Update on the New Director Search
December 9, 2013
Good morning! As you know, I will be completing my three-year term on Shambhala Day, March 2, 2014. The Center has been in the process of finding a new center director and it has been going fantastically! I wanted to use this blog post to update on the process thus far:
- A sangha-wide call for nominations went out early this fall, and eight names were submitted. After contacting each nominee, there were three that agreed to proceed with the application process: Mr. Nicholas Keel, Ms. Palmer McLean, and Mr. Robert Scott.
- I contacted regional leadership, including our acharya, Moh Hardin, to create a clear and transparent process in finalizing a formal recommendation by the center governing council to submit to the Sakyong for approval. The process was finalized, presented to the council, agreed upon, and is detailed below.
- The council gathered on November 17 and selected an interview committee comprised of myself and two other council members: Mr. David Sanor, and Ms. Jackie Snyder. This committee of three was to meet with each candidate for an in-person interview and formulate a report to the full council for later discussion and final recommendation.
- The full council also briefly discussed each candidate’s virtues and obstacles so that any particular issues could be brought to each candidate for discussion.
- As of this Sunday, all candidates have been interviewed by the committee and notes have been sent to Regional Director, Mr. Bobby Hudgins, for review.
- In the next few days, Mr. Hudgins will call each candidate for a brief interview and discussion.
- Once these discussions are complete, the interview committee, along with the regional director, will have a video conference about the candidates and formulate a recommendation to bring to the council.
- The council will then meet to hear the report from the committee.
- As the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche designed, the council will come to a general consensus (no voting) as to whom to nominate to the Kalapa Court and the Sakyong.
- We will then wait for the Sakyong’s response 🙂
This is quite exciting and no matter whom is chosen, we are going to have a fantastic center director who genuinely wants to serve our community well.
Stay tuned! As always, please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Phil Castillo
Center Director
