Who We Are

Nina Cohen Bohn is a dynamic and accomplished individual who has made her mark as a visionary leader and a champion of positive change. This distinct attitude served her well when she transitioned to MIT Sloan and business school fundraising after university and 15 years of corporate roles in sports marketing and cable television advertising sales. It also was her foundation for the transatlantic transition to London Business School in 2005. Nina's compassionate and forward-thinking approach to her work and charitable efforts underscores her commitment to creating a brighter and more equitable future for all. Nina Cohen Bohn joined the DLCC as a trustee in 2023

Luke Montagu (Viscount Hinchingbrooke) co-founded the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry, a group of experts committed to reducing the harm caused by psychiatric drugs.  Luke is also a trustee of the Inner Compass Initiative. Luke is an entrepreneur who now spends most of his time overseeing his family’s estate at Mapperton in West Dorset. After graduating from Columbia University, Luke co-founded a series of technology, education and media businesses. In 2003 he co-founded the Met Film School, which he led as CEO until 2009.

Alexander Norman is the founder and former Director of the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion. He is a long-time associate of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom he collaborated on three of his bestselling books, including Ethics for the New Millennium. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Holder of the White Lotus, a history of the Dalai Lama institution and in 2021, published a biography of the Dalai Lama. Alexander has an MA in Philosophy and Theology and a Master’s degree in Oriental Studies (Tibetan and Himalayan Studies), both from the University of Oxford.

Isabelle White is Chairman of Help Tibet, giving practical support to exiled Tibetan refugees living in Nepal and India, providing basic facilities including education, clean water, health, and sanitation Help Tibet was founded in 1988 and develops the self-sustainability of the Tibetan community, especially young people. Isabelle White is a trustee of the Matthew Wrightson Charity Trust and a former trustee of the Save The Children Fund.

Our Advisors

Nicola Walton is a writer, lecturer and author, specialising in finance. She advises other charities in Oxford on corporate development in her role as a trustee on the patrons board at the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology. Other voluntary roles have included three years as a magistrate in London. Her employers have included LBC Radio and The Independent newspaper. She wrote and taught an economics module for an MA Financial Journalism course at City University, London.

Danny Gill, over a 36-year teaching career, taught at Mount St Mary’s College, San Diego State University, Westminster School and The Dragon School. As Director of Social Impact at the Dragon, he introduced the teaching of social enterprise, philanthropy and microfinance to pre-teen children and initiated and developed programmes that have been replicated in many other schools. He has a particular interest in the role of secular ethics and compassion in education. An Ashoka Changemaker, he collaborates with educationalists across the globe who are striving to make positive changes to education systems.

Rachel Kelly is a British author and mental health advocate. She has worked as a journalist at The Times, and is the author of the books Black Rainbow, Walking on Sunshine, The Happy Kitchen and Singing in the Rain. Rachel speaks publicly about her experience of mental health to help educate others and break down the stigma around mental health. She writes regularly for the national press, gives television and radio interviews, and runs workshops for mental health organisations, companies and universities. She is an official ambassador for mental health charities Rethink Mental Illness, SANE and The Counselling Foundation.

Tatjana Greil Castro works as a Senior Portfolio Manager at a privately-owned asset management company. She is a leading advocate for incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices into credit portfolios as well as increasing awareness of responsible investing within the broader investment community. Her strategies have won numerous awards – including ESG specific awards. Tatjana holds a PhD in Economic History from the London School of Economics and was raised in the Austrian countryside. She practices daily meditation and subscribes to the philosophy of non-duality.

David Bond has been a teacher, fund manager and e-learning expert. He’s now a strategic communication consultant and documentary filmmaker. In 2010 he went on the run from the UK’s best Private Investigators to make feature documentary Erasing David. His recent film Project Wild Thing is the story of his determination to get his children outside and into nature. It played in over 120 cinemas in the UK and on TV in over 40 countries. The Wild Network, of which David is a founding Director and Trustee, is a movement inspired by the film. He has made a number of films for the DLCC’s Compassion Matters Project.

Our Patron

The centre’s founding patron is His Holiness the Dalai Lama who has supported the work of the centre since its inception in 2014. On a visit to Oxford University in 2015, the Dalai Lama addressed academic fellows of the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion (DLCC), emphasising his view that education in ethics – of a universal, non-religiously-aligned character, focused on compassion – is of the utmost importance from an early age.

‘Education is much more than a matter of imparting the knowledge and skills by which narrow goals are achieved.  It is also about opening the child’s eyes to the needs and rights of others. We must show children that their actions have a universal dimension.  And we must somehow find a way to build on their natural feelings of empathy so that they come to have a sense of responsibility toward others. For it is this which stirs us into action.  Indeed, if we had to choose between learning and virtue, the latter is definitely more valuable. The good heart, which is the fruit of virtue, is by itself a great benefit to humanity. Mere knowledge is not.’ – extract from Ancient Wisdom, Modern World. Ethics for the New Millennium, His Holiness the Dalai Lama.