Ross Harano photograph collection

Ross Masao Harano was born in California to Masashi (1916-1991) and Takeko (1916-1997) Harano. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the United States Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 which led to the forced evacuations of Japanese Americans and ethnic Japanese people from designated “military zones” located mostly along the West Coast. Due to this order, Harano’s parents were forced to evacuate their home and report to the Fresno Assembly Center whereupon his mother gave birth to him in 1942. The family was then sent to the Jerome Relocation Center located in Arkansas.

Harano, former Managing Director of the State of the Illinois Trade Office, has over 30 years of experience in helping private and public organizations in the areas of public policy, management and finance. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of The Eureka Group, an international consulting consortium.

Immediately prior to joining the Illinois Trade Office, Mr. Harano served as the President of the World Trade Center Chicago. Mr. Harano had previously served the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois concurrently as Equal Opportunity Officer, Director of Advisory Councils and Chief of the Crime Victims Division.
As a businessman, Mr. Harano was the operating partner for two international trading companies and served as the Chief Financial Officer for several international business ventures. As a banker, he served as a vice president for loans.

Mr. Harano has extensive involvement in public organizational activities and has served as President of the Illinois Ethnic Coalition and the Chicago Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League. He has also served as the Treasurer of the Illinois Humanities Council and the Board President of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. Mr. Harano served as the Chair of the Commission of Asian American Affairs for the City of Chicago.

In 1992, Mr. Harano was the first Asian American to be appointed as an Illinois Elector for the Electoral College. In 1994, he was the first Asian American to run for statewide office in Illinois when he was a Democratic candidate for Board Trustee of the University of Illinois.

Mr. Harano has received awards from the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the American Jewish Committee, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, and the Illinois Ethnic Coalition.

Source: Harano, Ross Masao