Jan Masaoka

JanMasaoka is the Director and Editor-in-Chief of Blue Avocado, and writes our Board Café column, which she originated 10 years ago at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services.

Jan was Executive Director of CompassPoint for 14 years, a consulting and training firm for nonprofits based in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and which is a BlueAvocado charter partner.

Jan is an eight-time designee as one of the nonprofit nation’s "Fifty MostInfluential People," and in 2003 she was named "Nonprofit Executive of the Year" by Nonprofit Times. In 2005 she was named “California Community Leader of the Year” by Leadership California.

Jan authored The Best of the Board Café (Fieldstone Press) and All Hands on Board: The Board of Directors in All-Volunteer Organizations (BoardSource). Her research work includes studies on nonprofit leadership, women executive directors of color, all-volunteer organizations, and the nonprofit workforce. She is a frequent speaker and contributor to nonprofit journals.

Jan’s community activities including serving as Chair of the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, and a board member of the Community Initiative Funds of the San Francisco Foundation. She is an Advisory Board member for Stanford Social Innovation Review, and was a member of the Governance and Fiduciary Working Group of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector convened to advise the US Senate Finance Committee.

Jan lives in San Francisco and likes avocados of any color halved, with a little soy sauce poured into the center, and eaten with a spoon.