IWA Leadership

Gil Fronsdal, PhD is the primary teacher for 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.

Jeff Hardin MD, PhD has been practicing insight meditation since 2000 and has graduated from the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training program and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training program.  He is an emergency medicine physician who has participated in several medical aid volunteer missions in Latin America and Asia.

Ram Appalaraju (President) has served on the boards of nonprofit organizations for over eight years after retiring from the high-tech industry where he worked for 35 years.  He now teaches as a faculty member at Sati Center’s Eco-Chaplaincy program.  He also serves as a Buddhist chaplain and Mindfulness Meditation teacher at Santa Clara County Jails.  He is a practitioner of Buddhist practice for over 14 years and has engaged with several underprivileged and marginalized communities teaching meditation and offering support.  He is deeply committed to social and ecological causes and serves.

Devin Berry (Former President) has served on the board of Coming To The Table and served as a founding board member of MindfulPeacebuilding. He co-founded both the teen and men of color sangha at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA. He is currently participating in Insight Meditation Society’s (IMS) 2017-2021 teacher training program. Devin recently relocated to Western Massachusetts and teaches nationally.

Rachel Lewis, PhD, has served on the board of the British Columbia Insight Meditation Society and has taught meditation since 2010. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program and Community Dharma Leaders program, and she is currently participating in Insight Meditation Society’s 2017-2021 teacher training program, as well as training in Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy. Her day job in health care analytics is only barely related to her physics PhD.

Roxanne Dault is a dedicated practitioner of Vipassana (insight) meditation. Roxanne Dault has sat many long retreats in Asia and in the West in the last 15 years. Roxanne is a member of the Board for True North Insight (TNI) in Canada, where she teachers weekly sits and residential retreats. She is involved in different volunteer projects to share the Dharma including TNI’s prison meditation program and a 2-year study program. She is currently part of the four-year Insight Meditation Society (IMS) Teacher Training. Roxanne is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner(R) and a Web Project Manager/Content Strategist. She speaks French, English and is learning her ancestors’ language, Anishinaabemowin.

Tara Mulay has served as president of the board of Mission Dharma in San Francisco and as a member of the Board of Aloka Vihara.  She is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leaders Program and is currently participating in Insight Meditation Society’s 2017-2021 teacher training program.  In 2016, she co-founded the San Francisco People of Color Insight Sangha. She remained a core teacher with the group until the spring of 2019, when she relocated to Western Massachusetts.  Tara practiced criminal defense law in California for over 20 years.