Bill Watanabe was the founding Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center. From 1980 he guided its growth, in conjunction with the Board of Directors, from a one-person staff to a multi-faceted social services and community development program with 150 paid staff, many of whom are bilingual in any of eight Asian Pacific languages and Spanish. He retired in 2012 and volunteers at the Little Tokyo Historical Society.

Bill received a Masters in Social Welfare from UCLA in 1972. He is married and lives in Silver Lake near downtown Los Angeles. He is a member of Evergreen Baptist Church – San Gabriel Valley where he served as Moderator for many years. Bill has founded other important nonprofits serving the Asian American community locally and nationally.