(As of April 2026)
Co-Presidents: Mitchell (Mitch) Fleischer and Judith (Judy) Ziajka.
Mitch Fleischer joined the board in 2024. He is on the Program Committee and works on the archives, as well as serving as a docent. Mitch moved to Berkeley in 2022 from Michigan, where he received a PhD in Urban History from Wayne State University in Detroit. He has also been an organizational psychologist doing research and consulting on the introduction of innovations in industry and government.
Judy Ziajka joined the board in 2024 and serves as co-editor of the newsletter, drawing upon her long career as a book editor. She came to Berkeley in 1982 to become editor-in-chief of Osborne/McGraw-Hill, a pioneering publisher of books about the then-new personal computer. She learned firsthand about Berkeley’s many resources for historical research by tracing the story of her house and its land from its Native inhabitants to the present. She also makes frequent use of Berkeley’s wealth of organizations and guidebooks to explore the city’s diverse neighborhoods. This past year, she helped upgrade BHSM technology through the purchase of new computers. She was also instrumental in mapping Berkeley’s Mexican community through the early twentieth century using census data from 1900 to 1950.
Vice President: Jeanine Castello-Lin joined the board in2010 andserved as co-president from 2013 to 2017 and vice president until 2025. She chairs the Program Committee and the Oral History Committee. A third-generation Berkeleyan, she holds BAs in history and English from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in rhetoric from UC Berkeley. With Tonya Staros, Jeanine co-authored an oral history of the International House after WWII and two other books. She co-curated the exhibit Early Days of Dance in the East Bay in 2012 and has worked on many other exhibits since then, including convening the curatorial team for the recent exhibit on Japanese Americans.
Secretary: Ann Harlow joined the board in2015. Sheserved as BHSM president from April 2017 to September 2019, secretary September 2019 to April 2022, and then president again util now. She has also been the editor of the newsletter and chair, co-chair, or member of several committees. Ann is a retired museum professional and independent scholar, now specializing in Bay Area art and culture from 1850 to 1950. She has curated or co-curated several BHSM exhibits beginning in 2015 and is the publicist and co-webmaster. She has lived in Berkeley or Kensington since 1974.
Membership Secretary: Candice Schott became our membership secretary in 2023. She enhanced the FileMaker database of contacts to include membership and donation history and monthly reports, and she is now transitioning it to DonorPerfect. She retired in 2015 from an administrative position with the City of Berkeley. She has family roots dating back to the 1870s in San Francisco. She has lived in the Bay Area since 1973 and in Berkeley since 1988.
Treasurer: Patrick O’Leary joined the board in 2024, enabling John Hammond to retire as treasurer. He has deep Berkeley roots: His father’s parents located here from County Cork, Ireland, in the 1920s. He attended St. Joseph Elementary School, St. Mary’s College High School, and UC Berkeley. He is retired from a career as a senior finance and accounting executive for several nonprofit organizations.
At Large
John Aronovici is the History Center manager and has served on the board since 2000. A fourth-generation Berkeleyan, John’s relatives arrived in Berkeley before 1900. A grandmother was the first woman dentist in Berkeley, a grandfather was the city-planning consultant to Berkeley in the 1920s, and a cousin played the Campanile bells for 39 years. John has held a number of positions on the board including secretary, vice president and co-president. He lends his graphic design talents and technical know-how to exhibits, newsletters, and other publications.
Karen Chapman, a Philadelphia-area native, earned a BA in history from UC Berkeley in 1988 (Go Bears!) and has a deep appreciation for living in Berkeley. Her career was in accounting and finance, and after retiring in 2011 she served in treasurer roles for three Berkeley nonprofits. She is an active member of Berkeley Breakfast Club and served as its president in 2023-2024. She enjoys docenting at BHSM on 4th Saturdays, promoting the community benefit of BHSM, and writing the Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association newsletter history column.
Thomas (Tom) Edwards joined the Society in 1995 and the board in 1999, was elected first vice president in 2001, and served as president from 2003 to 2005. He was been a leader of the Walking Tour Committee since 2000, manages check-ins and the sound system on the walking tours, and also serves on the Finance, House and Newsletter Committees. He is retired from a career in finance.
Edward (Ed) Herny is a founding board member, having been here at the beginning of the Society in 1978, and recently became our chief archivist upon Bill Roberts’s retirement. He has been a partner in the creation of several exhibits, including Soundtrack to the ‘60s: The Berkeley Music Scene, and co-authored the Berkeley Bohemia book. He enjoys uncovering unusual bits of Berkeley ephemera and donating them to the Berkeley Historical Society Archives. He serves on the Archives, Program, and Publicity & Outreach Committees.
Linda Keilch arrived in Berkeley in 1969 to visit a friend attending UCB. She loved the town and graduated from Cal after meeting her future husband, the late Patrick Keilch, who as Berkeley’s deputy director of public works did many good deeds for the city, including finding the Historical Society’s current home in the Veterans Building. Linda taught school, worked at UCB, and was a real estate agent. She served as BHSM president from 2001 to 2003, was a docent for years, and rejoined the Board in 2023.
Arlene Makita-Acuña is a third-generation Berkeleyan, born after her parents returned from incarceration in Colorado during WWII. A credentialed K-8 teacher, she was a multicultural specialist for San Francisco public schools, an ESL teacher for East Bay refugees from Southeast Asia, and co-founder of East Bay Homeschoolers—followed by a 20-year career in real estate. She serves on the board of the Japanese American Women Alumni Association of UC Berkeley. She helped curate the 2024-2025 BHSM exhibit on Japanese Americans in Berkeley and continues to lead related walking tours.
George O. Petty has served as a member of the Board and docent since 2018, and since then as secretary, membership secretary, and president. He co-chairs the Historical Plaques Committee. A resident of Berkeley since 1947, he is a graduate solely from Berkeley public schools, from Thousand Oaks Grammar School through the University of California School of Law. He is retired from a career in corporate law.
Katherine (Kate) Pixley is a docent, archives volunteer, and audio/visual specialist. Originally from the Midwest, she moved to the East Bay in 2023 and quickly fell in love with the rich history and culture of Berkeley. She oversees communications activities for an economic justice-focused non-profit and is pursuing a master’s degree in library science from the University of Washington. She joined the Board in 2024.
Michael Several joined the Board in 2022. He graduated from UC Berkeley one year before the Free Speech Movement. After decades in Southern California, where he was very involved in local history, he returned to Berkeley in 2020. He is a member of the Walking Tour Committee, the Program Committee, and the Oral History Committee and helps curate exhibits. He developed the “Here Lived” database of Berkeley Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII.
Gary Tominaga joined the board in 2025 after serving on the curatorial team that developed the Japanese American exhibit. He is part of the Tominaga family that has lived in Berkeley for five generations, born after his parents returned from prison camps in Utah and Arizona during WWII. He attended Franklin Elementary School, Garfield Junior High, Berkeley High West Campus, Berkeley High, and UC Berkeley. He has retired from a career in external/internal auditing and accounting.
Charles (Chuck) Wollenberg joined the board in 2019, has served as 2nd vice president and on the Program and Publications Committees as well as the planning teams for recent and upcoming exhibits. He is a former history instructor and social science chair at Berkeley City College and convener of the California Studies Seminar at UC Berkeley. He has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and has served as an exhibit consultant at the Oakland Museum. He’s the author of several works, including Berkeley: A City in History and Rebel Lawyer: Wayne Collins and the Defense of Japanese American Rights.