Purpose: The Advisory Council of the Tibetan Community Center of Northern California (TCCNC) consists of community leaders, friends and supporters of the Bay Area Tibetan community, and experts. These individuals collectively help TCCNC and its capital campaign project through various ways including developing contacts, providing expertise in specific areas, bringing a new and different perspective, lending prestige to the project, and providing strategic input towards current and future direction of TCCNC.

Responsibilities: The primary function of this body is to give advice and support to the TCCNC Executive Committee. Members meet at least once a year and have the following responsibilities:

• Review long range goals and annual objectives presented by Executive Committee, provide feedback, and advice
• Evaluate products, services, and programs offered by TCCNC. Provide feedback and advice
• Review financial statements, work plans, and other key materials. Provide feedback and advice
• Assist with the fundraising efforts of TCCNC
• Spend a few hours consulting one-to-one with one or more Executive Committee members
• Give expert advice on specific areas: real estate, legal compliance, funding, marketing, etc.

Advisory Council Members

Dean Alper
Dean Alper practices business and insurance litigation with Alper & McCulloch in San Francisco. Mr. Alper and his firm are a-v peer rated (highest rating) by Martindale-Hubbell and are honored by the Martindale-Hubbell Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Tibet Justice Center, Wisdom in Action, and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. A member of The Explorer's Club, Mr. Alper formerly worked as a guide and studied Buddhist philosophy in India and Nepal.

Barbara Banks
Barbara Banks is the Director of Marketing and New Trip Development for Wilderness Travel, one of the leading adventure travel companies in the U.S. With 16 years of experience with the company, she has traveled throughout the world, from Alaska to Antarctica. Prior to her work with Wilderness Travel, Ms. Banks was a documentary filmmaker, researching, producing, and editing films for broadcast on PBS and cable. Her documentaries include "Tibet In Exile", winner of 14 international awards with distribution to schools, universities and community groups throughout the US and Canada. She has traveled throughout Central and Eastern Tibet, as well as several trips in northern India and Nepal.

Julia Shepardson
Julia Shepardson worked in Nepal vaccinating children for the Britain Nepal Medical Trust and lived and worked in a Tibetan refugee settlement. She worked as a volunteer for the Nepal Red Cross building water systems in remote villages. She was regional Director of the Tibetan US Resettlement Project resettling Tibetan Refugees in the San Francisco Bay Area. She owned and operated a Tibetan Rug import company and retail store. She was Executive Director of Survivors International, a San Francisco organization for the treatment and support of victims of torture from around the world. She assisted in the creation of the Iraqi Community Association in the Bay Area. In 2001 she was honored as an Unsung Hero of Compassion by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. She served as executive director of the America Nepal Medical Foundation. Recently in 2006, she worked as an international interpreter for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal.

Yangchen Surkhang
Yangchen Surkhang is an East Bay resident with many years of experience working in the Tibetan community. Mrs. Surkang served as the Sponsorship Administrator at the Tibetan Children's Village School in India (1988-1991). She was an Executive Working Committee member of the Tibetan Women Association (1991-1995). She has also worked as an Outreach and Resource Coordinator for Survivors International, San Francisco (1998-2003). Mrs. Surkhang is currently working on a Tibetan cook book. She has Bachelors from the Cleveland State University with a major in clinical social work.

Pema Tashi
Pema Tashi completed his Shastri degree from the Tibetan Institute of Higher Studies in Varanasi, India, in 1980. In the same year, he volunteered to teach community school at the Tibetan Crafts Community (TCC), Tashi Jong in Himachal Pradesh. Later he joined the TCC administration as liaison for the community with various western aid organizations for 4 years before migrating to United States in 1985. Mr. Tashi also has seven years experience of working as Graduate Admissions Coordinator at Stanford University. He is also a former board member of the Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC). Mr. Tashi currently runs an import business based here in Bay Area.

David Gordon Tyndall
David Gordon Tyndall and his wife, Margo Tyndall, are co-directors of the Tibetan Refugee Children's Project and Tibetan Refugee Revolving Fund. Mr. Tyndall was born in Bangalore, India to English missionary parents and became a U.S. citizen in 1948. His career has included serving as Assistant Professor at Cornell University (1947-49); Lecturer in Business Administration at U.C. Berkeley (1979-83); and Senior Partner at Tyndall-Salcedo Investment Advisory Services (1983-96). He has an M.A. in Economics & Political Science from the University of Toronto, and received his Ph.D. in Economics from U.C. Berkeley in 1948.

Jigme Yugay
Jigme Yugay was born near Karze in Eastern Tibet. He spent his early years in Kalimpong and went to college at the St. Joseph's in Darjeeling before immigrating to the US in 1975. Mr. Yugay was a founding member of Bay Area Friends of Tibet (BAFoT) and its first President. The organization under his leadership played a major role in welcoming and supporting the Tibetans who immigrated to the Bay Area under the U.S. Resettlement Project in the early nineties.