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Depth of Experience Matters

Our engaging, relatable experts have dedicated decades to mastering meditation, emotional intelligence, leadership and learning and development.

Meet our Team

Who we are

Our experts have the deepest expertise in mind-body training in the world — each having integrated practical work experience with coaching and leadership development work and years of their own deep meditation and mind-body practice.

 

Inspired by 

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the inspiration behind the TLEX. Recognized globally as a humanitarian, peacemaker, and thought leader on the mind and human potential, Sri Sri’s tools and approaches have impacted more than 450 million people worldwide across 155 countries. Gurudev has rekindled the traditions of yoga and meditation, offered in a way that is relevant to the 21st century, to provide relief from stress, hold and process complex emotions and trauma, listen deeply across differences, envision new possibilities, and increase capacity for acceptance, compassion, and optimism.

A thought leader and author of more than 40 books, Gurudev has been featured by CNN and The New York Times and regularly contributes to The Huffington Post. Gurudev has been an invited speaker at the United Nations, the European Parliament, the World Economic Forum, TED, and the Israeli Presidential Conference, as well as many think-tanks and universities such as the Atlantic Council, American Enterprise Institute, Harvard, Stanford, The Wharton School and the University of Southern California. In addition to Gurudev’s 21 honorary doctorates, he has received 38 governmental awards, including the highest civilian awards in Colombia, Mongolia, and Paraguay.

The President of India has also bestowed him with the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s highest annual award of exceptional and distinguished service. In the USA, he has received the International Humanitarian Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Award for Inspiring Humanity from the Foundation for California. Gurudev’s unique contribution to self-development is the Sudarshan Kriya (SKY Breath Meditation), a powerful breathing technique that enhances physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Scientific research has shown that SKY significantly decreases anxiety, stress, and depression while making people feel happier and more optimistic.

Meet Our Team

Raghunath Sapuram

Chief Executive Officer
Faculty

Jennifer Stevenson

EVP Training and Sales
N. America Board Member & Faculty

Ajay Tejasvi

President
N. America Board Member & Faculty

Spencer Delisle

Vice President, Canada
N. America Board Member & Faculty

Christoph Glaser

CEO, TLEX Europe
N. America Chairman of the Board & Faculty

Johann Berlin

Board Member & Faculty

Jonathan Tang

Board Member

Madhu Mujoo

Board member

Xia Arauz

Client Relationship and Operations Manager

Josette Aggarwal

Client Services & Faculty

Bidisha Sen

Client Services & Faculty

Bhushan Deodhar

Faculty

John Osborne

Faculty

Nandan Udiavar

Faculty

Natalie Kaharick

Faculty

Patti Montella

Faculty

Ram Ramanan

Faculty

Rosa Gonzalez

Faculty

Uma Vishwanathan

Faculty

Poonam Tandon

Faculty

Abhay Joshi

Faculty

Global Presence

The TLEX Institute has a global presence with faculty teams in most major cities around the world.

We empower individuals and organizations to be the best they can be and achieve more than thought possible.

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Raghunath Sapuram

Chief Executive Officer
Faculty

Raghunath Sapuram is a meditation enthusiast, breathwork and meditation teacher and entrepreneur. He has been a meditation practitioner for over 20 years and an instructor since 2008. Raghu has led over 100 courses related to mind management, self-development and breathwork programs, as well as teaching stress management and rehabilitation programs at juvenile and adult correctional facilities. Raghu has over 35 years of professional experience including founding successful Austin-based tech startups, working with large corporations like IBM, Texas State and as an independent consultant. He has co-founded multiple Austin based successful startups delivering software products and services. As a co-founder of Gravitant Inc, which was acquired by IBM Corporation, Raghu played the roles of Chief Technology Officer, VP-Product Management, Chief Product Officer, Board Member, and also managed the operations of the company for over 7 years. He specializes in creating and building strong global teams and organizations. With IBM, he served as a Distinguished Engineer driving technology strategy and architectures, product management, strategic planning, and collaboration across teams and stakeholders.

