Eleanor Nisperos, FBANC President (1981-1982)
Eleanor Nisperos is the 1st President of FBANC and a founding member.
Ms. Nisperos was born in Manila, Philippines in 1947. In 1955, her family immigrated by boat to Honolulu, Hawaii. Despite English being her second language, Ms. Nisperos ranked 13 out of 906 students graduating from Farrington High School in 1964. In 1968, Ms. Nisperos graduated with Honors from the University of Hawaii – Manoa with a BA in English. Ms. Nisperos received a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in June 1971. She was sworn into the California State Bar in January 1972.
In 1971, Ms. Nisperos began working as a Graduate Legal Assistant/Legal Counsel/Administrative Law Judge for the California Department of Social Services. Ms. Nisperos continued her public service for the State of California as a Deputy Attorney General in San Francisco for the next 17 years, then became an Administrative Law Judge on the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (CUIAB) in 1991. She was promoted to Presiding Administrative Law Judge where she served in various CUIAB offices: Oakland, San Jose, Oxnard, and finally, Sacramento. After 36 years of service to the State of California, Ms. Nisperos retired in 2007.
In retirement, Ms. Nisperos accompanied her husband to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) where he served as an Assistant Attorney General. Needing a Legal Adviser and Administrative Law Judge, the CNMI Attorney General offered Ms. Nisperos an Assistant Attorney General position in Saipan in 2007. After 2 years in this role, Ms. Nisperos again retired. She then accompanied her husband to Guam where he became head of Guam’s Office of the Public Defender. Ms. Nisperos returned to California with her husband in late 2010, where she later became an inactive member of the California State Bar.
Throughout the years, Ms. Nisperos has done volunteer work and been a reservist in the U.S. Navy. She has also served on the Board of the Oakland YWCA.
In March 2014, at Farrington High School Class of 1964’s 50th year reunion, Ms. Nisperos was awarded Farrington Alumni Community Foundation (FACF) Alumna of the Year in Honolulu, Hawaii – a recognition of particular importance to Ms. Nisperos.
Married since 1973, Ms. Nisperos and her husband Mike A. Nisperos, Jr. (also a retired attorney and 19th FBANC President) raised a son and a daughter who both practice law in the State of California.