Leadership & Governance
Meet Our Director
Rich Matsuda is the W. M. Keck Observatory Director. During his 30-plus-year career at the Observatory, Rich helped build and operate the Keck Observatory telescopes, progressing to roles in senior leadership, including Chief of Operations and Associate Director of Community Relations, before assuming his current role.
In addition to overseeing the operation and performance of the Observatory, Rich also serves as the appointed Maunakea Observatories representative on the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority (MKSOA), the management and governance body for Maunakea that the State of Hawai’i established in July 2022, founded on a mutual stewardship paradigm.
Prior to joining Keck Observatory in 1993 during its construction phase, he worked at Boeing on the design and fabrication of the 777 airplane. Rich holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington.
Born and raised in Hawai’i, Rich is passionate about creating a resilient and sustainable future for Hawai’i’s next generations. Drawing upon his relationships and knowledge in astronomy and in the local community, Rich seeks to build bridges between the two, with aspirations of a vibrant future for all.
Observatory Senior Leadership
Renae Akau
Chief Human Resources Officer
Margarita Scheffel
Chief Financial Officer
Jacques Sebag
Chief Engineer & Operations Officer
Science Steering Committee
Partners
W. M. Keck Observatory is supported by both public funding sources and private philanthropy. As a 501(c)3, the nonprofit organization is managed by the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA), whose Board of Directors includes representatives from the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, with liaisons to the board from NASA and the Keck Foundation.
Board Officers
Tom Soifer, Chair
Harold Brown Professor of Physics, Emeritus
California Institute of Technology
George Blumenthal, Vice Chair
Chancellor Emeritus, University of California at Santa Cruz; Director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education
University of California
Board of Directors
Hirosi Ooguri
Director Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair, Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy and Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics
California Institute of Technology
Bruce Macintosh
Director, University of California Observatories
University of California
Chris Martin
Director, Caltech Optical Observatories
California Institute of Technology
Katherine Newman
Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs
University of California Office of the President
Board Liaisons
Megan Ansdell
Liaison
Program Officer, NASA
Lucas Paganini
Liaison
Program Executive, NASA
Doug Simons
Liaison
Director, University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy
Ted Keck
Liaison
W. M. Keck Foundation
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