 

Jennifer Stevenson

EVP Training and Sales
N. America Board Member & Faculty

Jennifer began her meditation journey in Tokyo, Japan more than 20 years ago and maintains a daily practice to this day. And she believes that the breath can enable anyone to discover deep connection and thrive. As a member of the TLEX Board of Directors, Faculty and Instructor Trainer, she has been teaching self-development, resilience and leadership programs in a variety of capacities, with more than 400,000 training person hours working with people and organizations globally since 2007. With the TLEX Institute since 2010, Jennifer has worked on or delivered a number of customized leadership programs for the World Bank Institute, Total Brain, Open Government Partnership, serving senior government officials from different countries, Cooper Investors in Australia, Grupo Cinco M in Mexico, Nexthermal and the Art of Living Foundation. She has delivered programs as global corporations such as Shell Oil, GE, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, American Express, Verizon and Intuit as well as taught for-credit courses at MIT Sloan and Johns Hopkins. As an E-RYT 500H with Yoga Alliance, Jennifer also serves as the Vice Chairperson and Faculty for the Sri Sri School of Yoga training aspiring yoga teachers. Previously she worked for Bloomberg LP, where she oversaw the implementation of multi-security analytics and investment management systems having worked with Goldman Sachs, PIMCO, Wells Fargo and a number of hedge funds in Tokyo and San Francisco. Jennifer holds a BS in Marketing from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

 

Ajay Tejasvi

President
N. America Board Member & Faculty

An international leadership and political science scholar and artificial intelligence engineer, Ajay serves as Chief Leadership Officer guiding Mind Matters. A certified international leadership trainer, he has supported corporations and students across 30 countries sharing self-management and wellness techniques to support a healthy, happy and productive life. Ajay served for more than 15 years at the World Bank Group where he led an international team of economists and change management specialists for the Collaborative Leadership for Development initiative. He has worked closely with 42 governments, assisting and supporting their reforms for good governance and collaborative leadership, and continues to support this effort as an advisor through the Open Government Partnership. Ajay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science focusing on Leadership in Fragile States from Claremont Graduate University, a Masters in Foreign Policy from Georgetown University and an M.S. in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Southern California. He is passionate about education, women’s empowerment and sustainable communities. Ajay lives in Virginia with his wonderful wife and two naughty sons.

Spencer Delisle

Vice President, Canada
N. America Board Member & Faculty

As a Mind Matters trainer, Spencer is passionate about inner peace for outer dynamism. With a background in research science and meditation, Spencer brings a fresh and inquisitive perspective to helping people harness the power of their minds. For the past 12 years, Spencer has led self-mastery, team connectedness and adaptive leadership programs for organizations across the world including members of the European Parliament, the Federal Government of Canada and the Government of Iraq. He has guided top executives and staff from companies such as TD Bank, Intuit, Google, Otsuka Pharma, Ford and General Electric. Prior to joining Mind Matters, Spencer worked in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries including at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He has conducted oncology research at Mount Allison University, cardiovascular research at McGill University, publishing in the scientific journal “Tetrahedron Letters”. Spencer received his B.S. from Mount Allison University, has won the Henry Habib Scholarship for Academic and Leadership Excellence, and graduated as President of his class.

Christoph Glaser

CEO, TLEX Europe
N. America Chairman of the Board & Faculty

Christoph brings over 15 years of management experience to his positions of CEO of TLEX Europe and Managing Director for World Forum for Ethics in Business. In this capacity, he has introduced and tailored TLEX into more than 50 countries. The rich experience of the diverse cultures of the world and understanding of global social economic and political scenarios has helped him to establish several public-private partnerships for social development. Christoph has conducted leadership, well-being, resilience, and ethics programs in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Over the last 13 years, he has taught in companies such as: Accenture, BCG, GE Healthcare, Daimler, Shell, American Express, the World Bank Group, the U.S. State Department, and Harvard Business School. Christoph holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Humboldt-Viadrina School for Governance in Berlin, Germany and has graduated in honors from the Business School Basel, Switzerland. Christoph is a certified Leadership trainer of the World Bank Group program ‘Greater than Leadership’ and a certified Integral Associate Coach through Integral Coaching, Canada.

 

 

Johann Berlin

Board Member & Faculty

Johann Berlin is a TLEX Institute Board Member focusing on train the trainer and executive gathers. In his previous role as CEO of TLEX for more than a decade, Johann has worked with vanguard business schools at Harvard Business School and Yale SOM, as well leading companies like Amazon and Microsoft and launching digital content supporting over a million minds with evidence-based breathwork. He has been a contributor with leading publications like Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Real Leaders, Huffington Post, and TEDx. Johann launched the Future of Humans at Work summit / podcast engaging thought leaders and co-launched I Meditate NY through the Art of Living foundation, which reached more than 60,000 New Yorkers. He serves as an ongoing advisor to the CEO and Board of Cooper Investors, who manages approximately $13 Billion. Other previous roles include CEO and founder of Sustainable CitySolutions and SVP of Sustainability and Strategy for JDI Designs. As a board member and community volunteer, Johann is passionate about growing resilient schools, local economies, and youth leadership.

