Marcy Balter was selected to become Board Chair of the Kripalu Board of Trustees in January 2008. Her interest in health and wellness was awakened through her work as a speech pathologist with special needs children. Discovering a connection between diet, behavior, and sociability problems led Marcy to help create the Student Nutrition Awareness Council (SNAC) in her home community of Weston, Massachusetts. Marcy was trained at Kripalu as a holistic health educator and a professional-level yoga teacher. A dedicated student of adjunctive medicine, Marcy is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in Manhattan and is a certified holistic health counselor. She and her husband Bruce are active in charity work in the Boston area. They are founders of the Wellness Community of Greater Boston, a day facility that offers free psychosocial support services to cancer patients and their family members. Along with serving Kripalu, Marcy is a former trustee of the Citi Performing Arts Center and a proud mother and grandmother.
Maya Breuer is the Director of the Santosha School of Yoga in Providence, Rhode Island, and the driving force behind an important demographic shift at Kripalu and in the world of yoga in general. Like most yoga centers, Kripalu’s guest population has been overwhelmingly white and middle class. As an African American, Maya saw the barriers preventing her community from experiencing Kripalu Center. She started small by raising awareness of how promotional materials created an image that was off-putting to minorities, then launched an entirely new genre of programming, the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color that proved phenomenally powerful and successful. Maya joined the Board, where she initiated Kripalu’s Outreach for Diversity Program that provides stipends for yoga teachers serving diverse populations. A dedicated yogini, Maya lives and teaches in the true spirit of yoga.
Debra Campagna began practicing yoga when she was diagnosed with cancer and credits that practice with her strong recovery. Now a Kripalu-certified yoga teacher, she is working with chronic pain patients and other medically challenged groups while completing Integrated Yoga Therapy training. In 2005, after 20 years in health care, Debra retired from her position as Vice President for External Communications at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Continuing with her community activities, she served as Program Cochair of the 2006 Komen Foundation breast cancer conference in Hartford, Connecticut, and also received the Hartford Courant Woman of Character Award in 2005. Debra says that experiencing a life-threatening illness put everything into a much simpler and more focused perspective. She and her husband, Keith, savor their life in Higganum, Connecticut.
Jerry Colonna’s varied career as writer, editor, educator, organizational consultant, and investor has taken him on an epic journey. Through technology reporting, Jerry found considerable success as a venture capitalist, which led him onto the boards of numerous nonprofits, and back into the classroom of his alma mater, Queens College, where he teaches business leadership. Growing up in the urban environment of New York, Jerry has a real understanding of working-class people and immigrants as the future of this country. He sees his support of public education as helping kids like himself while making the city a better place for everyone. Jerry has been named to Upside Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People of the New Economy, Forbes ASAP’s list of the best venture capitalists in the country, and Worth’s list of the 25 most generous young Americans. Jerry recently took Buddhist vows in the Shambhala tradition, and brings a rich mix of skills and qualities to Kripalu.
Lisette Cooper is CEO and a managing director of Athena Capital Advisors, an investment advisory firm that serves sophisticated private investors. Lisette founded the firm in 1993 to help investors manage complex portfolios using techniques and strategies generally available only to institutional investors. Prior to founding Athena, Lisette served as Manager of Consulting Services for Barra Inc. and spent five years as a Vice President and Senior Strategist for Merrill Lynch. Above and beyond her Harvard PhD, financial expertise, and early experience as an academic scientist, Lisette is a pragmatic forward thinker. A dedicated yoga practitioner, she is eager to help Kripalu realize its potential to play a leading role in the dynamic fields of yoga, health, psychology, and spirituality. Lisette and her husband, Philip, live in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They have five children and are excited to be adopting an 11-year-old named Sarah.
Steve Dinkelaker is Owner and President of American Lease Insurance, an innovative insurance enterprise providing coverage for small-ticket equipment leasing, financing companies, and their customers nationwide. Credited with “inventing” lease insurance, Steve founded the first agency to offer lease insurance in the early 1980s and remains an energetic industry leader. Alongside his business success, Steve is a longtime student of philosophy. His interest in human potential was first kindled in the 1960s and 70s during his undergraduate and graduate years at the University of California, and he has more recently begun exploring yoga and holistic living. Steve is married to Ruah Donnelly, an attorney and author with a lifelong passion for New England gardens. Supporters of various horticultural and conservation organizations, Steve and Ruah live in Conway, Massachusetts, surrounded by a vibrant community of native plants.
