Kaydor Aukatsang
Kelsang Dorjee (Kaydor) Aukatsang (Tibetan: སྐལ་བཟང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ ༼སྐལ་རྡོར༽ དབུ་དཀར་ཚང་ is a Tibetan politician and candidate for the Central Tibetan Administration office of Sikyong.[2] Kaydor was a close aide of the current Sikyong, Dr. Lobsang Sangay, under whom he held various official positions including, the role of North America representative for the Dalai Lama,[3][4] Chief Resilience Officer of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Director of the Social and Resource Development Fund (SARD).[5]
Kaydor Aukatsang སྐལ་རྡོར་དབུ་དཀར་ཚང་ | |
---|---|
Born | Kelsang Dorjee Aukatsang 1968 (age 52–53) |
Nationality | Tibetan |
Education | St. Stephen's College, Delhi (BA) Tufts University (MA) |
Occupation | Politician |
Spouse(s) | Lhanze Nelung Aukatsang |
Parent(s) | Jampa Kalden, former CTA Secretary of the Department of Security[1] |
Relatives | Youdon Aukatsang |
Early life
Aukatsang is born in Kalimpong in 1968. He is the son of Jampa Kalden Aukatsang, former Secretary of the Department of Security, CTA; and Mrs. Dicky Dolkar. Growing up, he attended SFF Tibetan School, Chakrata; St. Augustine's School, Kalimpong; and St Joseph's Academy, Dehradun.[6]
Education
In 1991, Aukatsang graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the prestigious St. Stephen's College, Delhi. In 1998, Aukatsang graduated from The Fletcher School at Tufts University with a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD).[7]
Career
Aukatsang has served a plethora of roles within various communities in the Tibetan diaspora including President of the Capital Area Tibetan Association,[8] as well as President of the Tibetan Association of Northern California.[9]
Within the CTA, Aukatsang held the roles of Special Advisor to the Sikyong, Representative of the Dalai Lama to North America, and Chief Resilience Officer of the CTA and the Director of the Social and Resource Development Fund (SARD) under incumbent Sikyong Lobsang Sangay’s administration.[10] During his role as SARD officer, he managed to secure substantial grants and financial aids from USA and Canadian government for the CTA's coffers.[11]
He was also previously a member of the Initial Steering Committee for the Global Philanthropy Forum, board member for the Tibet Justice Center, and International Advisory Committee member of The Mountain Institute.
Sikyong Campaign
On September 2, 2020, Aukatsang announced his candidacy for the office of Sikyong.[12]
On December 4, Aukatsang confirmed that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, briefly halting his campaign.[13]
After the primary, Aukatsang has emerged as one of the two frontrunners from the January 8th primary.[14] The top two candidates will advance onto a second round of voting in April.
References
- "CTA Mourns Passing Away of Former Secretary Jampa Kalden la". Central Tibetan Administration. December 26, 2012.
- "Former NA representative Kaydor Aukatsang joins race for Sikyong 2021". September 3, 2020.
- "Kaydor Aukatsang Appointed New Representative for Office of Tibet, New York". Central Tibetan Administration. May 23, 2013.
- https://constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/index.html
- "Staff – Sard Fund". sardfund.org.
- https://kaydor4sikyong.org/my-journey/
- "My Sikyong candidate: The alchemy of great vision .:. Tibet Sun". www.tibetsun.com.
- https://www.dctibetan.org/board-members
- https://tibet.net/representative-meets-tibetan-communities-in-san-francisco-and-minnesota/
- https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2020/12/05/coronavirus-sikyong-aspirant-kaydor-aukatsang-tests-positive
- https://tibetoffice.org/media-press/news/cta-receives-almost-usd-1-million-in-direct-funding-from-the-u-s-government
- Tenchoe, Lobsang (September 2, 2020). "Kaydor Aukatsang announces his candidacy for Sikyong 2021".
- "Coronavirus: Sikyong aspirant Kaydor Aukatsang tests positive .:. Tibet Sun". www.tibetsun.com.
- "Two Candidates Now Front-Runners in Final Vote for Tibet's Exile Leader". Radio Free Asia.