 

 

Jonathan Tang

Board Member

Jonathan is a Senior Venture Partner with Pioneer Fund which has invested in over 200 start ups since its inception. He is also a YCombinator alumni and an On Deck Angel investor. He’s been an advisor to Y-Combinator’s Startup School program which has mentored thousands of startups from around the world. Prior to investing, Jonathan was an operator entrepreneur for over 20 years. He co-founded one of the first SAAS CRM companies in 1999, Salesnet (acquired by Right Now Technologies) with customers ranging from Microsoft, First Data Merchant Services and American Express. In 2012, Jonathan launched a mass customized clothing business, Vastrm out of Y-Combinator which is currently offered in over 250 locations around North America. Jonathan was recognized by the Boston Business Journal as a 40 under 40 honoree. He graduated from Tufts University with a degree in International Relations and attended Berklee College of Music. Jonathan also serves on the Board of Directors for the TLEX Institute and brings more than 20 years of experience delivering meditation and mindfulness based programs to a variety of audiences globally.

 
 

Xia Arauz

Client Relationship and Operations Manager

Xia has more than 15 years leading client experiences and operations for service-based companies in the wellness and hotel management sectors. Previously, she worked for the Art of Living Foundation driving wellness programs and strategizing operations for a retreat center with hundreds of acres and thousands of yearly visitors. A meditation, breathwork and yoga trainer, she has been facilitating wellness and self-development programs to a variety of audiences globally for close to a decade. She supports individuals and teams to create sustainable transformation through practices that balance both a practical and holistic approach. Xia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Les Roches University in Switzerland. Xia is passionate about travel, personal growth and women’s empowerment.

Josette Aggarwal

Client Services & Faculty

Josette believes that the breath is the secret to peace of mind and dynamic activity. With over 20 years experience managing international teams, Josette brings an intimate understanding of organizational culture to her work as a Mind Matters trainer. For the past 25 years, she has led courses in leadership development, stress management, meditation and wellness to thousands of minds across Japan, Singapore, India, UK and the United States. She enjoys working with people in a variety of settings — from employees at high energy enterprises like Apple and Twitter to young people attending underserved high schools. Josette holds a BA in English Literature & Mass Communications from the University of Berkeley and an MS in Education from the University of Southern California.

 
 

Bidisha Sen

Client Services & Faculty

It was more than 20 years ago while studying electrical engineering at India’s leading IIT Kharagpur that Bidisha discovered breathing exercises and meditation — and immediately realized their immense potential. She has been practicing ever since. In 2007, she began working as a meditation, mindfulness and leadership coach, training clients in India such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Capgemini, LG, Tata Group, Nokia and IBM, and eBay and Intuit in the United States and Canada. In addition to coaching through Mind Matters, Bidisha is part of the leadership team as a Vice President of Tiger Analytics, an analytics consulting company. Prior to that, she founded Medewise Technology Solutions, a healthcare analytics company based in India. Bidisha is passionate about teaching children and young people meditation, and is a wife and mother to two teenage children.

Bhushan Deodhar

Faculty

Bhushan Deodhar hails from a family steeped in Yoga and Vedic sciences. Bhushan is a seasoned leadership development trainer, having facilitated Mind Matters workshops for more than thirteen years. He has delivered programs at the World Bank, the United Nations, Shell Corporation, MIT Sloan School of Business, Harvard Business School, Coca Cola, Accenture, the Boston Consulting Group among others. In his corporate leadership roles, Bhushan has furthered the development of multiple businesses and teams across the U.S. and abroad including Sumeru Inc., a software consulting firm where he served as the President for 12 years and Shankara Skincare, an all-natural luxury skin care products company, where he currently serves as the CEO. Prior to leading Sumeru and Shankara, Bhushan worked at Nortel Networks and Oracle Corporation in various management roles. Bhushan has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas, Arlington and is an engineer by training.

 
 

John Osborne

Faculty

Inspired by the incredible transformational power of the breath and meditation in his own life, John began teaching meditation more than 45 years ago. In that time he has guided people from a variety of backgrounds including politicians and government leaders, returning veterans and service providers suffering from post traumatic stress, and front line doctors and health care workers dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. For over 30 years John has held senior management positions in private and investment banking, portfolio management, mergers and acquisitions consulting and venture capital. He was the CEO and managing partner of his own early stage venture capital fund, Intermarkt LLC. John has participated as a speaker and trainer at the Harvard and Wharton Business Schools, Yale University, the University of Southern California, UCLA, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon and Cisco, The United Nations, The World Health Organization, The World Bank and the U.S. Congress. He is a graduate of Hamilton College and received a masters in counseling and religious studies from Yale University. More recently John has been an adjunct faculty member at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

 
 

