Sakurako D. Fisher

Sakurako D. Fisher, president of the San Francisco Symphony and a longtime supporter of Stanford University, has been elected to the university’s Board of Trustees. She will begin a five-year term Oct. 1.

Fisher is former chair of the board of ODC/Dance, former vice chair of the board of the Exploratorium, and a former trustee of the Thacher School in Ojai, Calif. She also has served on the boards of Stern Grove, the Asian Art Museum Foundation, the American Hospital of Paris, the American Hospital of Paris Foundation, and Alliance Francaise. Previously, she worked for Cargill and Citibank.

Fisher was born in Japan and grew up in Portland, Ore. She earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford in 1983. (Her class year was 1982.)

At Stanford, Fisher has served as a member of the Humanities & Sciences Council, the advisory board of Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Task Force for Undergraduate Education. She also has been an active reunion volunteer, including serving as co-chair in 2012 and 2007. In addition, she was a member of the Campaign for Undergraduate Education Major Gifts Committee, as well as a volunteer for The Stanford Challenge and Leading Matters.

Fisher and her husband, Bill Fisher (MBA ’84), have established The Sakurako and William Fisher Family Directorship of the Stanford Global Studies Division and have endowed a faculty scholar and a graduate fellow. In addition, they have been strong supporters of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at FSI, underwriting the honors thesis program.

The Fishers live in San Francisco and have three children.