Board Members
Ted Gong
President
Before retiring in 2012, Ted was a career diplomat in the U.S. Department of State where he served primarily in East Asia on policy and operational issues related to border management and security, migration and refugees, and consular affairs. He has degrees in History, Asian Studies, and National Strategic Studies form the University of California, University of Hawaii and the U.S. Army War College. Ted is also included in The Guardian‘s The Frederick Douglass 200, a list of two hundred people — abolitionists, diplomats, writers, feminists, and more — who best embody the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass. Ted Gong is also Executive Director of the 1882 Project Foundation and President of DC chapter of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance.
Phil Sexton
Vice President
Phil Sexton is a cultural and natural history Interpreter and Historian who currently serves a consultant/historian for the 1882 Foundation (www.1882foundation.org) in Washington DC.
Phil is most involved with the 1882 Foundation in connection with efforts by the Foundation and others to create a nomination for a portion of Donner Pass called “the Chinese Camps” as a National Historic Landmark that would be designated by the National Park Service. He’s regarded by many as a subject matter expert on the history of the construction of the transcontinental railroad over the Sierra between 1864 and 1869.
Phil is the former Executive Director of the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society in Tahoe City CA. From 2009-2020 he worked for California State Parks as the Director of Public Programs at the California State Railroad Museum (2009-2017) and as a Sector Manager for four State Historic Parks in Sacramento from 2018-2020. Additionally, he was the Interpretive Program Manager for Tahoe National Forest from 1995-2008.
Phil has worked with staff from Stanford University’s Chinese Railroad Workers in North America project, contributing original research and reviewing existing historical information and the UC Davis History Project in contributing to continuing education programs for history teachers from across North America in their seven-year annual program Teaching the Transcontinental Railroad. He’s been seen on PBS in Ten Engineering Marvels that Changed the World (2018) and other documentaries on the subject, most recently in the USDA Forest Service video Legacy. From 2013-2016 Phil was also an historic advisor for the AMC television show Hell on Wheels.
Terry McAteer
Secretary/Treasurer
Dr. Terry McAteer is the retired Nevada County Superintendent of School. McAteer served 22 years in managing the county’s 27 schools (elected to six, four-year terms). Nevada County is the county where a significant portion of the mountainous Transcontinental Railroad is located. Terry is a history buff as he taught high school history and government for many years. He currently teaches these subjects for Sierra Community College. He attended U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State and received his doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of San Francisco. McAteer is a native San Franciscan who now resides in Grass Valley, CA with his wife, Liz, and their Golden Retriever, Buddy.