Meet the new CEO

In September, the Dalai Lama Center welcomed Lynn Green to the organization. As the Center's new President and CEO, Lynn brings with her a passion for teaching and lifelong learning, social emotional development of children and youth, organizational and social change and community building. She has worked as an educator and administrator in public education for over forty years. (read her full bio)

We sat down with Lynn and asked her a few questions about her goals and expectations with the DLC.

Dalai Lama Center: As the new CEO of the Dalai Lama Center, what excites you the most about this opportunity?

Lynn Green: It is an incredible privilege to join a team and network of people who are passionate about promoting the Dalai Lama’s universal values of peace, compassion and
kindness and the idea of “educating the heart” deeply resonates for me personally and professionally. As an educator I have always understood that we must attend to the social-emotional learning and development of children and youth. It creates the foundation for our young people to thrive and to truly engage in deep and meaningful learning. I have seen the significance of this in the students I have worked with in schools, and in the health of the school communities and families that serve their learning and growth. And of course, this applies to adults as well. Connecting our thinking and intellectual understandings to our emotions, beliefs and subsequent actions can have profound impact on a personal level and on the world around us. So, I am very excited to have this opportunity to offer leadership and support in further developing programs that are intended to educate the hearts of young people and adults.

DLC: British Columbia is the home of some of the leading researchers in social emotional learning. What role do you see the Dalai Lama Center taking in advancing this field even further?

LG: This leading edge research is having significant impact on our understanding and practices in fostering healthy growth and development of children and youth. It is informing families, communities and educators of the significant factors that impact childrens’ well-being. The DLC can play an important role in bringing academics, practitioners, communities leaders and families together to deeply understand what the research is telling us and to draw on our own understandings about childrens’ social emotional learning. We can be a catalyst for creating conditions where children will develop their capacities to be compassionate, caring and kind citizens in their homes, neighbourhoods and the world.

DLC: What can people expect to see from some of the Dalai Lama Center's programs in the near future?

LG: Over the past five years, a variety of programs have emerged from some of the highly impactful events that DLC has organized in Vancouver. For instance, the Dalai Lama Fellows Program is currently under development and expects to launch during the 2011-12 academic year. His Holiness wholeheartedly supports this program which is intended to develop an international learning community of exemplary "compassion in action” practitioners.  

Another program is working with researchers in developing a heart-mind index that will identify domains of social emotional learning of children and provide a snapshot of the well being of BC’s young people as they enter kindergarten. And our Speakers Series will continue to host dialogues which focus on topics related to our core programs and the Dalai Lama.