Faculty Bios 

Traleg Khandro is a long-time student and wife of the late Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX. Khandro grew up in Melbourne, Australia and met Traleg Rinpoche in the early 80’s soon after he arrived in Australia. Khandro studied Buddhism under Rinpoche’s guidance until his passing in 2012. Khandro has undertaken numerous long retreats that incrementally  completed the first 2 years of the traditional Kagyu 3 year retreat. Mainly since Rinpoche’s passing, Khandro has given commentary on Traleg Rinpoche’s teachings in Australia, America, Europe, U.K., and South East Asia. Khandro is Governing Director and Board Member of E-Vam Institute in Australia, Director of E-Vam Institute in the U.S., and runs Traleg Rinpoche publishing arm, Shogam Publications. At Rinpoche’s request Khandro received traditional LuJong (Tibetan Yoga) training after qualifying as a Hatha Yoga instructor. Khandro has a degree in Psychology and ran a business consultancy for much of the 90’s and early 2000’s. 

Clarke Warren: Clarke is a founding member and president of Ri-mé Society (www.rimesociety.org), Clarke became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1970, following a two-year period as a Zen student. He taught Buddhadharma and the Shambhala teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche for many years and was a core faculty of the Ngedön School for Higher Learning, a program of Buddhist education for practitioners created by Trungpa Rinpoche. Clarke taught in Buddhist Studies as an adjunct faculty at Naropa University for several years, then directed and taught Buddhist Studies in the Naropa University Study Abroad Program in Nepal and Sikkim, India, for thirteen years. During those years in Asia and back in America, he has studied and practiced with other teachers in the Kagyu, Nyingma  and Sakya traditions He and his wife, Pemba Dolma Warren, live in Erie, Colorado.

Hazel Bercholz: Hazel is a member of the Ri-mé Society Advisory Council, and a faculty for Ri-mé  Society courses. Hazel was born and raised in Southern California, getting a B.A. in anthropology from San Francisco State College. She studied and taught modern dance, becoming interested in book design when her husband started Shambhala Publications. She had the good fortune to meet Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1970, and recognizing pure gold when she encountered it, studied with him from then on. As art director at Shambhala Publications, she worked on many of Trungpa Rinpoche’s books. She was nudged into teaching dharma by the Trungpa Rinpoche and was co-resident director of Shambhala Training in Halifax, Nova Scotia for five years. Through family karma, she later became a student of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche as well.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche:  Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist Master of the Kagyu Order. He was trained in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under many great masters such as HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He took his formal education at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok and Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India and served as Professor of Tibetology in Sikkim for 17 years. His doctoral thesis was on the Ecumenical Movement (Ri-mé) in Tibet.

Since 1990 he has been traveling and teaching Buddhism and meditation at more than 50 Universities, Institutes and Buddhist Centers in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Asia. He also participates in various interfaith dialogues. He authored several books on Buddhism as well as some children’s books both in Tibetan and European languages.

He founded Bodhicharya (www.bodhicharya.org ), an international organization that coordinates the worldwide activities to preserve and transmit Buddhist teachings, to promote inter-cultural dialogues and educational & social projects. He also founded Rigul Trust which supports his projects in his birthplace, Rigul, Tibet (www.rigultrust.org ).

Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel:

Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel has studied and practiced the buddhadharma for over thirty-five years under the guidance of her root teacher, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. After meeting Rinpoche in Nepal, they married and she became his first Western student. After spending six years in retreat, Rinpoche appointed Elizabeth as one of the Retreat Masters at Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, Mangala Shri Bhuti’s retreat center in southern Colorado. Elizabeth has an academic background in both Anthropology and Buddhist Studies, but her learning is also grounded in practice.  She is the author of The Power of an Open Question and The Logic of Faith. In 2019, Elizabeth established her own nonprofit called the Middle Way Initiative and hosts a regular podcast called The Open Question Podcast.  Elizabeth teaches yearly programs at Mangala Shri Bhuti, the sangha organization of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, and travels widely giving teachings in the US and abroad. 

Andy Karr has practiced and studied the dharma for over fifty years under the guidance of such masters as Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. He is the author of Into the Mirror and Contemplating Reality, and the coauthor of The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing The World With Fresh Eyes.

John Weber: John is a member of the Advisory Council for Ri-mé Society, and faculty for Ri-mé Society courses. He began studying with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche at the University of Colorado in the winter semester of 1974. Graduating from the C.U. Boulder (as did his parents and grandparents before him), he used his BFA degree to work in the graphic design field for the next 25 years. John spent a decade of those years living in Buddhist practice and monastic centers. He began serving as an attendant to Trungpa Rinpoche and traveling with him during this period. Later, John completed a Master’s in Divinity degree at Naropa University and worked for a few years as an inter-religious chaplain in both hospital and hospice settings. John has taught Buddhadharma and the Shambhala teachings for many years. He recently retired from fourteen years of administration and teaching at Naropa University and now lives with his wife, daughter, and frisky dogs, in Boulder, Colorado.

Carolyn Rose Gimian: Carolyn is the Executive Director of the Chögyam Trungpa Institute at Naropa Uniersity. She was the founding director of the Shambhala Archives, a major repository of Trungpa Rinpoche’s work, and is a past president of the Council of Nova Scotia Archives. She edited Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior in close cooperation with the author. Volumes edited posthumously include the ten volumes of the Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa, Mindfulness in Action, and The Future Is Open. Carolyn’s writing is published in Lion’s Roar, Mindful Magazine, Buddhadharma, The Best of Buddhist Writing, and other publications. Carolyn is a teacher of meditation and Buddhism. Her current focus is both preserving the legacy of Chögyam Trungpa and also supporting and learning from young leaders and teachers inspired by his work.

Bob King: Bob is a founding member and teacher for Ri-mé Society, and serves on Ri-mé Society's Advisory Council. Bob grew up in Michigan and came to Colorado for college, graduating from the University of Colorado in 1969. The following year, Bob and wife Lindy met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and became his students. About the same time, Bob started his construction company while participating in various Buddhist sangha activities, including Kasung, Kusung, Upaya Council, teaching Ngedon School and more than enough sangha construction projects. In 1985 while living in Nepal with his family, Bob made an intimate connection with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and studied Dzogchen with Rinpoche until his passing in 1996. Bob feels any understanding of the Dharma he might have is mostly due to spending time in solitary retreat, inspired by Tulku Ugyen Rinpoche's guidance and emphasis on retreat practice. Bob and Lindy still live in Boulder, dividing time between three children, five grandchildren, work, practice, and helping out a bit when friends pass on. Bob does not consider himself a scholar; he loves the mystery of our true nature and having conversations about just that.

Marvin Ross: Marv is a founding member, treasurer, and technical director for Ri-mé Society (www.rimesociety.org).  Marv grew up in Oakland, California, where in 1971 he met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche one night and became his recording engineer the following day. Wanting to become part of Rinpoche’s world, he came to Boulder shortly after. He had received a Sociology degree from San Francisco State which led to becoming a founding member of Centre Productions, a film company in Boulder that made films for the educational market and for Trungpa Rinpoche. As his 40th birthday approached, he took a tech job at Ball Aerospace, designing antennas. With the engineers he met there and the relationships that ensued, he developed a career that spanned the next 30 years in various companies, some he helped start.  He retired in 2014 and did consulting until COVID hit.  Now, besides his Ri-me duties plays with his many hobbies and toys.