Palden Dhondup

Palden Dhondup was born on 6 July 1969 in Ladakh, India. He completed his schooling up to Class IX at TCV School, Ladakh, and subsequently pursued higher studies at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi, where he earned both Shastri and Acharya degrees. During his student years, he actively engaged in student and community affairs, serving as a member of the Sakya Welfare Committee, a member of the Students’ Welfare Committee, President of the Tibetan Children’s Village Alumni Association (TCVAA), and a member of the Regional Tibetan Freedom Movement. Following a brief tenure at Ngor Ewam Choden Monastery as a teacher and secretary, he formally joined the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on 25 March 1996 after successfully clearing the staff recruitment examination for the post of Under Secretary. He was initially appointed as Assistant to the Settlement Officer of the Kalimpong Tibetan Settlement and was later promoted to Deputy Secretary and appointed Settlement Officer of the settlement. In 2001, he was transferred to Choephelling Tibetan Settlement in Miao, Arunachal Pradesh, as Settlement Officer. From 2002 to 2006, he served as Settlement Officer of Phuntsokling Tibetan Settlement in Odisha. He was subsequently posted to Kunphenling Tibetan Settlement in Ravangla, Sikkim, where he served from 2006 to 2007, before being appointed Settlement Officer of the Darjeeling Tibetan Settlement in 2007. On 26 February 2008, he was promoted to the rank of Joint Secretary and concurrently served as Settlement Officer of both the Darjeeling and Sonada Tibetan Settlements. Later that year, he was appointed Settlement Officer of Doeguling Tibetan Settlement in Mundgod, Karnataka.

In 2011, he was transferred to the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi. In 2013, he was appointed Joint Secretary in the Department of Home and was promoted to Additional Secretary in 2014. From 2016 onwards, he served as Director of the Tibetan Administrative Training and Welfare Society (TAWS). On 1 May 2019, he assumed office as Secretary of the Department of Health. Subsequently, on 11 October 2022, he took charge as Secretary of the Department of Home, where he continued to serve with dedication and leadership. In June 2026, Kalon Palden Dhondup was elected as a member of the 17th Kashag during the First Session of the 18th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and assumed office as the Kalon (Minister) of the Department of Home. With three decades of experience in public administration, settlement governance, welfare, and community development, he continues to serve the Tibetan people with dedication, integrity, and a deep commitment to the vision and policies of the Central Tibetan Administration.

Mr. Penpa Tsering

Penpa Tsering was born in 1967 at Bylakuppee, India, and is a Do-mey TPiE member. He studied at the Central School for Tibetans, Bylakuppe, and topped the merit list in Class XII. He graduated with an Economics Major from Madras Christian College, Chennai. His work experience includes running a private export enterprise and a restaurant. During his student days, he served as the General Secretary of both the Tibetan Freedom Movement and the Nigerian Tibet Friendship Association.

Penpa Tsering later served as the General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of Do-mey. He worked as the Executive Director at the Tibetan Parliamentary and Research Centre (TPPRC) in New Delhi from 2001-2008 before being sworn in as the speaker of the 14th parliament in 2008. He was elected to the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and was elected as the Speaker of the fourteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in 2006. He got re-elected to the fifteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile again with the Speaker’s post in 2011. He served as the Consul of Tibetan Administration in North America for a year and three months from 2016. He was elected as the Sikyong in the general election and was installed as the Sikyong on May 27, 2021, assuming additional responsibilities for several departments including Religious and Culture, Home, Finance, and Health.

Mr Khorlatsang Sonam Topgyal

He was born in the year 1954. After completing his studies, he joined the Central Tibetan Administration in 1979. Since then, he has worked in various capacities within the Tibetan administration. In 2001, he was promoted to the post of Secretary and appointed as the Director of Tibetan Reception Centre. His service continued as he took on roles such as Secretary of Finance department, Secretary of Tibetan Homes foundation in Mussoorie, and Secretary of the Department of Home from 2011 until May 2016. At that time, he was nominated as Kalon of the 15th Kashag by Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay. He then served as the Kalon of the Department of Home from June 1, 2016, until the end of his tenure on May 26, 2021.

