Board
Belinda Griswold is a communications strategist for conservation groups – primarily focused on climate change – throughout the US. She is also a lawyer and mediator, and a longtime Dharma practitioner in the Tibetan tradition. Belinda has worked with BPF as a BASE group leader, board member and volunteer consultant for many years. Belinda has coordinated local and statewide political campaigns, and has also served as a board member of Tara Mandala, as fundraising director for Nalandabodhi, and as the USA national fundraising director for HH Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje. She brings a deep passion for the integration of spiritual practice and spiritual activism to her work for BPF. She lives in Seattle with her husband, daughter, two pit bulls, and an old cat.
Anchalee Kurutach was born and raised in Thailand but has lived in San Francisco since 1988. Anchalee has been involved with refugee and immigrant work for over twenty years. She taught and supervised teachers in a refugee camp in Thailand in the mid 1980s In the U.S. she was a director of a childcare training and job placement program, a domestic violence education outreach project, and a refugee resettlement and information & referral program. She also coordinated outreach education and support services for survivors of torture. Over the past few years, Anchalee has worked as a multi-language advocate for survivors of domestic violence at a battered women’s shelter in San Francisco. Anchalee is also on the executive committee of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists where grassroots organizations, groups, and individuals come together to connect and collaborate on projects and efforts for peace and justice around the world.
Kathleen Rose is honored to be part of BPF. She is a teacher, integrative wellness practitioner, and Zen student living in Boise, Idaho. In the past, she has been involved with the San Diego Catholic Worker, helping to operate a soup kitchen for the homeless and participating in peace and justice activities. She is currently working with young people teaching mindfulness. She is married to Chris Slymon and considers the Bay area ofCalifornia a second home as she travels here frequently to take part in activities at the San Francisco Zen Center and other practice communities.
Chris Wilson has been practicing Buddhism since 1967, primarily in the Harada-Yasutani lineage of Zen Buddhism. He has studied under Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Genpo Merzel Roshi, Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, Robert Aitken Roshi, Joseph Bobrow Roshi, Joan Sutherland Sensei, John Tarrant Roshi, and David Weinstein Sensei. A lay practitioner and family man with four grown children, Mr. Wilson has been an attorney, investment banker and software executive. He has long been active in the U.S. civil rights movement, including work with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1964. He began his professional career as an Assistant Public Defender in Oakland, California. He later entered private practice, where he specialized in employment discrimination law, and served as Consulting Attorney and Trainer for the American Indian Lawyer Training Program, a national American Indian-run non-profit group. He has a JD from Yale Law School and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business Administration.
Scott Woodbury is a lawyer with a background in public policy and a history of
social and environmental activism and stewardship. He is a student of
the Buddha and other wisdom traditions. He is currently working with
community and faith based groups to end the death penalty in Idaho.
His favorite author is Wendell Berry. He lives in Boise, Idaho with
Michele Tae and a standard poodle, Zia La Rue.
social and environmental activism and stewardship. He is a student of
the Buddha and other wisdom traditions. He is currently working with
community and faith based groups to end the death penalty in Idaho.
His favorite author is Wendell Berry. He lives in Boise, Idaho with
Michele Tae and a standard poodle, Zia La Rue.
Rev. Michaela O’Connor Bono is a resident priest and co-leader of the Mid City Zen sangha in New Orleans. She took ordination in 2010 and has been practicing Zen for almost ten years, having done most of her monastic training at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and Green Gulch farm, which are part of the San Francisco Zen Center. Rev. Michaela is involved in prison meditation and chaplaincy work and she is on the Board of Sakyadhita USA, a branch of the International Association of Buddhist Women.
