SAIO 50 for 50: Tony Kahn
This Week's Spotlight: Tony Kahn ('83, B.S. Mechanical Engineering)
Kahn (Navajo, Water Flows Together People and Folded Arms People) is the Lead Boiler Inspector and a Senior Mechanical Engineer for Arizona Public Service (APS), Arizona’s largest electric utility company. Kahn oversees a small team of boiler inspectors and engineers, ensuring boilers and heat recovery steam generators are in compliance with all federal, state and tribal regulations. As a member of APS’s Native American Working Group, Kahn also provides input on issues and events that impact Native communities in Arizona. Kahn has also provided mechanical design, project management, construction support to rebuild several coal power plants in his thirty year career.
A co-founder of Stanford’s American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) chapter and of the Phoenix Professional AISES chapter, Kahn has also served as chair of AISES's board of directors. Kahn is a past president and current board member for the Phoenix Indian Center, a non-profit that provides assistance to the thousands of Native Americans who live, by relocation, school, training, in the metro Phoenix area.
As a student at Stanford, Kahn served as SAIO President, Stanford Powwow Committee Chair, Roble Hall Program Assistant, Robinson Resident Assistant, AIM vs CERT Debate Committee member, Native Freshmen Orientation Committee member, and Navajo language instructor. Kahn also designed the artwork for the 10th & 13th Annual Stanford Powwows, painted murals for the Native American Cultural Center and organized the first Native basketball tournament at Maples.
Kahn is a dedicated runner, with a resume that includes ten full marathons, fifty-two half marathons, and seventy 10K’s. His most important run was Running For Resilience, a relay run that marked the 150th year of the Navajo Peace Treaty with the U.S. Government and approximated the 400 mile “Long Walk” the Navajo people endured back to Diné Bikéyah from their confinement at Fort Sumner.