Mrs. Dolma Gyari

Dolma Gyari was born in Kalimpong, India, in 1964 and now resides in Dharamsala, India. She studied at the Central School for Tibetans, Darjeeling, and graduated class X in 1981. Mrs. Gyari has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh. After graduation, she studied for three years at the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. Her political activism started young; she was actively involved in the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC) of Darjeeling during her school years. When she joined Punjab University, Mrs. Gyari volunteered to run and was elected for the post of Joint Secretary of RTYC during her first year in college. She did not limit herself to fight only for Tibet’s cause; she was also involved in the GLOBAL 86 youth anti-apartheid movement in Chandigarh.

Dolma Gyari served on TYC’s Central Executive Committee as Information Secretary from 1986-1989 and as Joint Secretary from 1989-1991. She resigned before the expiration of her second term at TYC after she was elected to the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies. She has been serving in the Tibetan Parliament for the past 16 years as one of ten female members out of the 43 parliamentarians. She served as an interim co-chair of the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy. She was elected to the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth ATPD and was the Vice-Chair Person of the Assembly. During these sessions, Dolma Gyari was elected Deputy Speaker, the first woman ever to serve in this position. She ran for the 3rd Kalon Tripa preliminary Election in 2010 but later withdrew from the final election. In 2011, she was nominated and became Minister (Kalon) of the Department of Home, Central Tibetan Administration. She ran for the Sikyong Election in 2021. She was nominated by the 16th Kashag and is presently serving as the Minister (Kalon) of the Department of Security.

Dr. Lobsang Sangay

Dr. Lobsang Sangay grew up in a Tibetan settlement and attended Central School for Tibetans in Darjeeling. He earned a B.A. (Honors) and LLB from Delhi University and was elected as the youngest executive member of the Tibetan Youth Congress in 1992. As a Fulbright Scholar, he obtained a Master’s Degree and a Doctorate in Law from Harvard Law School, becoming the first Tibetan to do so. He is an expert on International Law, Democratic Constitutionalism, and Conflict Resolution and has organized major conferences among scholars.

In 2011, Sangay was elected as the 3rd Kalon Tripa of the Central Tibetan Administration. During his swearing-in ceremony, the Dalai Lama transferred political leadership to him, fulfilling a long-cherished goal. In 2012, the Tibetan Parliament approved changing the title of Kalon Tripa to Sikyong. Sangay has continued to contribute to the Tibetan government and its people through his academic and political work.

Mr. Kasur Lobsang Nyima

Kasur Lobsang Nyima was born in 1939 in Lho Dokhar, Tibet, and studied at the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, Varanasi. He served the Tibetan Government in Exile in various capacities since 1972, including Welfare Officer in Dalhousie, Settlement Officer in Orissa, and Manager of the Tibetan Handicrafts Centre in Nepal. He was Secretary of the Tibetan Public Service Commission in Dharamsala before being elected as Kalon for the Department of Home and Department of Religion and Culture in the 12th Kashag.

Nyima has a vast experience working among Tibetan communities in India and Nepal. He currently resides in Toronto, Canada, and continues to contribute to the Tibetan cause. His service record is exemplary, reflecting his dedication to the Tibetan government and its people.

Prof. Samdhong Lobsang Tenzin

Prof. Samdhong Lobsang Tenzin, the 5th Samdhong Rinpoche, was born in 1939 in Jol, Eastern Tibet. Recognized as the reincarnation of the 4th Samdhong Rinpoche, he was enthroned at Gaden Dechenling Monastery. He completed his religious training at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa and fled to exile in 1959. He received the Bhiksu ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1960 and served as a religious teacher in Tibetan schools. He became the Principal of Dalhousie Tibetan School and later received his Lharampa and Ngagrimpa Degrees.

Rinpoche served as Principal and Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies from 1971 to 2001. He was a member of the Drafting Committee for the Constitution of the Future Polity of Tibet and the exiled Tibetans. In 2001, he became the first democratically elected Kalon Tripa, serving until 2006. He was re-elected for a second term and transferred his political leadership to Dr. Lobsang Sangay in 2011.

Mr. Tempa Tsering

Tempa Tsering was born in 1950 in Drumpa, Gyaltse, Tibet, and fled to India in 1959. He completed high school at Dr. Grahams Homes in Kalimpong and earned a B.Sc. in Zoology from Madras Christian College. He was the first Tibetan to graduate from this college and held various positions within the Central Tibetan Administration, including interpreter, office secretary, and deputy secretary. He served as the secretary of the Department of Information and International Relations and as chief coordinator at the Chief Representative’s Office in Karnataka.

