Sikyong Mr. Penpa Tsering
Mr. Tenzin Lekshay
Mr. Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha
Sikyong Mr. Penpa Tsering (Chairman)
Penpa Tsering was born in 1967 at Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement, India. He studied at the Central School for Tibetans, Bylakuppe and topped the merit list in Class XII. He was graduated with Economics Major from Madras Christian College, Chennai.
During his student days, he served as the General Secretary of both the Tibetan Freedom Movement and Nigerian-Tibet Friendship Association. Later he served as the General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee of Domey. He then worked as the Executive Director at the Tibetan Parliamentary and Research Centre (TPPRC) in New Delhi from 2001-2008. Since 1996, he was elected consecutively in 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Tibetan Parliament in Exile. In 2008, he was sworn in as the speaker of the 14th parliament and the 15th Parliament in 2008 and in 2011 respectively.
In July 2016, he was appointed as the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in North America to the Office of Tibet, Washington, D.C. He formally took charge on 29 August 2016.
In 2021, he was elected as the President (Sikyong) of Central Tibetan Administration and was sworn in on 27 May 2021.
Kalon – Department of Security (Co-Chair)
Kalon – Department of Information and International Relations (Co-Chair)
Kalon Kunga Tashi (Department of Security)
Kunga Tashi was born on 8 December 1963 in Lhasa, Tibet, to Thupten and Yangchen. He completed his primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary education in Lhasa. After graduating from senior secondary school in 1982, he came into exile the following year.
While in Tibet, he maintained contact with the Tibetan Administration in Exile. Upon arriving in Dharamshala, he was immediately assigned to the Research Section of the Department of Security (then known as the Hearing and Research Section), where he analysed and monitored developments inside Tibet. At the instruction of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he was also tasked with translating Chinese documents and newspapers collected by Phuntsok Tashi Takla into Tibetan.
On 1 June 1985, he was appointed as a Junior Clerk in the Department of Security and was promoted to Senior Clerk in 1991. He was subsequently promoted to Section Officer in 1992 and Under Secretary in 1994 within the same section. Later in 1994, he was transferred to the Department of Security’s main office, where he was promoted to Deputy Secretary in 1997. In the same year, he was transferred to the Office of Tibet in Taipei, Taiwan.
On 30 April 2002, Kunga Tashi was transferred back to the Department of Security in Dharamshala, where he was promoted to Joint Secretary in 2004.
In 2009, he was transferred to the Office of Tibet in Washington, D.C., where he was further promoted to Additional Secretary in 2012. In 2014, he returned to the Department of Security to serve as its Additional Secretary.
In 2016, he was appointed Chinese Liaison Officer at the Office of Tibet in Washington, D.C., a position he held until his promotion to Secretary on 15 May 2017. On 9 July 2018, he assumed responsibility for the Research Wing, overseeing the monitoring and analysis of geopolitical developments within China and liaising with Chinese people at the Kashag Secretariat. He served in this role until his retirement on 3 December 2018.
From 2022 onward, he served on a contractual basis as the Tibetan Liaison Officer at the Office of Tibet in Washington, D.C., until his appointment as Kalon of the Department of Security in the 17th Kashag on 2 June 2026.
Over the course of his career, he has served the Central Tibetan Administration for more than 38 years, in addition to three years of service with Tibetan non-governmental organisations.
Tashi Gyatso Shadrong, Secretary (Member)
Secretary Tashi Gyatso Shadrong was born on 25 January 1967 in Domey Nangra, Tibet, to Jokyap and Phakmo Kyi. He completed his primary and senior secondary education in Tibet and earned a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree from Rebgong, Tibet, in 1990. Following his arrival in India, he attended a Special Management Course at Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies in 1997 and later participated in an NCGG workshop in Mussoorie in 2018.
He joined the Central Tibetan Administration in June 1993 as Deputy Secretary in the Research Wing of the Department of Security. On 10 February 1999, he was promoted to the position of Joint Secretary.
In 2001, he took an eight-month official academic leave and resumed his duties at the Department of Security in 2002. In December 2004, he was transferred to the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) to serve on a committee tasked with assessing and verifying the deaths of 1.2 million Tibetans under Chinese rule since 1959. He was promoted to Additional Secretary in 2007 and, in September 2008, was transferred to the History and Documentation Centre under the Kashag Secretariat.
In 2010, he was transferred to the Tibetan Parliamentary Secretariat. Two years later, in 2012, he was promoted to Secretary and reassigned to the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission. On 1 July 2021, he was appointed Political Secretary at the Kashag Secretariat. Subsequently, with the formation of the 17th Kashag, on 19 June 2026, he assumed the additional responsibility of temporary Cabinet Secretary while continuing to serve as Political Secretary.
Mr. Tenzin Lekshay, Director
Tenzin Lekshay was a recipient of the Tibetan Scholarship Program from 2006 to 2008 and earned a degree in International Relations from New York University. He also holds an M.A. in Economics from Loyola College and a B.A. in Economics from Madras Christian College.
He began his career with the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) of the Central Tibetan Administration. In 2008, he served as the Coordinator of the India-Tibet Coordination Office in New Delhi. In 2011, he briefly worked in the Kashag Secretariat in Dharamshala before returning to New Delhi in 2012 to serve as Media Coordinator at the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Over the years, he has coordinated and organized numerous national and international conferences and programs involving Tibet Support Groups and interfaith organizations. In May 2017, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Tibet Policy Institute. On 25 September 2020, he became Director of the Tibet Policy Institute, succeeding Tsewang Gyalpo Arya.
On 1 July 2021, he was transferred to the Department of Information and International Relations as an Additional Secretary and was appointed the official spokesperson of the Central Tibetan Administration. Subsequently, on 17 June 2026, he was promoted to the position of Secretary and reposted as Director of the Tibet Policy Institute, where he continues to serve in a leadership role.