Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Chairman and Spiritual Director

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a recognized tulku of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, a teacher, spiritual leader and best selling author. He possesses a rare ability to present the ancient wisdom of Tibet in a fresh, engaging manner. His profound yet accessible teachings and playful sense of humor have endeared him to students around the world. Uniquely, Rinpoche’s teachings weave together his own personal experiences with modern scientific research, as they relate to the practice of meditation.

He has authored several books including two best-sellers: The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, which has been translated into over 20 languages; and In Love with the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying. His recent TED Talk is entitled How to tap into your awareness -- and why meditation is easier than you think.

Rinpoche teaches extensively around the world and oversees: Dharma centers including three monasteries in Nepal, India, and Tibet and the Tergar Institute in Kathmandu; Tergar meditation communities on six continents; numerous schools and social engagement projects related to health, hunger, hygiene, the environment and women’s empowerment issues in Nepal and India.

Glenna Olmsted
President

Glenna has been a student of the dharma for over 24 years and is a dedicated student of Mingyur Rinpoche, and his brothers, Tsoknyi Rinpoche and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. She has been on the Yongey Foundation Board since its beginnings. She is the long-time executive assistant to Pema Chödrön. Glenna spends her free time as a ‘plein air’ artist showing exclusively in Steamboat Springs. For over 40 years, she has been a real estate broker in Steamboat Springs where she lives with her husband, Tim Olmsted, and their dog Mr. Pounce.

Josh Baran
Director

Josh is a communications professional and the founder of Baran Strategies. Over the decades, Josh’s clients have included many environmental and human rights organizations, film studios, music labels, and tech companies. In his professional capacity, he has provided media support for many visits of the Dalai Lama to the U.S. as well as the three visits of the 17th Karmapa. He has been a Dharma practitioner since 1970 and a board member of the Yongey Foundation since its founding. He lives in New York City.

Sandra Fernandez
Director

Sandra is a mother, teacher, student, activist, author, and lover of stories. She holds a doctorate in International and Intercultural Development Education from Florida International University. Her teaching experience includes elementary, high school, and university level programs, and she has taught in Canada, Australia, Japan, and the USA. In her current role, as Mingyur Rinpoche’s Chief of Staff, she supports the Tergar Mandala by facilitating connections and projects within Rinpcohe’s diverse activities. This includes dharma centers, meditation communities throughout the world, and social engagement projects in Nepal and India.

Edwin Kelley
Director

Edwin Kelley attended his first meditation retreat near Perth, Australia in 1975. He later pursued a career as a public accountant and in 1992 went to Burma to undertake a six-month period of intensive meditation practice with meditation master Chanmyay Sayadaw. While practicing in Burma he was ordained temporarily as a Buddhist monk.

In 1994 he was hired as Director of Operations by one of America’s best known meditation retreat centers, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS), in Barre, MA. Eighteen months later he was appointed Executive Director of IMS and served in that capacity until 2003 when he resigned to pursue further long-term intensive meditation practice.

Edwin first encountered Vajrayana Buddhism in Dharamsala, India in 1993 and became a student of Mingyur Rinpoche in 1998. He has a post graduate diploma in Buddhist Studies from the University of Sunderland in the UK.

In 2009, Edwin and his wife Myoshin, moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to help establish the global Tergar Meditation Community, where he then served variably as Executive, and Co-Executive Director, and CFO, until retiring from his administrative role with Tergar International at the end of 2022. He is now retired and living in Australia.

Cathryn Mayer
Director & Executive Assistant

With an extensive background in business management and accounting, Cathryn has been crunching numbers for all types of organizations since 1995. She has a newfound interest in working with nonprofits, has served on the board for the Pema Chödrön Foundation since 2019 and also was an active council member for the Buddhist Center of Steamboat Springs for 9 years. Since 2010, Cathryn has been committed to the Buddhist path as a student of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. In 2019, Cathryn became the Executive Assistant to Glenna, the board president, handling all donations and has recently joined the Yongey Foundation board with much enthusiasm. She lives with her family in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and spends free time playing in the mountains and rivers of the western US.

Tim Olmsted
Director

Tim has been a student of the Dharma for the past 45 years. In 1981, he moved to Nepal to study with Mingyur Rinpoche’s father, Tulku Urgyen, and stayed for 12 years. While in Nepal, Tim worked as a psychotherapist serving the local and expat communities. He founded the Yongey Foundation with Mingyur Rinpoche in 2003. Tim is fully engaged in Mingyur Rinpoche’s world as an instructor for Tergar International. After returning from Nepal, Tim served as the director of Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, the largest Buddhist monastery in North America. He is also the founder and president of the Pema Chodron Foundation. Tim and Glenna live in Steamboat Springs, Co.

“The entire path is a shift in perception.”