Rajiv Mehrotra (Trustee-Secretary) has been a student of His Holiness for forty years. He travelled with His Holiness for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and helped establish the Foundation with the prize money. He serves as its Secretary & Trustee.
He was educated at St Stephen’s College and the Universities of Oxford and Columbia. He has authored nine books that have been published in more than 50 editions and languages. These include Mind of The Guru, Thakur – A Biography of Sri Ramakrishna and The Essential Dalai Lama. As an independent documentary filmmaker, commissioning editor and producer, Rajiv Mehrotra has won 32 National Awards in 34 years from the President of India. He serves as the Managing Trustee of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, which has won more than 300 awards worldwide from over 1,700 film festival selections. For decades, he was a familiar face as an anchor on public television in India. He was nominated a Global Leader for Tomorrow by The World Economic Forum at Davos where he twice addressed plenary sessions. He is frequently invited to talk about His Holiness, Buddhism, inter-faith harmony and issues related to the media. Rajiv Mehrotra has served on numerous Committees and Boards and was a Judge for the Templeton Prize for Religion.
Meenakshi Gopinath (Founder-Director, WISCOMP Initiative) founded and leads the WISCOMP initiative of the Foundation as its Director, at the urging of His Holiness.
She is the Chairperson of the prestigious think-tank, the Centre for Policy Research and serves on numerous Boards, including the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica, the Geneva-based Non-Violent Peace Force, the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, as well as several other University boards. She was the first woman member of the National Security Advisory Board in India and served on the Board of the University Grants Commission. For 26 years, Dr. Gopinath was also the Principal of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi – consistently rated the best undergraduate arts college in India.
She has won numerous honours including the Padma Shri from the President of India for her contributions to Education and an Honorary PhD from La Trobe University in Melbourne. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University, Washington DC. Dr. Gopinath has written and lectured across the world on issues of Conflict Transformation, Peacebuilding, Women’s Leadership, Education for Peace, International Relations and Diplomacy. She has authored ‘Pakistan in Transition’ and numerous books, monographs and publications. She is the commissioning editor of the 6 volume series ‘Revisioning and Engendering Security’ and has contributed chapters to edited volumes and several articles on issues of Gandhian thought, Security, Gender, Peacebuilding and Indian politics.
Seema Kakran (Deputy Director, WISCOMP Initiative) taught Political Science and International Relations at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA and in Delhi where she did pre-doctoral work. She has taught at the colleges of Delhi University and holds M.Phil and Masters’ degrees in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Delhi. Her research focuses on gender equality and socio-political conflicts in India.
She has over two decades of experience of designing gender training and conducting research on issues of inclusion and diversity and is trained in Evaluation Methodologies and Public Policy Analysis. At the Foundation, Seema works on public policy issues and social justice embedded in values of justice, equality, gender and democracy. She also offers administrative leadership and support to its programmes.
Tenzin Legmon (Senior Programme Manager) oversees the Foundation’s diverse initiatives focused on nurturing universal ethics, compassion, and social responsibility. He also coordinates the Foundation’s flagship Gurukul programme, an immersive three-week journey that celebrates Tibet’s civilisational heritage in Dharamshala.
Prior to this, he served for three years at Tibet House, the Cultural Centre of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, as Programme and Nalanda Courses Coordinator.
Earlier in his career, he taught science for over five years at the Tibetan Homes School, Rajpur, and the Tibetan Children’s Village, Chauntra. He also worked as Manager and Product Designer/Developer for a London-based Tibetan start-up for nearly two years.
Legmon holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Madras Christian College, Chennai, and has also completed a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS).
Shilpi Shabdita (Programme Consultant) works on programmes related to gender, education for peace, and conflict transformation at the Foundation. Previously, she worked at Heartland Alliance, USA, on migration issues, and consulted with Afghans for Progressive Thinking in Afghanistan on youth-led dialogue initiatives.
She also worked in Uganda with the Justice and Reconciliation Project, where she collated a Community Memory Book documenting war memories and justice needs of former combatants and survivors. She led campaigns for families of disappeared persons and authored reports on regional reconciliation.
Shilpi holds a Master’s degree in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, USA, and a Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi.
Akashleena Chakrabarti is a Senior Programme Manager at the Foundation’s WISCOMP initiative, where she curates sessions for the virtual Book Café series and facilitates interactive spaces of dialogue for young scholars, academicians, and practitioners.
She also coordinates the Foundation’s flagship Academic Fellowships, liaising with Professor Krishna Menon and the senior scholars awarded grants for their research.
Akashleena holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Delhi. Her research interests lie at the intersection of political theory, pedagogy, and performance studies.
Manjri Sewak (Sabbatical) managed the Conflict Transformation Program of the Foundation. She has conducted research and led training on a variety of subjects including compassion and universal values, conflict resolution, multi-track diplomacy, justice and reconciliation, women’s roles in peacebuilding etc. She developed the curriculum for a post-graduate Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding at LSR.
She won the RCSS-NTI (Regional Centre for Strategic Studies- Nuclear Threat Initiative, Colombo) Research Award and the Fulbright Conflict Resolution Scholarship. Manjri is currently on sabbatical working on a PhD in Education for Peace at Jamia Millia Islamia.
Shriya Raina is a Programme Associate at the Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from Ambedkar University Delhi and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Delhi. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked with The Times of India in the editorial and publishing division.
Her research interests include gender, migration, memory, and conflict, with a focus on inclusive knowledge creation.
Foundation Administrative Staff
Kiran Koshy
Admin Officer
Jyoti Rawat
Accounts Officer
Sree Kumari
Exec. Assistant
Devender Kumar
Senior Admin Assistant