About Us

Julie O'Donnell

Member of the Board of Directors

At an early age, Julie searched for a deeper ... At an early age, Julie searched for a deeper meaning to life until finally at the age of 22 found the precious Buddhist path of Dharma. She dedicated her life to the practice, living in temples and serving teachers from around the world practicing the Buddhist teachings and living according to its principles. Julie has spent the last 34 years practicing this ancient path and for the past twelve years has lived at the Tibetan Buddhist Rime Institute in Tecoma helping the resident teacher Khentrul Rinpoche.

Julie is now one of the senior teachers at the Rime Institute giving classes on meditation and basic Buddhist principals that can be applied to our everyday lives. Julie also manages the temple and arranges a program of courses, tours and fundraising activities to support the temple. Read More

Petra Thiemer

Secretary - Member of the Board of Directors

Petra is a versatile professional with over 3... Petra is a versatile professional with over 30 years’ background in business administration, text & layout, marketing, social media. Her experience includes working in the EU representation of a federal lobby organisation in Brussels, where she provided extensive administrative support to policy advisors and coordinated press relations, publications and events. She has been practicing on the tantric path of Tibetan Buddhism since 2012 and is very grateful to be a devoted disciple of Khentrul Rinpoche since 2021. Fluent in German, English and French, she volunteers as a translator and also manages our youtube project, which aims to translate and dub Rinpoche's video content to make it available in more than a dozen languages worldwide. Read More

Ryan Cortez

Chief Financial Officer - Member of the Board of Directors

Ryan Cortez has more than 14 years of experie... Ryan Cortez has more than 14 years of experience in GPU Physical Design Engineering with a Fortune 500 company, regularly interfacing with a diverse global workforce to design cutting edge technology for the world. He co-authored a paper published in IEEE’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference highlighting the pivotal release of the world’s first 3D-stacked processors for exascale computing. He received both his BS and MS from Northwestern University. Ryan developed a keen interest in Philosophy more than 13 years ago and since has received more than 330 hours of Yoga Teacher Training. Read More

Chloë Bregman (Yeshe Wangmo)

Chief Executive Officer - Member of the Board of Directors

Chloe Bregman has 15 years experience in Prod... Chloe Bregman has 15 years experience in Product Design, Agile transformation and corporate leadership. Previously she was Enterprise Agile Transformation team working for a fortune 500 company and Dir. Design at Onelogin. She brings her experience building teams and technology products to Khentrul Rinpoche’s global community. Chloe has over 680 hr in Yoga teacher training. She has completed 2 years of Meditation teacher training with Culadasa. Currently she works full time building Rinpoche’s vision at Tibetan Rime Buddhist Institute. She is also an advisor to the Dzokden Kalapa board. Read More

Shar Khentrul Rinpoche Jamphel Lodrö

Spiritual Director - Member of the Board of Directors

Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoche is a Rim... Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoche is a Rimé and Jonang Kalachakra Master of Tibetan Buddhism. Inspired by the Kalki Kings of Shambhala, through his organization, Dzokden, Khentrul Rinpoche works towards the second Golden Age of peace on our earth by transmitting the Kalachakra teachings in every area of the globe, translated in over 13 languages. He has authored over 20 books related to Shambhala, Kalachakra, and Vajrayana Buddhism. His most recent book, published by Shambhala Publications, is titled The Realm of Shambhala. His forthcoming book, The Path of Desire, is currently available in Tibetan and will be published in more languages next year. Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoche is a Rimé and Jonang Kalachakra Master of Tibetan Buddhism. Inspired by the Kalki Kings of Shambhala, through his organization, Dzokden, Khentrul Rinpoche works towards the second Golden Age of peace on our earth by transmitting the Kalachakra teachings in every area of the globe, translated in over 13 languages. He has authored over 20 books related to Shambhala, Kalachakra, and Vajrayana Buddhism. His most recent book, published by Shambhala Publications, is titled The Realm of Shambhala. His forthcoming book, The Path of Desire, is currently available in Tibetan and will be published in more languages next year. Read More

Eli Poon

Global Shambhala Art Exhibition Manager

Eli brings a thoughtful approach to her work,... Eli brings a thoughtful approach to her work, and a sincere appreciation for art and cultural heritage.
Her experience includes curating exhibitions and dedicating herself to art-related research, translation, editing and writing, supporting both local and international artists. Drawing from her professional background in academic administration and curatorial work, Eli aims to contribute her skills to curating exhibitions, as well as managing art publications. She holds a BA in Art History and an MA in English Studies from the University of Hong Kong, which inform her understanding of artistic practices and evolving global culture. She aims to craft narratives that respectfully represent the artworks and engage audiences, striving to create insightful and accessible exhibition experience for various cultural contexts. Read More

