Our People

Board, Advisory & Staff

Meet the dedicated individuals who guide, support, and bring the work of HCSC to life.

Patron & Executive Leadership

His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa

His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa
Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Patron

Lama Tsewang

Lama Tsewang

Founder & Executive Director

Former abbot of Nenang Monastery, Lama Tsewang founded the Danang Foundation in 2006 — a New York-based nonprofit advancing humanitarian and cultural efforts with a focus on education, poverty alleviation, healthcare, cultural preservation, and environmental sustainability.

Board of Directors

DP

Dechen Pema

Board Member

M.A. in Tibetan Studies (Central University for Nationalities, Beijing) and Anthropology (UC Berkeley). Director of Administration at BDRC. Previously worked at UC Berkeley's East Asian Library. Fluent in Tibetan, Chinese, and English.

TG

Tenzin Gelek

Board Member

Expert in Himalayan art and culture, former Senior Specialist at the Rubin Museum of Art. Co-founder of The Latse Project. M.A. in Nonprofit Management from The New School University and B.A. in Anthropology from Oxford Brookes University.

Advisory Board

GL

Venerable Geshe Lhakdor

Advisory Board

Has served His Holiness the Dalai Lama as translator and religious assistant since 1989. Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and leader of its Science Education Project. Director of the Central Archive of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

RD

Rinchen Dharlo

Advisory Board

Former President of the Tibet Fund for 18 years. Co-chaired the Tibetan-U.S. Resettlement Project, facilitating resettlement of 1,000 Tibetan refugees across 21 cities in the United States between 1992 and 1993.

ST

Sonam Tsering

Advisory Board

Director of the Tibetan language program at Columbia University. Previously taught at University of Michigan, with remote teaching at Yale and Ohio State. Originally from Rebgong (Qinghai, PRC). Founder and editor of Tibet Times newspaper.

KD

Kristina Dy-Liacco

Advisory Board

Tibetan Studies Librarian at Columbia University's C.V. Starr East Asian Library and at the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto. Co-founder of The Latse Project. MA in Tibetan Studies from Indiana University; MLIS from University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Our Team

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Tenzin Norbu

Program Director | Music & Dance Director

Trained artist from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), specializing in traditional Tibetan music and dance. Born in Lhasa, educated in India, and has performed internationally across India, the US, Germany, Taiwan, and Bhutan. Based in New York since 2014.

TK

Tenzin Kalsang

Administrative Coordinator

Senior Children's Librarian at Brooklyn Public Library. Holds an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dedicated to early childhood education and introducing Dharma to young learners in an accessible and meaningful way.