BOARD CANDIDATE PROFILES 2024
Katie Camarena holds a Bachelor of International Studies from University of New South Wales and Graduate Certificate in International Health from Curtin University.
She has worked in digital communications at Greenpeace Australasia, Inspired Adventures and Union Aid-APHEDA. She had also worked at the Burma Children Medical Fund based on the Thai-Burma Border.
She has been a volunteer with Australia Tibet Council since 2000 and worked in the ATC National Office between 2003 and 2007. She first joined the Board in 2014 and was the Co-chair for the last two years.
Jonathon Cebon
Professor Jonathan Cebon was a foundation executive member of ATC in 1990. During ATC’s early years he was a contributor and editor of ATC News, a member of the organising committee for the 1991 Australian tour of HH the Dalai Lama, and actively participated in the lobbying activities of ATC including; seeking the humanitarian immigration intake of Tibetans into Australia, hosting the Australian visits of Kalon Tash Wangdi and Representative Pema Gyalpo, and Lhasang Tsering of Tibetan Youth Congress.
He participated in the meeting between HH the Panchen Lama and community members in Melbourne in 1986 and was previously a medical officer at Delek Hospital in Dharamsala and Sonam Ling Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Leh, Ladakh. In 2022, Jonathan re-joined the ATC Board.
Sonam Choedon
Sonam is a community leader and a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) with over 17 years of experience in different areas of financial management, including financial governance.
Born in a Tibetan refugee community in South India, Sonam was raised and educated at the Tibetan Children’s Village school. She moved to Australia as a young woman, two decades ago and pursued higher education at the Australian National University. She began her career in accounting and finance at the Australian Council for International Development and later worked as an accountant for the charity Anglicare. She joined the Australian Public Services in 2013.
Sonam is committed to and is passionate about empowering the community. She sits on the Boards of both Tibet Information Office and Tibet Culture Centre, Australia. Previously, Sonam has served as the President of ACT Tibetan Community and as the Secretary of the Australian National Tibetan Community Association.
Yama Choezom
Yama was born in Tibet and grew up in India, attending the Tibetan Children’s Village School. She has a BA, LLB from India and has worked at a Tibetan Law firm in India as an Associate.
Yama moved to Australia in 2017 to complete a Master of Laws (LLM) at the University of Melbourne. She is an admitted solicitor and currently practising as a litigation lawyer at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
Yama previously worked in private practices in the areas of immigration, construction and not-for-profit at law firms in Sydney, from boutique to top-tier law firms.
Karen Collier
Karen is a media and communications specialist with a passion for working with under-served communities. Her connection with the Tibetan community dates back to the early 2000’s.
Since 2004, Karen has provided support in various capacities to the Office of Tibet in Australia and the Tibetan Community of New South Wales. Karen holds a Masters of Peace and Conflict studies from the University of Sydney and brings over a decade of experience working in the health and multicultural sectors with people from refugee backgrounds, most recently within The Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT).
Inspired by the Dalai Lama’s visionary dialogues between Tibetan Buddhism and Western Science, she is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in Psychotherapy and counselling with specialisation in traumatic stress studies.
As a human rights defender, she is firmly committed to increasing trauma literacy in the global media and supporting the Tibetan people to realise their right to self-determination.
Tenzin Lobsang Khangsar
Tenzin Lobsang Khangsar joined the Board in 2020 and was the Co-chair for the last two years. He currently works as an interpreter with Home Affairs (Immigration), alongside being a home loan consultant at Star Lending Pvt. Ltd. and bi-cultural worker at Co-health. He has also worked in IT, childcare and as a social worker in Melbourne. He is volunteering as an advisor at Victoria Multicultural Commission, Co-health and MiCare.
Previously in India, he served as the president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Baroda. He has also served as both the vice-president (2013-2015) and president (2017-2019) of the Tibetan Community of Victoria.
