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DPR Office Staff
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Tenam Lama, Personal Secretary - Tibetan
became a monk at 15 years old. He studied at Dzogchen Monastery for
5 years. At the end of 1988 he started a 2-year pilgrimage through
Tibet, taking a few months at a time to do retreats in caves. In
1991 he went to India to study at the new Dzogchen Monastery in the
south. Two years later, he went to Sikkim to visit relatives and
study English. In 1994 he came to the Nitartha Document Input
Center and since then he has been working for Nitartha. In 1996 he
came to the US with The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and has been
traveling the world with him as his attendant. In 1998, Tenam and
Gerry Weiner developed the Nitartha-Sambhota Tibetan Software and
the Sambhota Unicode Software to help digitize and preserve
important Tibetan texts. He is currently working on many Nitartha
Publication projects.
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Martin Marvet, Chief of Staff, began his
studies of Buddhism in 1977, has been a Buddhist practitioner since
1982 and a student of Ponlop Rinpoche since 1991. In his current
DPRO role, he coordinates the work of all DPRO Secretaries, is
responsible for governmental, legal and sensitive communications,
and handles special situations.
Marty practiced law in New York City with Cleary Gottlieb Steen
and Hamilton and Chalos & Brown. He represented The Dzogchen
Ponlop Rinpoche in the legal formation of Nitartha International in
1994, and Nalandabodhi in 1997. In 1999, he moved to Seattle to
assist Rinpoche in the management and counsel of Nalandabodhi and
Nitartha International, and oversaw the acquisition of Nalanda West
in 2003. Marty has served in numerous senior executive and board
roles in Nitartha, Nalandabodhi, and on Rinpoche's personal staff
over the past 15 years. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Amherst
College in 1979, a J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University
in 1987 and currently lives in Seattle with his wife, Lynne, and
cat, Shentong.
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Mary Chung, Secretary, Communications, has been
a student of the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since 2002. She is a
member of the Karma Sangha Board of Canada, and has served in the
past as Director of the Nalandabodhi Toronto Study Group and member
of NEC Canada. She served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Karmapa in
America 2008. In her DPRO Secretary role, she is responsible for
communications with Nalandabodhi and Nitartha Institute in their
administration areas.
Mary received a B.A. in Economics from Stanford and a MBA from
UCLA. Her business experience includes founding technology and
consulting businesses, product development, marketing and
advertising, as well as developing and managing project managers.
Mary co-authored Riding the Tiger.
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Tyler Dewar, Secretary, Calendar Planning, has
served in the Office of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche for seven
years, responding to invitations to teach and participate in public
events, and helps plan Rinpoche's teaching calendar. Tyler started
practicing in 1996, met DPR in 1997, became a formal student of his
in 1998 and joined Nalandabodhi in 2000.
Tyler is a Nalandabodhi Mitra, a Western Teacher appointed by
Rinpoche. He is also a translator of spoken and literary Tibetan,
and had the good fortune of translating for HH the Seventeenth
Karmapa during the Karmapa's historic visit to the US in 2008. He
has contributed several translations of written and transcribed
material to Kagyu Office and Dharma Nectar magazine, and is fluent
in colloquial Tibetan. He has published several translations of key
Dharma texts.
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Cindy Shelton, Publications Secretary and Household
Manager, has been a student of The Dzogchen Ponlop
Rinpoche since 1996, and a member of the Nalandabodhi Sangha since
its founding in 1997. Positions held previously include Director of
Nalandabodhi Boulder and Nalandabodhi Seattle, NEC Director of
Publications and Karma Sangha Board member.
Cindy is currently Editor-in-Chief of Bodhi magazine. In her role
of DPRO Publications Secretary, she supervises the development of
Rinpoche's book projects and other external publications. As
Household Manager, she oversees the operations of Rinpoche's
residence in Seattle. Cindy received an MA in Education from
Florida International University and an MA in Buddhist Studies from
Naropa University.
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Tim Walton, Personal Secretary - Western,
became a student of Ponlop Rinpoche in 2002. He supports Rinpoche's
personal activities and household, as well as manages all close
interactions with his students and other organizations on an
ongoing, daily basis. In recent years, Tim has also served as
Practice Co-coordinator and Director of Nalandabodhi Seattle.
Tim has worked primarily in the field of social service as a case
manager for developmentally disabled adults in Santa Barbara,
California, and as a case manager for homeless adults in Boulder,
Colorado. He began studying Tibetan Buddhism in Santa Barbara
and continued his studies at Naropa University in Boulder, where he
received a Master's degree in Buddhist Studies with a concentration
in Tibetan language.
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Nelson Wong, Chinese Correspondence, has been a
student of the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since 2003, when he first
met Rinpoche in Hong Kong. He is responsible for facilitating
the communication between Rinpoche and his Chinese speaking
students and contacts in Asia.
Nelson earned a B.S. in Finance and International Business from
New York University. Based in Hong Kong, Nelson has worked in
various European banks, focusing on the development of investment
products for corporations and financial institutions.
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Shari Cuzelis, Secretary, Student Correspondence and
Travel Manager, has been a Buddhist practitioner since
1981 and became a student of Ponlop Rinpoche in 1994. As Secretary,
Student Correspondence, Shari takes care of emails and letters from
students. As Travel Manager, she works in the team which
coordinates and implements Rinpoche's teaching tours.
Shari has been a psychotherapist for 26 years and has a MA in
Contemplative Psychology from The Naropa Institute.
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Midori McColskey, Assistant Secretary, has been
a Buddhist practitioner since 2003 and became a student of Ponlop
Rinpoche in 2006. As Assistant Secretary, Midori is a member of the
Household and Travel teams. She also participates in ad hoc DPRO
projects.
Midori has been working for AT&T since 1999 when she moved to
the U.S., and currently works in the Network Planning and
Engineering department. She enjoys Japanese Tea Ceremony and
studies with Seattle Branch of Urasenke school. Midori lives with
her husband, Joe, and dog, Una, in Seattle.
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