Our Teams
The Buddhist Center, Thubten Norbu Ling, is one of the 160+ organizations affiliated with the FPMT and is a religious nonprofit corporation, registered in New Mexico.
The Executive Director – known in the FPMT organization as the Center Director and appointed by and reports to the center board of directors.
A team of managers, some of whom also serve as officers of the corporation as required by the state of New Mexico, oversee the various departments of the center.
Each department in turn has its own team, some of whom are paid but most of whom are volunteers.
Our four main teams these days are Spiritual Program, which is organizing our curriculum of some 20 classes a week, Hospitality, which has a team of dedicated Zoom hosts, and Marketing and Finances.
Director
Nina Highfill
Nina has two decades of international business experience gaining leadership skills honed over her career in the US and Switzerland. She has a passion for tackling big issues by building diverse and harmonious teams where individuals can collaborate, thrive, and have fun together in order to achieve an organization’s goals, which will be an asset for The Buddhist Center and our members. She and her husband, Jeff, have relocated back to the US from Switzerland and currently live in Crestone, CO. Nina plans to grow our center by building community connections, attracting new members, and continuing to offer a robust spiritual program to our global community.
About
Management
Ven. Losang Dondrub
SPC and Head of Education
Ven. Dondrub began studying the Dharma at Drepung Loseling Institute in Atlanta in 2008. He took refuge vows from Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa in 2011 and novice monk ordination vows in 2013. For seven years, Ven. Dondrub served FPMT’s Guhyasamaja Center in Washington DC as spiritual program coordinator and on the board of directors. Since early 2021 he has been working on the spiritual program at The Buddhist Center Thubten Norbu Ling where he also teaches and leads meditation. Recently, Ven. Dondrub moved from Washington DC to Santa Fe to become our new center manager.
AboutNina Highfill
Executive Director and Head of Operations and Head of Marketing & PR
Nina has two decades of international business experience gaining leadership skills honed over her career in the US and Switzerland. She has a passion for tackling big issues by building diverse and harmonious teams where individuals can collaborate, thrive, and have fun together in order to achieve an organization’s goals, which will be an asset for The Buddhist Center and our members. She and her husband, Jeff, have relocated back to the US from Switzerland and currently live in Crestone, CO. Nina plans to grow our center by building community connections, attracting new members, and continuing to offer a robust spiritual program to our global community.
AboutVenerable Shankha Mitra
Assistant Director
Venerable Shankha Mitra (Lobsang Phuntsog) has been a Buddhist practitioner for 30 years and has been an FPMT registered teacher since 2009. He has attended many teachings and retreats with his root gurus Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Renè Feusi, and lam rim, tantra and mahamudra retreats with great masters such as Choden Rinpoche, Kirti Tsenchab Rinpoche and Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa. He received ordination from Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa in 2025. A retired computer scientist, he now spends his time in retreat in Santa Fe.
AboutOfficers of the Corporation
Ven. Losang Dondrub
Spiritual Program Manager
Matt Bunkowski
Treasurer
Nina Highfill
Executive Director
Nina has two decades of international business experience gaining leadership skills honed over her career in the US and Switzerland. She has a passion for tackling big issues by building diverse and harmonious teams where individuals can collaborate, thrive, and have fun together in order to achieve an organization’s goals, which will be an asset for The Buddhist Center and our members. She and her husband, Jeff, have relocated back to the US from Switzerland and currently live in Crestone, CO. Nina plans to grow our center by building community connections, attracting new members, and continuing to offer a robust spiritual program to our global community.
AboutNancy Savoia
Secretary
Board of Directors
Ven. Losang Dondrub
Ven. Dondrub began studying the Dharma at Drepung Loseling Institute in Atlanta in 2008. He took refuge vows from Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa in 2011 and novice monk ordination vows in 2013. For seven years, Ven. Dondrub served FPMT’s Guhyasamaja Center in Washington DC as spiritual program coordinator and on the board of directors. Since early 2021 he has been working on the spiritual program at The Buddhist Center Thubten Norbu Ling where he also leads classes and meditations.
AboutMatt Bunkowski
Matt works in the investment management industry and also co-owns the Wild Birds Unlimited Santa Fe store with his father. Matt joined Thubten Norbu Ling’s board of directors in 2019. He is passionate about community engagement and is actively involved in other non-profits including our sister FPMT center in California, Land of Medicine Buddha, as well Cooking with Kids in Santa Fe, Museum Foundation of New Mexico, and Kalamazoo College.