Richard Faulds, Board Chair from 2002 to 2008, best known by his Sanskrit name Shobhan, came to Kripalu after serving the underprivileged as a legal services attorney. After a stint in Kripalu’s kitchen washing dishes, Shobhan was put to work in the legal department and gradually acquired the experience needed to become General Counsel, a role he has filled for many years. A faithful practitioner of the teachings that comprise the Kripalu tradition, he authored the Bantam Book Kripalu Yoga: A Guide to Practice On and Off the Mat, along with two other books detailing the teachings of the Kripalu tradition. President from 1998 to 2001, Shobhan was one of many dedicated staff who helped turn Kripalu around after the tumultuous breakup of the residential community. He lives in Virginia with his wife, poet Danna Faulds.
Marcia Feuer is Director of Public Policy at the Mental Health Association in Nassau County, New York, where she works to promote recovery, fight discrimination, and foster a better understanding of mental illness through lobbying and grass-roots advocacy on behalf of children, youth, adults, and seniors. After raising her two children, Marcia returned to school to obtain a law degree but found her work in a municipal law practice to be unfulfilling. Advocacy work has proven to be more aligned with her values of social justice, inclusion, and activism. A deepening relationship with yoga and meditation led her to Kripalu. Marcia and her husband, Jonathan, live in Great Neck, New York, and foresee a gradual transition to their second home in the Berkshires.
Sharon Ginsburg has been working in the nonprofit sector for most of her life. Sharon founded the Young Adult Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, an organization that has grown into an active and sizable organization. As President of the Ginsburg Family Foundation in Orlando, Florida, Sharon is a supporter of the local Jewish Community, as well a fundraiser for many social causes, including Planned Parenthood, Seeds of Peace, and Lakewood Mental Health Center. Above and beyond her philanthropic work, Sharon is a licensed massage therapist with a longstanding interest in healing, massage, personal growth, and spiritual community. Sharon describes her 13-year association with Kripalu as “life altering” and brings a palpable love for the mission to her Board work.
Steve Glick is the founder and former CEO of Applied Energy Management Inc.(AEM), a nationally recognized engineering firm that specializes in the design and execution of energy saving projects in large commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities. Prior to AEM, Steve earned his MEd and PhD in psychology at Temple University and taught in Philadelphia inner city schools. A Kripalu resident during this time, Steve used the Kripalu community as the subject of his doctoral thesis. Steve’s Kripalu experience proved pivotal, spurring him to leaving academia and start AEM, where business results became a testing ground for his personal growth. Steve’s guiding intention in entering business was always to become successful and give back to others. As a Kripalu Board member, Steve is doing just that.
Maxine Grad is a four-term member of Vermont’s House of Representatives, serving as Vice-Chair of the Judiciary Committee for the last six years. Politics is an avenue for Maxine to express her strong sense of stewardship and social responsibility, which also shines in her volunteer service to many nonprofits, schools, and community organizations. Maxine has served in appointed and elected positions on the Vermont Commission on Women (Chair) , Victims Compensation Board, Friends of the Mad River, National Women’s Health Network, and Moretown and Central Vermont Regional Planning Commissions. She currently serves on the boards of the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont and Mayo Healthcare Inc. Maxine has lived in Vermont for 24 years. She practiced law for 10 years after graduating from Vermont Law School, where she received her master’s in environmental law, and Clark University. She is also a trained mediator and an alumnus of Snelling Center for Government, Vermont’s Leadership Institute. Along with all her professional duties, Maxine is the loving mother of three children in Moretown, Vermont, and strives to practice yoga on and off the mat, bringing a sense of unity and grace to her work as a leader and community member.