Naveed Ahmad

Naveed brings 20+ years of software engineeri... Naveed brings 20+ years of software engineering expertise to our organization, having led engineering teams and contributed to numerous startups (Datameer, Bitmovin etc) throughout his career. After stepping back from full-time roles in 2024, he now channels his technical leadership experience into meaningful projects, including his role as our volunteer CTO. While continuing to serve as a lead engineer at A.Team, Naveed dedicates his time to developing AI and meditation applications, combining his technical skills with his interest in mindfulness. When not immersed in code or meditation, Naveed enjoys exploring music production as a creative outlet. Read More

Tony Wang

Machine Learning Engineer

Tony has deep experience across software engi... Tony has deep experience across software engineering, data analytics, machine learning, AI/ML product lifecycles and operations. He is currently working on our AI Audio books initiative and translation dubbing with AI.
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Maria Jose Alpañes

Astrologer & Spanish Translation

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1963, Maria ... Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1963, Maria Jose Alpanes is a full-time astrologer and energy healer since 2002. Having first studied Dramatic Arts at the National University of Arts, she also graduated in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Social Psychology at the School of Information Sciences, while working as a Foreign Affairs Executive in the National Ministry of Science and Technology. In 1990 a rare and unique Healing Path found her, and she was trained there for 24 years. In 1998 she started her service as an Astrologer, having graduated in Astrological Studies at Casa XI. In 2002 she decided to fully dedicate to the spiritual service through Astrology and Healing. In 2014 she received Dzogchen transmission from a Dzogchen Master and devotedly practiced for 9 years while studying Tibetan Astrology at Dzogchen Shang Shung Medical School in Massachusetts. In 2021 she met Shar Khentrul Rinpoche, received Kalachakra Empowerment from him and since then has wholeheartedly decided to devote herself to the Kalachakra Path and to help fulfill Shar Khentrul Rinpoche’s Enlightened Activities and Aspirations. She is part of the Spanish Translations Team and the Kalachakra Astrology Project. Read More

Danh Cong

Frontend Developer & UI/UX Designer

Danh Cong is a Buddhist from Vietnam. He is a... Danh Cong is a Buddhist from Vietnam. He is a UI/UX Developer and Designer, who is passionate about bringing great things to the world through a technical perspective. Read More

Shylton Dias

Education & Enlightened Activities Program Co-ordinator, Portuguese Team Lead and Translator

Shylton Dias, from Brazil, is an enthusiastic... Shylton Dias, from Brazil, is an enthusiastic student of the different ancient spiritual traditions and has been studying and practicing the Buddhadharma for more than 10 years. He has been working for over a decade as a facilitator in Self-knowledge and personal transformation, as well as an energetic therapist. Read More

Sue Passante

Enlightened Activities Program Director (Volunteer program)

Sue Passante has over 20 years’ experience in... Sue Passante has over 20 years’ experience in program management for enterprise-wide business transformation enabled with SAP® technology. She has implemented programs for large shared services organizations in finance, HR and supply chain to drive operational excellence and service management. Throughout her career, Sue specialized in organizational change management to foster a culture of diversity, inclusion and employee engagement.

Since 2012, Sue has been wholly devoted to Buddhist practice and Dharma service. She is profoundly grateful to call herself a student of Khentrul Rinpoche and have the precious opportunity to support his mission and the many volunteers around the world. Sue retired from the corporate sector in April 2018 and lives near the Philadelphia-metro area in Pennsylvania USA. Read More

Pete Eby

Tech Wrangler

Pete Eby is a systems architect for the R&D S... Pete Eby is a systems architect for the R&D Systems Engineering (RDSE) team at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL).

He served as the Scientific Platforms team lead for the R&D Linux team from 2014-2017. Prior to this he worked with the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) for NASA’s Earth Observation Sciences (EOS) program from 2010 to 2014.

From to 2014 to 2019 Pete was a founding architect for the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) which provided self-service cloud, compute, storage, and data lifecycle tools and infrastructure for ORNL’s research communities.

Currently he maintains the tier 2 grid facility supporting DOE participation in CERN’s ALICE project. Additionally, he supports the Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring (ARM) project, a DOE multi-laboratory, scientific user facility, and a key contributor to national and international climate research efforts. Read More

Theresa Ulfa

Fundraising Co-ordinator

Theresa has experience in creative and admini... Theresa has experience in creative and administrative roles within the entertainment, non-profit, teaching and alternative health fields, and a long-standing personal commitment to spiritual practice. Since 2010, she has also offered intuitive readings and specialized healing work. In 2020, she established and runs a small all-faith religious nonprofit that provides online community meditation. Theresa's personal spiritual journey began with meditation in 1999, deepening into a dedicated practice by 2006, with a focus on Ekajati since 2012. Taking refuge for the first time with Khentrul Rinpoche in 2024 marked a significant milestone, and she is now immersed in his courses and pursuing the Kalachakra practice. Theresa is drawn to Dzokden's mission and hopes to contribute to the success of everyone benefiting from this exceptional organization. Read More