Board of Directors:
Gil Fronsdal, PhD (President) is a Buddhist teacher at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. He directs the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies where he teaches programs in Buddhist Chaplaincy. Gil has been active in establishing guidelines and procedures for Buddhist organizations to resolve conflict and ethical issues. He has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University and has authored several books on Buddhism.
Nancy Smee, PhD, CNM, MPH (Secretary) is a university professor, researcher, and certified nurse-midwife. She teaches epidemiology, community health, and healthcare policy and ethics. Her research areas are HIV/AIDS with a special emphasis on the prevention of mother to child transmission, and the healthcare of vulnerable populations. She has worked in Zimbabwe and Tanzania with HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs. Nancy has practiced meditation in the Zen and Vipassana traditions since 1993. She is on the board of Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City and teaches and practices yoga in Palo Alto.
Jeff Hardin MD, PhD (Treasurer) is an emergency medicine physician who has been practicing vipassana since 2000. He has participated in several medical aid volunteer missions in Latin America and Asia. He is on the board of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, a mentor for the Sacramento Insight Meditation group, and a student in the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders program. He is also the West Coast Coordinator for Buddhist Global Relief.
Board of Advisors
Adrianne Ross, MD, has been involved with meditation and healing since 1978. Her teaching is influenced by Burmese and Thai streams of Theravada as well as Dzogchen and contemplative practices. She teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to people with chronic pain and illness. She recently retired from working as a family physician to devote more time to personal practice and teaching retreats in Canada and the U.S. She has participated in medical aid work in Tibet.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk originally from New York City. After living as a monk in Sri Lanka for twenty-four years, he now resides at Chuang Yen Monastery in upstate New York. Ven. Bodhi is a prolific writer of Buddhist essays and books and has translated and commented extensively on the Pali suttas. He is now in the final stages of a complete translation of the Anguttara Nikaya, to be published by Wisdom Publications. In 2008 he founded Buddhist Global Relief (BGR), a non-profit organization that provides relief from poverty and hunger among impoverished communities worldwide. In just two years, BGR has launched over fifteen projects in Asia, Africa, and the U.S.
Jack Kornfield, Ph.D has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Jack has authored numerous books and articles on meditation and spirituality and is on the board of directors for the Foundation for the People of Burma. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a husband and father. His website is: www.jackkornfield.org.
Basil Stamos, MD is the former chairman of Sterling Stamos Corporate Philanthropy. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of two non-profits, Friends Without a Border, which funds and supports the Angkor Hospital for Children in Cambodia, and FACE AIDS, a global youth movement to fight HIV/AIDS. A licensed general internist, Basil worked for 10 years at the Tom Waddell Clinic in San Francisco, serving a predominantly homeless population.
Beth Kanji Goldring is an American Zen nun in the Japanese Rinzei tradition. She is the founder and director of Brahmavihara/Cambodia AIDS Project which has been providing Buddhist chaplaincy services to destitute AIDS patients and their families in Phnom Penh, Cambodia since 2000. She is a former ballet dancer, university humanities teacher, and human rights worker. She was ordained in 1995. Currently she studies vipassana with Gil Fronsdal. Beth has received a number of awards for Brahmavihara’s work.