Sarah Hancock was a software engineer for IBM, Programart, then Compuware, Inc. Leaving the software world allowed Sarah to turn her attention from business to family and philanthropy. Sarah has been supporting good causes since childhood, something that may be a factor in her contagiously upbeat nature. Sarah’s longstanding interest in yoga and meditation was always accompanied by a sense that scientific research would one day establish their efficacy as well as result in wider acceptance of yoga’s practices and philosophical tenets. Learning of the research partnership between Kripalu’s Institute of Extraordinary Living and Harvard University, Sarah immediately signed on as a supporter. Kripalu will soon benefit from Sarah’s financial expertise, honed in her professional work as well as her service to many community nonprofits. Sarah lives with her two children in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Timothy Henry has 20-plus years of national and international experience as a strategy execution and leadership consultant working closely with executives to define and address business challenges. While Timothy’s initial focus was developing practical approaches to execute company strategy, his ongoing study of what makes organizations successful led him to examine organizational culture and identify the factors that support health and superior performance. Timothy’s professional growth continues with his role as a founding member of Conscious Capitalism, a movement of business leaders at the forefront of defining business models for how companies can “do well and do good.” Timothy earned an MA from Oxford University in philosophy, politics, and economics with a specialty in international economics. Timothy’s passion for learning and self-development is not limited to his academic or career interests. He’s been a Kripalu regular for many years and a depth student of many approaches to psychological and spiritual growth. Timothy lives with his young son and daughter in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
Joan Kopperl has been an active public servant in the Berkshires for most of her life. She is a founding director of the Berkshire South Community Center, which opened the doors to its new building in 2002, and a longtime Board Member of the Stockbridge Bowl Association. In the 1970s, Joan chaired the Shadowbrook Committee which successfully fought a state plan to turn Shadowbrook, the building Kripalu now occupies, into a state prison. When she lived in New York City for a time, she served on the Board of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center while earning a master’s degree in clinical social work at New York University and Fordham University. At various times, she has worked for the Berkshire Country Day School, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, served on the Lenox Planning Board, and is presently a trustee of the Robbins de Beaumont Foundation. Joan and her husband, Paul, live in West Stockbridge, just over the hill from Kripalu.
Justin Morreale is a managing partner at Bingham McCutchen, an international law firm of approximately 800 lawyers, and a Harvard Law grad who has practiced corporate law for more than 30 years. Beyond representing technology-based clients, such as software and biomedical companies, he clears out a conference room each week to teach yoga. A long-term practitioner of yoga and meditation, Justin personally has introduced a host of busy Boston professionals to the benefits of yoga over the past eight years, donating class fees to scholarships that allow minority students to become yoga teachers. In 2000, a generous gift from Justin and his wife Adele established Kripalu’s Rainbow Scholarship Fund to help people from all backgrounds and walks of life take Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training. Justin and Adele live in Boston.
Michael Potts, Vice President of the software giant Intuit, is a proven leader, forging the cutting edge of business. As CEO of American Fundware, Michael grew his company into a leading provider of accounting and management software specially designed for nonprofit and government organizations. After negotiating a favorable acquisition, Michael joined the Intuit team as head of Intuit Public Sector Solutions, where he continues to provide business solutions to the public sector. Business is only one aspect of his life. In addition to an outrageous sense of humor, Michael has a deep love for literature, music, and the arts. His passion for learning is currently focused on understanding scientific developments in brain research and refining his skills as a pianist. A longtime meditator, Michael lives in Denver, Colorado.
George White is an award-winning journalist, currently serving as Assistant Director and Editor for the UCLA Center for Communications and Community. George has a long and varied background, working as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, the Detroit Free Press, and U.S. News & World Report. He’s also been a consultant to the Ford Foundation, and a visiting journalist and consultant at the Institute for Justice and Journalism of the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. George has twice won Pulitzer/Spot News awards—for his coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. George’s experience as a reporter led him to search for ways to help disadvantaged communities find their voice and tell their stories in forums that helped them maintain their dignity while also meeting their practical needs. It is this interest that brought George to Kripalu, where he served on the Diversity Committee. In the midst of his busy professional life in Los Angeles, George maintains a regular yoga practice that helps him stay inspired and focused.
