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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jed Gaines, Founder and President:

Jed Gaines founded Read Aloud America in 1995, in effort to bring families together and also share the love of reading. Under his leadership, RAA and the Read Aloud Program (RAP) have reached over 354,000 people in homes across the state. Jed also serves as the Marketing Director and Funding Resource for the Read Aloud America organization.

Larry Laird, Vice President: Larry is a former teacher, school principal and director of human resources for a large school district in the Bay Area. He was the first Maui Site Coordinator when RAP began on Maui in 2009. Since then he has overseen the operations of over 25 RAP programs on Maui. He currently serves as the Director of Operations and Grants.

Natalie Mun-Takata, Secretary: Natalie Mun-Takata has been the Principal at Kalihi Elementary School for the last five years. She leads Kalihi Elementary with a goal "to provide world-class education for all students."

Kirk Hovious: Kirk is an inventor and entrepreneur who holds two (2) patents and has started 3 successful companies, one of which received recognition as one of "Hawaii's Fastest 50" Companies. Kirk is also dedicated to community service with over 25 years as a Rotarian and received the Rotary International "Service above Self" Award. He gained a great respect and appreciation for the work of "Read Aloud" after developing a close friendship with Founder, Jed Gaines.

Jim Harstad: James R. Harstad retired from University of Hawai'i Curriculum Research and Development Group and University Laboratory School English Department, where he was Director of the Performance English Project. Authored The Journal Freewriting Handbook; co-authored The Read-Along Handbook; co-edited Island Fire: An Anthology of Literature from Hawai'i and Growing Up Local.

E-mail us: readrqst@readaloudamerica.org