Kevin Heard Sensei
A San Francisco Bay Area native, Kevin Heard Sensei has been studying Japanese cultural arts for the past twenty years. He holds teaching licenses in Shin-Shin-Toitsu-Do, a form of Japanese Yoga, as well as healing arts. He also holds the rank of menkyo chudan (a traditional teaching license roughly equivalent to fourth through sixth dan in modern ranking systems) in Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu.
Heard Sensei serves on the SMAA Board of Advisors. He is also the assistant editor for the SMAA Newsletter and webmaster for the SMAA website. He currently holds the title/rank of Fuku Shihan/5th dan in the SMAA's Traditional Jujutsu Division. He has received rank and teaching licenses from the Nihon Jujutsu and Kobudo divisions of the Kokusai Budoin, an elite international martial arts federation headquartered in Tokyo. He has demonstrated aiki-jujutsu several times at the Kokusai Budoin Sogo Budo Taikai, held annually in Tokyo.
Mr. Heard earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. After working in the software development industry, he returned to the University to become Director of Computing and Information Services for UCB's School of Information. His professional interests include UNIX/Linux system administration, building information systems based on open standards, open source software, and privacy and security in the digital age. He is co-author of Mastering Netscape SuiteSpot 3 Servers (Sybex).
Mr. Heard currently lives in Richmond, California with his wife, Patricia.
