Members of the Task Force

Ani Pema Chödrön, Acharya

Ani Pema Chödrön, Acharya photo Ani Pema Chödrön is a fully ordained nun, one of the founders and (currently) the resident Gampo Acharya at Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Ani Pema has agreed to sit on the Transition Task Force to be of help to the community. As she is in a retreat, she will not join weekly or sub-group meetings. Once a week, however, Ani La will review summaries of our weekly meetings and offer her perspective on any key issues or decisions.

Arawana Hayashi, Acharya

Arawana Hayashi, Acharya photo Arawana Hayashi is a co-founder of the Presencing Institute, a global network of people engaged in social transformation. She brings meditation and Social Presencing Theater, a Shambhala art-based methodology, to the field of systems change. She is a mother and a grandmother, married to Gaylon Ferguson, and lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.

Charlene Leung, Acharya

Charlene Leung, Acharya photo Charlene Leung serves as Chairperson of the Shambhala Diversity Working Group since 2009 and facilitates groups for the UNtraining a Shambhala inspired organization devoted to healing personal and social oppressions. She raised two sons in a Shambhala household with her husband, Robert Pressnall, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Suzann Duquette, Acharya

Suzann Duquette, Acharya photo Suzann Duquette serves as Rupa Acharya and is Resident Acharya for Karmê Chöling in Barnet, VT. She has served in a variety of leadership and teaching roles in Shambhala, with a previous career in higher education fundraising. She resonates with space and victory over war, is a student of Daoist Qigong, and runs a B&B with her husband, Jan Enthoven.

Katrin Stelzel, Treasury Council Europe Member

Katrin Stelzel, Treasury Council Europe Member photo Katrin Stelzel has been serving in different roles in the European Mandala for 28 years. She lives near Cologne, Germany with her husband Frank. In her professional life she works with people with severe psychiatric challenges.

Andrew Sacamano, Kasung Shastri

Andrew Sacamano, Kasung Shastri photo Andrew Sacamano was born into the Shambhala community in Boulder, and grew up in Nova Scotia. He has as served in leadership roles for Sun Camp, and for the Baltimore sangha, and is currently a shastri for Boulder and also the Kasung Shastri.  He lives with his wife Molly in Boulder and is a software security engineer.

Sharon Owyang, Regional Director of Southern California

Sharon Owyang, Regional Director of Southern California photo Sharon Owyang has been part of the Los Angeles sangha for the past 12 years. She is a writer and consultant on U.S.-China issues, and has previously worked as a film producer and run a non-profit dedicated to the civic and political empowerment of Asian Americans. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Tom.

Basia Solarz (Faciliator)

Basia Solarz (Faciliator) photo Basia Solarz is a member of the Shambhala sangha in Halifax. A Certified Transformative Mediator and Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, Basia works at the Nova Scotia Health Authority offering conflict transformation support and services to people working in that system. She is a student in the Art of Hosting, Deep Democracy, and Critical Appreciative Inquiry.