Advisors & Collaborators

Lara Bezerra

Lara Bezerra is the founder of Workcoherence and author of Coherent Leadership: Prosperity and Purpose in All Aspects of Life. With 30 years of executive experience as CEO of multinationals across three continents, she brings spirituality to leadership.

Mr. Tom Erickson

Tom Erickson is the founding director of the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) and the Executive Associate Dean of Strategy and Innovation for the College of Letters & Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Scott Davis & Colleen Lowe

Market Research

Biography forthcoming.

Dr. Achim Hopbach

Achim has 25 years of experience in higher education reform and quality assurance. He served as Managing Director of the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ Austria) from 2012 to 2019, and of the German Accreditation Council from 2005 to 2012.

Mark Kiss

Biography forthcoming.

Tenzin Seldon

A global leader, founder, and venture capitalist with over two decades of experience advancing scalable climate technologies. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Pulse Fund, investing in climate solutions across energy, infrastructure, food, agriculture, and mobility. A Stanford graduate and Rhodes Scholar, she has advised leading institutions and received numerous international honors for her impact-driven work.

Geoffrey Barstow

Geoffrey Barstow is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Oregon State University, specializing in Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhist ideas about animal ethics and vegetarianism. An early graduate of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute and a longtime student of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, he is the author of Food of Sinful Demons: Meat, Vegetarianism, and the Limits of Buddhism in Tibet.

Dr. Catherine Dalton

Catherine is an Assistant Professor at Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, where she teaches in RYI’s MA program in Translation, Textual Interpretation, and Philology. She also serves Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche as an oral interpreter.

Mr. Jack DeTar

Jack is the Shedrub Mandala Coordinator for Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche’s centers and activities, and the Executive Director of Rangjung Yeshe Gomde California.

Dr. Thomas Doctor

Thomas is the Principal and a Research Professor at Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.

Dr. Douglas Duckworth

Douglas Duckworth is Professor of Religion at Temple University, and a prolific author on the subjects of Buddhist history and philosophy.

Dr. James Gentry

James is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford. He specializes in Tibetan Buddhism, with particular focus on the literature and history of its Tantric traditions.

Adam Goldstein

Adam Goldstein is co-founder, chairman, and head of research at Softmax, where he develops approaches to AI alignment grounded in living systems. He has taken part in dialogues on an engaged Buddhist response to artificial intelligence.

Gábor Karsai

Gábor Karsai is a Hungarian philosopher, scholar of religion, and dharma teacher who serves as Rector of the Dharma Gate Buddhist College in Budapest — the university’s accrediting partner — and as director of Mind & Life Europe.

Dr. Ana Cristina Lopes

Ana Cristina is an associate translator and researcher at 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. She held an appointment as visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Center for South Asia, and was faculty at the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Antoine Lutz

Antoine Lutz is a director of research at INSERM in the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center and a pioneer in the neuroscience of meditation. Trained with Francisco Varela and later with Richard Davidson, his work focuses on the neurophenomenology of mindfulness and compassion practice and their effects on attention, emotion, and consciousness.

John Makransky

John Makransky is Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College and a lama in the Nyingma tradition. He serves as a senior advisor and lecturer at Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre for Buddhist Studies, and developed the Sustainable Compassion Training model.

Chiara Mascarello

Chiara Mascarello is a researcher in the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, working across Buddhist studies, contemplative studies, and contemplative education. Her research explores the Indo-Tibetan understanding of the nature of mind and mind training and its relevance today.

Dr. Klaus-Dieter Mathes

Klaus is currently a Professor and Program Coordinator at the University of Hong Kong’s Centre of Buddhist Studies, and previously served as head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna.

Dr. Sara McClintock

Sara is a Buddhist philosopher and scholar of religion, currently serving as Associate Professor at Emory University.

Dr. Julia Stenzel

Julia is the Director of Studies and an Assistant Research Professor at Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute. She regularly participates in translation projects and is a member of the Sakya Pandita Translation Group, the Chödung Karmo Translation Group, and the Subhashita Translation Group.

Francesco Tormen

Francesco Tormen holds a PhD in philosophy and is an adjunct professor of Tibetan at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Co-director of the Italian Buddhist Union’s research center, he teaches in contemplative-studies programs at Padova and Pisa and writes on meditation, Tibetan thought, and lucid dreaming.

Khenpo Yeshi

Khenpo Yeshi is a scholar-practitioner who trained in the Geluk, Kagyu, and Nyingma traditions in Tibet and taught at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, where he helped develop its curriculum on the five major treatises. He holds degrees from UC Berkeley, where he is a doctoral candidate researching the early Dzogchen Heart Essence tradition.