Tuesday

Announcing a New Executive Leadership Team

The Shambhala Board would like to share an important announcement regarding new leadership and governance for Shambhala Global Services (SGS).

However, we first want to express our appreciation to Melanie Klein, who has held the position of Director of Operations for SGS and who is now stepping down after the end of her two-year contract.

During this transitional time, Melanie had strong contributions and gave heartfelt care to the ongoing support and management of all of our SGS employees and initiatives, revived the Leadership Forum, and managed many legal and governance projects. Melanie has always acted with remarkable composure, cheerfulness, and intelligence. We will miss Melanie and wish her everything good in what she will accomplish next.

The Shambhala Board is pleased to announce that current Shambhala Global Services team members David MacLellan, Finance Director, Faradee Rudy, Development Director, and Tara Templin, Care and Conduct Director will form an “Executive Leadership Team” (ELT) to manage and lead all the functions of Shambhala Global Services.

We are delighted that they have agreed to step forward into these new and challenging roles that will help us move forward as a community in new and positive directions. With these new positions, we look to transition over the next period of time from a managing Board that has been very involved in the day-to-day operations of Shambhala to a more strategic and policy-oriented Board.

These individuals have not only shown great commitment to the Shambhala organization and its purposes, they also have a great deal to offer from their previous work experience. Both Faradee Rudy and Tara Templin have more than two decades of combined experience leading nonprofits in executive positions, including Executive Director roles, while David MacLellan has a depth of understanding and experience in nonprofit financial and legal management.

We also feel that their respective strengths will complement one another well, and will allow for a fully embodied leadership manifestation at the executive level. We see the creation of the ELT as an opportunity for SGS to “walk the talk” of collaborative leadership, shared decision making, and the principles of greater openness and inclusivity. Their bios are attached at the end of this letter.

David, Faradee, and Tara will retain their current titles, roles and responsibilities, with the addition of support that will backfill specific tasks and responsibilities in each of their respective areas. As the ELT, they will be responsible for managing and leading all areas and divisions that make up Shambhala USA, Shambhala Canada, and Shambhala Europe.

To begin, they wish to share this message with you all:

We believe that Shambhala has a unique and important part to play in the societal transformation of the world. Shambhala’s depth of understanding of how to present meditation, our approach to Buddhist practices and study, and our unique teachings on basic goodness, warriorship, and creating enlightened society are at the core of who we are and what we do. Our aspiration is to make the practice of meditation and these teachings as accessible as possible to those who are seeking a connection to a true and genuine path and a culture that believes in collective awakening. We look forward to connecting with the community to explore how we can move forward into the future together.

Please join us in warmly welcoming David, Faradee, and Tara into this new shared Executive Leadership Team role and wish them every success.

The Shambhala Executive Leadership Team

David MacLellan
Finance Director 
Contact: [email protected] 

David is responsible for the financial operations of Shambhala Global Services (SGS), financial reporting to the Board of Directors, North American Shambhala Centre and Group financial consolidation, tax and regulatory filing, insurance, legal, HR, donation receipting, and support for Shambhala Centres and Groups using Xero. David is from and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a proud father of a 6 year old son, who is his heart. He has been a practitioner in Shambhala since 2004. He spent three years living at Dorje Denma Ling, and has also worked in finances for the Nalanda Translation Committee and Kalapa Publications, and other nonprofit health and educational organizations. His education is in Accounting, as well as Anthropology, for which he spent a brief time doing archaeology in Italy working on a Roman villa. He likes to paint and be in the woods as much as possible.

Faradee Rudy
Development Director
Contact: [email protected] 

Faradee is responsible for: donor communications and overall messaging; the annual Shambhala Day campaign; major gifts, planned giving and fundraising events; coordination of ongoing revenue generation trainings for Shambhala leaders; and support of Land Centres and local Centres and Groups with fundraising initiatives. She is the Coordinator of the Shambhala Societal Mirror initiative, and works on other special projects for Shambhala Global Services. She has held high-level leadership positions in not-for-profit organizations over the last 20 years, including the position of Executive Director for the Center for Living Peace in Irvine, California. She was also the Development Director for Shambhala Mountain Center and lived there from 2004-2008. She has been a Shambhala practitioner for over 20 years and lives on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom.

Tara Templin
Director of Community Care and Conduct
Contact: [email protected] 

As the Director of Community Care and Conduct, Ms. Templin supports the community, Shambhala Board, and Process Team in adopting and implementing a Code of Conduct, along with associated trainings. Ms. Templin is also responsible for maintaining a reporting structure for those who have experienced harm, as well as vetting and background checks. Ms. Templin comes to Shambhala with over 15 years of leadership and management experience in nonprofits in Canada and internationally, primarily focused on protection and inclusion of people living in vulnerable situations and/or experiencing social oppression. She has worked as an Executive Director, Community Developer, Training and Programming Specialist, and Project Manager before joining Shambhala. She was first drawn to Shambhala in 2011 and has been “hooked” on Shambhala practice and dharma ever since. She is a volunteer, member, and Council Member for the Ottawa Shambhala Centre. She is fluent in Spanish and French, and the mother of three “crazy and cute” girls.