Lobsang completed his schooling at the Tibetan Children’s Village, Ladakh and Dharamsala, India. He has a Masters in Economics from M.S. University and Master in Business (SAP) from Victoria University, Australia.
Sonam Paljor
Sonam Paljor joined the Board in 2014. He works with the NSW Health Department.
Before moving to Australia, he had worked at the Department of Health at Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala.
Sonam was born at the Dolanji Tibetan refugee settlement in northern India. He has a Bachelor of Science from Punjab University and a Masters in International Public Health from Sydney University.
Janet Rice
I am pleased to be able to nominate for a position on the Board of the Australian Tibet Council. I have been a supporter of freedom and justice for Tibet and Tibetans for many many years,but it has been during my time as an Australian Greens Senator that I have become particularly active for the cause.
I gave many speeches in the Parliament about Tibet in this time; was a co-chair of the All party parliamentary friendship group for Tibet (where I worked closely with ATC), and had the great privilege of being part of an ATC and TIO organised delegation to Dharamsala last year which included the huge privilege of an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
I also attended the World Parliamentary Congress on Tibet in 2021, and am attending an international Tibet meeting in Tokyo next month.
I would bring a decade of expertise as a Member of Parliament to the board; my professional skills as a facilitator with particular expertise in helping groups work effectively and collaboratively together and decades of experience working with a wide range of NGOs, including environment groups , the Victorian Local Governance Association and a range of local community groups.
Plus my experience over the last 30 years as one of the founders of the Greens in Victoria who has been involved from the ground up in about every role possible in the party seeing the organisation grow over that time.
Kalsang Tsering
Kalsang was born in Tibet and at a young age left for India. He has worked for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala as a public servant before immigrating to Australia under the program of Australian Humanitarian Settlement Program just ahead of the pandemic.
Kalsang has also served as the President of the ACT Tibetan Community and Chair of the Tibetan Communities of Australia.
Kalsang has a wealth of experience as he was a member of the Tibetan negotiation team led by the Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama late Mr. Lodi G. Gyari and participated at the Eighth Round of Talks with the Chinese leadership.
Yujian Zhang
Yujian was born and raised in Mainland China.
He has a Bachelor degree in Secondary Education and has worked in both government and non-government schools across Queensland and Sydney.
Since coming to Australia in 2014, Yujian has continued to be a student of Tibetan Buddhism, engaging extensively with buddhist centres associated with ‘the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition’ (FPMT) in various countries.
At the beginning of 2017, Yujian attended his first in person teaching in Bodhgaya, India with His Holiness the Dalai Lama (HHDL). Subsequently, he travelled to Dharamsala and other parts of India to attend HHDL’s public teaching, which makes him have the first hand experience of HHDL, the Middle Way Approach, and Tibetan refugees living in exile. He has been an adherent follower of HHDL and a supporter of Free Tibet movement. He joined the Board in June 2022.
Please refer to your AGM Notice for information on how to RSVP for the meeting, how to view board candidate profiles and how to vote for the election of board members and the special resolution.
SUMMARY OF ATC ELECTION PROCEDURE
If there are 9 nominations or less, the nominees are elected without need for a ballot. If there are 10 nominations or more, a ballot will be conducted in accordance with the by-law on election procedure adopted by the ATC board, summarised as follows.
– The notice of annual general meeting to be sent to all members will include a link to a candidate page on the ATC website which indicates the names of the candidates and includes the statement (if any) provided by each candidate.
– Each member may vote for at least 1 and no more than 9 candidates. Votes must be received by the close of the voting period.
– The positions shall be filled by those candidates who receive the most votes. In the case of a tie, ATC’s elected chairperson or elected co-chairpersons have the authority to cast a deciding vote on any and all ties in the election ballot and shall inform the returning officer of their decision.
– Whether a ballot has been held or not, the results of the election are to be declared by the returning officer at the annual general meeting and take effect in accordance with the constitution.