AboutDalglish Chew
Nina Highfill
Nina has two decades of international business experience gaining leadership skills honed over her career in the US and Switzerland. She has a passion for tackling big issues by building diverse and harmonious teams where individuals can collaborate, thrive, and have fun together in order to achieve an organization’s goals, which will be an asset for The Buddhist Center and our members. She and her husband, Jeff, have relocated back to the US from Switzerland and currently live in Crestone, CO. Nina plans to grow our center by building community connections, attracting new members, and continuing to offer a robust spiritual program to our global community.
AboutCharlene Wunderlich
Charlene has been an active volunteer and member at our center since 2007, after attending her first teaching with Ven. Robina Courtin. Charlene has served as the Dharma shop manager, the Sunday morning meditation leader, and umdze for Geshe Sherab’s classes on Sundays. She has served on our board of directors since 2007. Charlene and her cat, Snow, regularly attend lots of classes at our center.
AboutMerry Colony
Disciple since 1979. First Kopan course March 1980. Ordained Dec 1980 (disrobed 4 years later). Director of Doris Pamo monastery when nun. 1986-1992 Based at Cherok in Solo Kumbu, Nepal. 1992-1995 Co-director then director of the Maitreya Project, India. 1998-2000 Director Lotsawa Rinchen Sangpo translator program Dharamsala, India. 2000-2012 Director FPMT Education Services at IOF, Taos NM then Portland OR. 2014-2016 Project Manager Buddha Amitabha Pureland, WA. 2016-2018 Director Milarepa Center. 2021-2024 Long retreat Crestone, CO
AboutEducation
Robert Fletcher
Assistant SPC
Bill Michener
Event Planning Manager and Movie Program Lead
Mary M.
Ritual Leader
Dawn Furlong
Teacher Care Manager
Christopher Harris
Teacher Care Manager
Xela Thomas
Zoom Host Coordinator
Rick Voltin
Audio/Video Production Manager
Julie Nagel
Children's Program Lead
Marketing and Public Relations
Isabela Acebal
Marketing Director
Isabela Acebal is a marketing manager, writer, artist, digital nomad, and yoga teacher. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of California, Santa Barbara and has been traveling ever since. Isa loves to explore not only the external world but also various spiritual traditions and the inner workings of human nature.
AboutSamantha Braithwaite
People Care Manager
After attending an in person retreat and falling in love with the welcoming community at TNLSF, Samantha joined the team in 2024. Having a background in management and working as a Personal Development coach, she is excited to bring her skills and love for Tibetan Buddhism with her and help build & nourish our growing community of members.
AboutCris Caltagirone
Dharma Care Program Manager
Cris has worked in international development for thirty years as an education and capacity building specialist. She helped lead TNL’s Dharma Care Group before COVID and is very pleased to support its return for members of TNL in Santa Fe and KTBC in Taos. She has a farm & fruit orchard in Velarde (about 1 hr north of SF).
AboutNancy Savoia
Assistant People Care Manager
Operations
Coral Clark
Grounds Manager and AA Coordinator
Deirdre Mitra
Center Manager
Deirdre spent most of her career as a corporate paralegal working for Silicon Valley law firms. Her first exposure to FPMT came during a retreat at Tushita Institute (Dharmsala) in 1996. She considers herself a “karma yogi” because she is action-oriented. A lot of her practice involves caring for her rescue donkeys and horses. She is a strong proponent of finding whichever day-to-day dharma that works for you - mucking stalls can be meditative! Center Director is a perfect fit for Deirdre since she has a “can-do” creative approach to problem solving whether it involves automatic door openers or malfunctioning soap dispensers
AboutTechnology
Lauren Ross
Systems Technology Management
Louis DeSantis
Webmaster
Benjamin Bowles
Assistant Webmaster
Frank Meola
Digital Experience Manager
Finance
Cynthia G.
Finance Operations
Cynthia worked as an external auditor for a few years before embarking on a career in Information Systems. After three decades, she left her leadership position in a non-profit organization to dedicate more time to her Dharma practice and volunteer work. She previously volunteered as a webmaster at the Guhyasamaja Center in the Washington DC area and assisted with their fundraising efforts. Among other things, she loves exploring the endless wonders of nature, especially birds.
AboutRommy Fisher
Fundraising Manager
Zoom Hosts
Xela Thomas
Zoom Host Coordinator
Mary Camille
Zoom Host
Louis DeSantis
Zoom Host
Bill Michener
Zoom Host
Jai West
Zoom Host
Tee Joy
Zoom Host
We would also like to thank our shyer team members not pictured:
Janice Gorman, Teacher Care
Jolana Janisova, Bookkeeping
Mary M, Zoom Host
Stephen Azuma, Zoom Host
Som Pourfarzaneh, Zoom Host