A San Francisco Bay Area native, Kevin Heard Sensei has been studying Japanese cultural arts for the past fifteen years. He holds teaching licenses in Shin-Shin-Toitsu-Do, a form of Japanese Yoga, as well as healing arts based on yuki, or "transference of Ki." 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 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. Heard Sensei is also an active member of the Shudokan Martial Arts Association, a US-based martial arts federation founded by Walter Todd Sensei, one of the first non-Japanese to attain high rank in traditional forms of Japanese budo.

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 Management and Systems. His professional interests include UNIX system administration, building information systems based on open standards, the open-source software movement, and the effects of electronic media on personal freedom and privacy. He is co-author of Mastering Netscape SuiteSpot 3 Servers (Sybex).

Mr. Heard currently lives in Richmond, California with his wife, Patricia.