Board of Directors

Geshe Michael Roach, Spiritual Director

Geshe Michael Roach is the founder and spiritual director of Diamond Mountain. He was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and was raised in Phoenix, AZ. As a student at Princeton University he concentrated his studies in religion and ancient Sanskrit and Russian language. He met his teacher Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin in 1972 in the U.S. and studied very closely with him after that time. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1983 and is entirely fluent in the spoken and written Tibetan language. After approximately 20 years of daily intensive study with Khen Rinpoche in New Jersey and at Sera Mey monastery in Southern India, Geshe Michael received the Geshe degree in 1995 (akin to a Doctorate of Divinity). He has also studied extensively at Sera Mey with Geshe Thubten Rinchen, one of the great living scripture teachers.

Lama Christie McNally, Spiritual Director

Lama Christie McNally has studied under eminent Tibetan lamas in India and Nepal, and is a translator of Tibetan and Sanskrit. She is a co-author of The Tibetan Book of Yoga, The Essential Yoga Sutras, How Yoga Works, and King of the Dharma, and author of The Tibetan Book of Meditation. A member of the first Diamond Mountain 3-Year Retreat, Lama Christie McNally has spent over a decade studying and teaching meditation, Buddhist philosophy, and yoga. Along with Geshe Michael, Lama Christie McNally has taught in over a dozen nations to hundreds of thousands of people. At Diamond Mountain Lama Christie McNally taught the Tantric Course Series and Bok Jinpa: Setting Your Meditation on Fire, both of which courses are the first of their kind ever to have been taught outside of Asia. Lama Christie is one of the world's premier female teachers of Buddhism. She is currently undertaking her second 3-Year Retreat, of which she is also retreat director.

Rob Ruisinger, President

Rob served as Creative Director with a marketing group that helped take a high-tech start-up, Artisoft Inc, from $300,000 a month to $4,000,000 a month in under two years. For the next 20 years, he worked in philanthropy helping a wide variety of non-profit organizations conceive, write and design marketing, fundraising and educational materials. He has worked closely with Geshe Michael and Lama Christie to design several books: King of the Dharma: The Illustrated Life of Je Tsongkapa, Teacher of the First Dalai Lama; The Tibetan Book of Meditation; and Two as One: A Journey to Yoga. He did the prototype illustrations for Karmic Management. A long-time spiritual practitioner, Rob has completed the advanced Buddhist studies program at Diamond Mountain University along with multiple 30-day and shorter retreats, both solitary and group. He lives with his wife Donna at Diamond Mountain where he serves as director, financial manager, and caretaker.

Nicole Davis, Vice-President

I came to Diamond Mountain in 2006 to help create a place that exists for no other purpose than to help people realize the very highest spiritual goals. I was fortunate to serve as Volunteer Coordinator, and help design and build many of the retreat cabins that are now being used for 3-Year Retreat. Currently I serve as Operations Manager, a constant chance for gaining practical skills on the spot, and for helping provide a physical place where the Buddhist teachings that have helped me so much in my life can continue to thrive. My husband Brian and I are finishing up building a straw bale house at Diamond Mountain where we hope to continue to serve for many years to come.

After graduating from Tufts University in 1999, I worked for the New England Aquarium and Citizen Schools in Boston, leading science programs for urban youth, and taught high school French, Spanish, and geology at a small Quaker boarding school. In 2004 I received a Master’s degree in geology from Montana State University in Bozeman. I authored and co-authored several publications about the glacial geomorphology and geochronology of eastern Montana and the Himalaya of Tibet, participated in field expeditions to study the glaciers of Mount Everest and the Mount Meru area of Tibet, and processed rock samples in state-of-the-art hazardous materials laboratory facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Cincinnati, producing some of the oldest ages yet acquired for glacial deposits in the Himalaya using cosmogenic radionuclide dating.

I was fortunate at a very young age, thanks to the unexpected death of my Dad who was very close to me, to recognize that all of the adventures and accomplishments were not in and of themselves an effective way to make the world a better place and consequently lead a happy life. I was even more fortunate still, thanks to the appearance of my first Buddhist teacher and mentor Morgan Williams, to understand that the way to pursue happiness and fulfillment is simply to help provide that for others. That’s an opportunity Diamond Mountain gives me every day.

Venerable Jigme Palmo, Director of Retreats

Ven Jigme Palmo has been a Buddhist nun for 18 years, and has been a student of Geshe Michael since he started teaching ACI courses. She taught middle way philosophy at Diamond Mountain University, and has been director of Diamond Mountain Retreat Center since it started in 1999. One of her hobbies is recording teachings and putting them on the various websites. She also likes animals and plants, but realistically spends most of her time in front of a computer. She tends to be busy, but isn't fierce, so you can usually approach without fear.

Charae Sachanandani

Scott Vacek, Secretary

Scott Vacek grew up in the Chicago suburbs and knew at an early age that he wanted to work in television. He went to work in his first studio in Chicago in 1980 and later moved to Detroit from where he did extensive newsgathering work for ABC News and CNN. After almost 30 years in the business his long-time boss encouraged him to follow his heart and leave to study full-time at Diamond Mountain. In 2007 he moved to Tucson and immediately begin traveling with Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally to help organize worldwide tour events. While working on an event in Tel Aviv in 2008, he met his wife Orit, and they were married at Diamond Mountain in December of 2010. They now live on the land, serving as full-time volunteer caretakers for the great retreat. Orit is a registered nurse and serves as medical coordinator for all retreatants. Scott serves in many capacities including event producer, fundraiser, publicist, carpenter and delivery driver...at Diamond Mountain you do whatever it takes. They both feel deeply blessed and fortunate to have been in a place in life to allow them to make the three-year commitment to serve the retreat as volunteers....it's the best job in the world.

Tim Muehlhausen

Evan Osherow

Evan began his life at Diamond Mountain in 2004 as a volunteer and student. Soon after, Evan began designing and teaching courses on Buddhist philosophy, logic and debate, and Tibetan language. In 2005 Evan was invited to study at Sera Mey Monastery in South India – the modern home of Tibetan Buddhist monasticism. Over five years he made five journeys to India to study with the great Lamas of the lineage including Geshe Dawa, Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Geshe Thubten Rinchen, and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. In 2006 Evan was appointed Diamond Mountain Debate Master, overseeing Diamond Mountain's semiweekly debate ground. In 2010 Evan was a member of Diamond Mountain University's first graduating class, having finished six years of studies and successfully completed more than 50 advanced courses.