Gene Bobker met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a student at University of Colorado in 1971. She has been teaching at Westchester Meditation Center for ten years and led mindfulness/awareness training for educators in school and camps, and has taught meditation to students in classroom settings.

Derek Kolleeny is one of the Westchester Meditation Center Founding Board Member and Teachers. Derek began the practice and study of Buddhism in 1976 and soon became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1977. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College in the Comparative Study of World Religions, focused on Buddhism, including study of Sanskrit and Tibetan languages. He was the assistant coordinator of t HH the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa US tour in 1980 and attended the Vajradhatu Seminary and the Kalapa Assembly in 1981 at Lake Louise, in Alberta, Canada.