Nandan Udiavar

Faculty

Mind Matters trainer Nandan is a lifelong learner with a background in yoga, meditation and computer engineering. As a long-time meditator and yoga practitioner, Nandan brings an embodied approach to inspiring people to live to their highest potential. Over the last 11 years, Nandan has delivered meditation and leadership training workshops for diverse audiences from Natera to San Mateo County to Akamai. Nandan led a regional Bay Area board overseeing the service work of 400 meditation trainers and volunteers for the Art of Living Foundation. As a professional, Nandan has worked in the technology industry for over 25 years powering teams to bring innovative solutions to market. He currently serves as Managing Partner at Adventa, where he helps organizations of all sizes use cloud technology to build a competitive advantage. Nandan holds a Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Utah State University and is dedicated to lifelong learning.

Natalie Kaharick

Faculty

Natalie is the Chief Operating Officer of the Texas Public Charter Schools Association, responsible for operations, finance, human resources, fundraising, and organizational culture. Previously, she worked in New Orleans public schools for a decade where she served in a number of roles, including Chief Operating Officer and Acting CEO of a charter management organization that had 200 staff and 2300 students. Natalie has been facilitating meditation workshops for over 18 years, teaching at universities, hospitals, and corporations in the US and internationally. She has a B.A. in Art History from Duquesne University and an M.B.A. from Louisiana State University.

Ram Ramanan

Faculty

Ram is a Breathwork, Yoga and Meditation teacher and a 32-year veteran Executive in Cleantech and semiconductor industries. He is a Vice President of Data Sciences at Bloom Energy Corporation, a leading global green energy company. He led Bloom Energy from a start-up to a successful IPO at NYSE. He advises Cleantech and AI start-ups. He is a lifelong learner who is expanding his leadership through Executive education at Haas School of Business at Berkeley. He has conducted more than 3000 hours of teaching self-development programs and led 200+ workshops and talks in Corporate as well as in the Community workspaces. His teaching style is infused with humor and insights he shares are from his experience of mindfulness from the outlook of an Engineer, Global Citizen and a Parent. He lives in San Jose with his wife and his two adult children are settled in the east coast. He is an avid Tennis player (NTRP 4.0) who is actively refining his amateur guitar skills through online workshops

Rosa Gonzalez

Faculty

Rosa Gonzalez has been teaching meditation and breath-based resilience programs to community members for nearly a decade. She is founder and principal at Facilitating Power, a growing network of facilitative leaders dedicated to the shift to a more inclusive, living democracy. Rosa works with organizations, foundations and place-based initiatives to build thriving cultures of participation and community-driven solutions to complex challenges. Rosa holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of San Francisco, and a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from Stanford University. She is currently working on her first book, Seed, Harvest, Weave: Facilitative Leadership for a Living Democracy, in collaboration with NationBuilder.

Uma Vishwanathan

Faculty

A graduate of Harvard and program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Uma offers unique perspectives on leadership, social transformation and organizational thriving, grounded in her multi-sectoral work within complex organizations and diverse networks. She has led a USAID-funded youth leadership and community transformation program impacting 10,000 Haitians, a university-based program for student wellbeing impacting thousands including at Yale, Harvard and MIT and dozens of trainings and retreats for private national foundations. Uma co-hosts the Future of Humans at Work summits, engaging top-level executives across business, government and NGOs to envision and build productive organizations that center human thriving. She is a senior program officer of Leadership for Better Health at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and was previously a Program Officer of Racial Equity and Community Engagement at the WK Kellogg Foundation.

Poonam Tandon

Faculty

Poonam brings more than 20 years of facilitation experience in meditation and personal development to Mind Matters and has been a featured speaker at universities and institutions ranging from Harvard, Yale and MIT to the World Bank Institute, the US State Department and American Express. She has also appeared as an expert on MSNBC, CBS News and TV Asia. Having taught over 10,000 people from a multitude of backgrounds, she is recognized for her ability to connect with the needs of the person in front of her and help them reveal the best version of themselves. She also serves as head of training and development for the Art of Living Foundation, an international, educational non-profit. Currently residing in Los Angeles with her husband, Manish Tandon, Poonam travels across the country throughout the year teaching workshops, speaking at events and coaching leaders and influencers.

Abhay Joshi

Faculty

Abhay is currently the Global Director of IT for the Adidas Group, accountable for the governance and global rollout of the distribution systems. He has more than 15 years of of managing and leading IT and operational projects for more than 25 global and domestic clients to optimize their supply chain with extensive travel experience in Europe, APAC and Americas. Abhay has more than 20,000 training man hours, delivering leadership, self-development and meditation programs globally for the past 10 years. Abhay holds a master’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio State University, USA and a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, India.

 

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