Elected as a minister in 2000, Tsering held the portfolio for the Department of Home until 2001. He was nominated as Kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations in 2006 and served as the representative of the Dalai Lama in New Delhi until 2016. He is currently the director for India and East Asia at the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and serves on the Board of Directors of the International Campaign for Tibet. He married Jetsun Pema, the younger sister of the Dalai Lama.

Mr. Sonam Topgyal

Mr. Sonam Topgyal was born in Kham Dagyab in 1941 and fled to India in 1959. He studied at the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath and Benares Hindu University before joining the Central Tibetan Administration in 1963. He held various positions, including deputy secretary of the Department of Information and secretary of the cabinet secretariat. In 1993, he delivered a letter from the Dalai Lama to Chinese leaders. He served as Kalon for the Department of Home and Health and was Kalon Tripa from 1995 to 1996.

Topgyal was a founding member of the Tibetan Youth Congress and worked at the Tibetan Cultural Preservation Centre at Norbu Lingka Institute. He served in the 10th and 11th Kashag, holding positions such as Kalon for Home, Security, Religion, and Culture. He passed away in 2013, survived by his wife and three daughters. His funeral was held in Dharamsala.

Mrs. Rinchen Khando Choegyal

Rinchen Khando Choegyal was born in Kandze, eastern Tibet, and escaped to India in 1959. She earned a B.A. from Loreto College in Darjeeling and is married to Tenzin Choegyal, younger brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As a founding member and President of the Tibetan Women’s Association, she established the Tibetan Nuns Project, facilitating education and building nunneries for nuns escaping Tibet. Recognized for her service with the Women of Courage Award in 1997, she travels extensively to educate the international community about Tibetan refugees and the preservation of Tibetan culture.

Choegyal served as the Minister of Education in the Central Tibetan Administration, overseeing education for Tibetan children in exile. She is currently the Director of the Tibetan Nuns Project, continuing her efforts to support and educate Tibetan nuns. Her work has been instrumental in preserving Tibetan culture and advocating for the rights and education of Tibetan women.

Mr. Tenzin Namgyal Tethong

Tenzin Namgyal Tethong is a Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University, teaching in the History Department and Continuing Studies Program. He is a former Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New York and Special Representative in Washington, D.C. He began his work in the exile Tibetan community as a teacher at the first Tibetan refugee school in Mussoorie in 1960 and joined the Education Office of the Tibetan government in exile in 1967. In 1968, he co-founded Sheja Magazine and the Tibetan Youth Congress, serving in its first leadership executive committee.

During his tenure in New York, Tethong established The Tibet Fund and Potala Publications and played a key role in forming several Tibetan initiatives in the U.S. and Canada. He headed the Second Delegation of Tibetan exiles to Tibet and China in 1980. In Washington, D.C., he founded the International Campaign for Tibet. Elected as one of the first Kalons in 1990, he served in various portfolios, including Finance and Home, and as Kalon Tripa. In 1995, he moved to California and joined the Dalai Lama Foundation, promoting peace and ethics. He also launched “Tibet in Exile — Fifty Years” to document the last fifty years in exile.

Mr. Kalsang Yeshi

Mr. Kalsang Yeshi, former Minister to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was born in Lhasa in 1941. He spent his early childhood in Kham and was in Chamdo with his family when the PLA attacked in 1950. After the Tibetan army was defeated, he moved back to Lhasa. He attended school and entered Drepung Monastery in Nyare Khamtsen of Loseling College in 1956, where he was admitted with the rank of Dratsang Choeze. He studied there for three years before fleeing in 1959 following Chinese shelling. Eventually, he made his way to the border with Bhutan.

From 1963 to 1965, Mr. Yeshi was posted at the Tibetan school in Mussoorie and later in Mainpat, Madhya Pradesh. In 1969, he entered the Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi and obtained his Acharya degree in 1972. He moved to the US in 1973, where he studied English and taught Tibetan at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia. Returning to India in 1979, he was elected Tibetan People’s Deputy representing the Gelukpa School and began working in the Department of Religious and Cultural Affairs in 1983. He organized the first Monlam or Great Prayer Festival in Bodh Gaya in 1985 and established the Norbulingka Institute in 1991, serving as its Director. In 1989, he was appointed Kalon for Religion and Culture and served as Prime Minister twice before resigning in 1997 due to health problems.