Biographies

Bob Agoglia has been attending IMS retreats for almost 30 years and has been the organization’s Executive Director since May, 2006. His experience includes over 25 years in leadership positions in the public and private non-profit sectors. For the twelve years prior to beginning his tenure at IMS, he was a founding principal of Fazzi Associates, Inc., a national consulting firm that serves home health, hospice and human service organizations.

Guy Armstrong has practiced insight meditation for over 30 years, including training as a Buddhist monk in Thailand with Ajahn Buddhadasa. He began teaching in 1984 and has led retreats worldwide. He is an IMS guiding teacher and a governing teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He serves as the Chair of the Board’s Ethics Committee.

Rosemary Blake, with over 30 years experience in leadership positions in the health care industry, is the Executive Director of the Health Services Retirement Plan in New York City. She has had a spiritual practice for the past 23 years and hosts a weekly meditation group in her home. She is also a senior facilitator of the International Black Summit, a non-profit that produces events to provide participants an opportunity to bring their visions for the black community and the world into being.

Christina Feldman is a co-founder of Gaia House in England and an IMS guiding teacher. Following training in the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, she has taught meditation since 1976 and has an ongoing commitment to the long-term retreat program at Gaia House. Her books include Compassion, Silence and The Buddhist Path to Simplicity.

Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder and guiding teacher of IMS's Retreat Center and Forest Refuge programs. He has been teaching insight meditation and lovingkindness retreats worldwide since 1974 and in 1989 helped establish The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. He is the author of A Heart Full of Peace, One Dharma, The Experience of Insight and Insight Meditation.

Ted Langevin began meditation in 1997. He recently retired after working for 17 years as the CFO for the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, which focuses on the prevention of alcoholism, drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. For six years, he volunteered as the Treasurer and Board member of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC. He has now served as President of the IMS Board for almost two years and, prior to that, served as the IMS Treasurer for two years. He is also the Chair of the Board’s Facilities Committee.

Narayan Liebenson Grady, an IMS guiding teacher, is also a guiding teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center where she has taught since 1985. She is the author of When Singing, Just Sing: Life As Meditation and a regular contributor to Buddhadharma magazine.

Allyson Pimentel is a psychologist, yoga teacher and long-time practitioner of insight meditation. She serves as Director of Training of the Mind-Body Program at Bellevue Hospital Center and is a clinical instructor of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. She is a dedicated meditation student at New York Insight Meditation Center and teaches meditation and yoga at Om Factory Yoga and Wellness Center.

Martin Ravin has been in Private Equity since 1983. He co-founded and serves as CEO of Harvest Investors Management and is Chairman of the Board of Harvest Strategy Group. He earned his B.S. in Business Management from Long Island University and has attended Executive Management Programs at Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia. He has been practicing meditation for twelve years, the last nine at IMS.

John Ryan is the principal of Development Cycles, a consulting firm that specializes in land use and affordable housing planning for New England communities. He is a Harvard Graduate who has been attending retreats at IMS since 1997. John serves as the Chair of the Board’s Governance Committee.

Sharon Salzberg, a co-founder of IMS and BCBS, has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1971 and has been teaching worldwide since 1974. She is an IMS guiding teacher and author of The Kindness Handbook, Faith, and Lovingkindness.

Rodney Smith has been teaching insight meditation since 1984. He is a former Buddhist monk and worked in hospice care for 17 years. The author of Lessons From the Dying, he is the founding and guiding teacher for the Seattle Insight Meditation Society and an IMS guiding teacher.

Linda Spink started her insight meditation practice in 2005 and began attending retreats at IMS in 2006.  As a senior consultant with TRG, an International Consulting company, she provides executive coaching and assists public and private sector clients in strategic planning, performance improvement and capacity building training.  She began her international career as a Peace Corp volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa and has traveled and worked in over 40 countries.   
 
Francine Thomas has been attending retreats at IMS for twelve years and has 25 years experience in Human Resources in education and banking. For the past six years, her primary business has been investing in and managing property. She has served on numerous Boards including United Way and is presently chairperson of the 126 96th  Street Coop in New York City where she resides. 

Steve Tuttleman, a co-founder of SeaCap Ventures, is president of Instar Capital, a New York City investment company that specializes in acquisitions of privately held middle market operating companies. He is on the advisory boards of Hirtle, Callaghan, LLR Equity, Performance, Inc., and the Tuttleman Family Foundation. A graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Law School of NYU, he serves as the Board’s Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee.

DaRa Williams is the Program Associate for the Wellness Program at The Garrison Institute. She has a strong background of training and work in the arena of diversity, trauma and oppression psychology, which includes understanding racism and all the other ‘isms’ in our culture. She has attended numerous retreats at IMS over the last ten years.

Carol Wilson began meditation practice in 1971. She has studied with a variety of teachers in Asia and the West, including time as a Buddhist nun in Thailand. An IMS guiding teacher, she has been offering insight and lovingkindness meditation retreats around the world since 1986, including the IMS Three-Month course.