto, serving as that committee’s chairperson during 2005 and as vice chairperson during 2004.

Member Kishimoto serves on the Palo Alto City Council.  She was elected in 2002 and again in 2006.  She served as the mayor of Palo Alto during 2007 and as vice mayor during 2006. Member Kishimoto also serves on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, through which she is a member of the Mobile Sources Committee and the regional Joint Policy Committee.

Her community service includes the Palo Alto Comprehensive Plan Transportation Committee, the Palo Alto Civic League, the University South Neighborhood Group, and several other community organizations and non-profits.  Member Kishimoto was also a Girl Scout Leader for many years.

Member Kishimoto received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.  She worked as a management consultant and also founded and served as president (currently on leave) of an international consulting business.  Member Kishimoto is also a published author and the co-founder of the Alliance Forum - San Francisco and Tokyo, where she was a member of the executive committee.  She previously has been a researcher for a Japanese research institute and worked as both a publisher and newspaper columnist.  Member Kishimoto  is a cyclist and regular transit rider.