Shambhala Boston Board of Directors
The Boston Shambhala Center is a non-profit organization incorporated in September of 1977. We are an independent member of the meditation centers headed by Shambhala USA, a Colorado nonprofit corporation and a tax-exempt organization.
This webpage is a resource for our community, meant to provide clarity, transparency and updates on the workings of the Boston Shambhala Center Board of Directors. Your support and input is greatly appreciated. You can contact us at [email protected]. We will be providing regular updates through this website and in emails to the community.
Introduction
The Boston Shambhala Center is one of the first and largest urban meditation communities in the United States. The Board of Directors is charged with overseeing, nurturing and growing this organization into the future.
The Board is currently comprised of the following members of the Boston Shambhala Center. We are (in alphabetical order):
Ann Bruck began studying meditation in 2008 and found her way to the Boston Shambhala Community in 2014. She has helped staff programs including Nyinthun, Way of Shambhala Core Curriculum, and other special events. For the last 20+ years, Ann has been working in the wellness industry as a personal trainer and yoga instructor. She is currently pursuing a degree in clinical mental health counseling. In her spare time, one could find her hiking the White Mountains, enjoying a good meal at a new restaurant , or wandering around a museum.
Till Cremer started meditating in 2015 and joined the Shambhala community via the Boston center in 2018. He has since been involved with the Boston Sangha in various volunteering roles. In 2022 he assumed the main coordinator role for the Nyinthun program, which is very dear to his heart. His vision for the Boston Shambhala center is to become an increasingly inclusive and diverse community with respect to practice paths and lineages, as well as demographically. He is also interested in trauma informed and somatic approaches to mindfulness practice.
Travis DeTour has been an active member in the Boston Shambhala community since 2011 and has held various roles, including finance coordinator and coordinator for weekend programs. Travis has led the 30’s and Under group for the last several years. He is also actively involved with the Collective Liberation leadership team working to bring the work of anti-racism on to the path and into the community.
Mary Lang began practicing meditation at the New York Dharmadhatu in the fall of 1973. She studied with Chӧgyam Trungpa and is a Scorpion Seal student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Mary is a senior teacher in Shambhala, and considers her role as a meditation instructor one of the most important offerings she can make. She has served in governance at the Boston center in various capacities since 1988. She is a member of the End of Life committee and on the steering committee of the 60’s and Over group at the center, helping to support our community as we grapple with the inevitability of impermanence and death.
Mary is also a photographer, a member of the artist-run Kingston Gallery in Boston’s SoWA district, where she exhibits every other year. She is a licensed social worker, working with elders in the community as part of the care management team at JF&CS. You can email her at [email protected]
John Ranco has been practicing meditation in the Shambhala community since 2007 and has served in several capacities over the years coordinating programs, participating on committees and in governance with various roles since 2013. He is currently training to be a Shambhala Path Meditation Instructor, is very active with the Heart of Recovery community and is also serving as the Boston Shambhala Center Treasurer until Shambhala Day 2021.
In addition, John has been a Boston Realtor since 1996, marketing townhomes and condominiums, as well as leading marketing teams for several residential developments. He and his partner, John Clancy, own and operate several businesses in Ogunquit, Maine and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and currently call Jamaica Plain, MA their home.
John can be reached at [email protected] or C. 617-699-8130
Max Roberts-Zirker is the Executive Director of the Boston Shambhala Center. He is a third generation meditator, beginning his own practice in the Zen community in 2008. He started practicing with Shambhala through the Tuesday night Social Meditation practice in the 30’s and Under group. Max joined the teaching circle in 2013, and joined the staff as Deputy Director in 2015.
He was appointed as Interim Director in October 2018 and Executive Director on January 25, 2020. He can be reached at [email protected]
Austin Seeley began practicing meditation and took refuge vows while studying in Chiang Mai Thailand in 2009. They are currently studying Mahayana teachings as well as Shambhala teachings. They have been a part of the Shambhala community in various ways since 2016. Austin is also currently studying Sogetsu Ikebana as a core part of their path and coordinates Ikebana at the Boston Center. Their vision for the Boston Shambhala Center is to expand our service and programming to a broader community in order to be more inclusive and accessible.
Austin is also a social worker and psychotherapist in private practice. Working primarily with LGBTQ individuals, their clinical approach is centered on the inherent dignity and worth of individuals and utilizes empowerment focused techniques.
Judy Vreeland recently retired after 40+ years working in the Deaf Community. She was a teacher, mental health counselor, principal, director of a national program for Deaf youth with trauma histories, and most recently the Executive Director of The Learning Center for the Deaf, an educational and social service organization serving Deaf children, their families, and Deaf adults.
Judy began a meditation practice in the early ‘90s and entered the Shambhala path in 2006. Judy is deeply committed to serving the Boston Shambhala Center through current challenges and beyond, and can be reached at [email protected].
Current Governance
Our board is currently comprised of five open seats and one seat reserved for the Center’s Executive Director. In December 2018, we implemented the current structure in order to better support our Center Director, to bring additional resources to the Center, and to expand the diversity and representation on the Board.
As part of our role as leaders at the Boston Shambhala Center, and as part of our spiritual path, we commit to continuing our training on the causes and impact of sexual harm as well as issues of privilege and oppression.
In addition to the standing board, we organize ourselves into committees (for ongoing efforts like membership, programming, etc) and task forces (for time-boxed projects like leadership searches, fund drives, etc.). These committees and task forces usually include members from the community not currently on the board.
We use consensus as our decision-making framework. Simply stated, consensus decision-making means that every board member is either supportive or neutral towards a decision. An initiative cannot proceed if even one board member is opposed to it. For a more detailed discussion of consensus decision-making, please go here.
Meet with the Board
Everything on this page is very much open to debate and discussion. The board offers regular opportunities to meet and we would love to discuss this all with you.
Check the program listing for Community Events to see when the next Community Gatherings or Open Board Conversations will be.
