Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67, ’02 Hon and Hisao Kushi ’88 Receive 2024 UMass Alumni Honors
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College of Humanities and Fine Arts alumni Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67, ’02 Hon and Hisao Kushi ’88 were each recognized with awards at the UMass Alumni Honors 2024, held on Oct. 10, 2024. Feinberg received the Distinguished Leader Award, while Kushi received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
UMass Alumni Honors awards are presented each year to recognize the varied achievements of members of the university’s alumni community. The award recipients have translated their UMass Amherst experience into professional success and meaningful service, furthering the mission and impact of the university around the globe.
Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67, ’02 Hon
Distinguished Leader Award
Kenneth R. Feinberg is a prominent attorney who has helped to resolve many of the nation’s most challenging and widely known disputes. Feinberg's work in victim compensation began in the 1970s with the Agent Orange settlement. An international expert in complex mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution, he is well known as the special master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. He has also worked on Virginia Tech’s Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, the BP Gulf Coast Claims Facility, and One Fund Boston following the Boston Marathon bombings on Patriot’s Day.
After earning a cum laude degree in history from UMass Amherst in 1967, Feinberg delivered the inaugural Student Commencement Address at graduation. He then attended the New York University School of Law. He served as a clerk for Chief Judge of the State of New York Stanley H. Fuld, as a federal prosecutor, and as chief of staff for Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Feinberg founded his Washington, DC-based law firm in 1992. In his capacity as an arbitrator, Feinberg helped determine the fair market value of the original Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination and legal fees in Holocaust slave labor litigation.
In 2004, Feinberg was named "Lawyer of the Year" and has been named repeatedly as one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" by the National Law Journal. He was appointed to two presidential-level commissions and has written a book sharing his experience and expertise entitled, What Is Life Worth? UMass Amherst awarded Feinberg an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2002 for his varied contributions to victim’s compensation.
Feinberg has donated his professional and personal archives to the UMass Amherst Libraries Special Collections & University Archives to preserve the record of his groundbreaking mediation work on high-profile cases. The Feinberg Papers contain correspondence, memos, drafts, reports, research files and memorabilia. In addition, Feinberg has donated his opera music collection, with more than 9,000 items, to the new Music & Media Collection in the Du Bois Library—doubling the library's classical music collection open to students for browsing and borrowing.
UMass Amherst honored Feinberg in 2013 at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston in recognition of his gifts to the libraries and his leadership as co-chair of the UMass Rising campaign. In addition, Feinberg delivered the keynote address at the UMass Amherst Salute to Service event in Boston on November 20, 2013.
Hisao Kushi ’88
Lifetime Achievement Award
Hisao Kushi is co-founder and chief legal officer at Ernesta Inc., a direct-to-consumer retail rug company. He launched the company with colleagues from his previous position as co-founder and chief legal officer of Peloton Interactive. A unique fitness experience, Peloton Interactive’s mission was to connect more people to online fitness classes at home. The firm combined cutting-edge technology, content, and best-in-class instructors to create a first-of-its-kind global fitness community. By April 2022, the company had become a household name valued at around $8 billion.
Kushi's dedication to innovation, interactive technology, and design is further illustrated by his roles within multiple internet platforms in the digital marketplace. Before founding Peloton, Kushi held leadership roles at internet technology companies, including chief operating officer at Evite, general counsel at several companies within the Liberty Media portfolio, and assistant general counsel at Ticketmaster. He also was in-house counsel for Universal Studios Internet Group.
Kushi earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from UMass Amherst and his Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 1992. As a student at UMass Amherst, he attended the university’s Summer Seminar at Trinity College, Oxford University.
In 2018, Kushi hosted an exclusive networking event for UMass Amherst alumni at the Peloton Interactive Penthouse in New York City. He gave a special presentation, sharing insights on how Peloton was revolutionizing the fitness industry by merging high design with modern technology. He also shared many fond memories of his time in Amherst and how his UMass experience had shaped his career trajectory.
Together with wife Karen, also a 1988 graduate of UMass Amherst, the Kushis established the Opportunity Scholars Endowed Fund in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts to promote personal development, scholarship, leadership, community service, and connection to people, cultural centers, and resources on campus. Most recently, Kushi served as a judge for the 2023 Innovation Challenge Competition hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship. The competition awards an aspiring student or recent graduate entrepreneur with up to $65,000 in equity-free funding to support their business idea.