Board of Directors
Ayya Ānandabodhī
President and Spiritual Director
Ayya Ānandabodhī brings over 30 years of monastic practice to Parayana Vihara, along with many years of teaching the Dhamma. In 2009, Ayya co-founded Aloka Vihara, later to become Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery, in California. As the Spiritual Director of Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi deeply appreciates the enthusiasm and skills of the board who are working together to support the Bhikkhuni Sangha and to make the Dhamma available through female voices.
Inspired by the Buddha’s teaching and its relevance in the world at this time, Ayya is delighted to share the Buddha’s teaching, both locally and further afield, and to continue opening the possibility for women to ordain.
Joan Keegan
Secretary
Joan is a longtime meditator and has been fortunate enough to attend a number of residential and online retreats taught by Ayya Ānandabodhī and others over the years.
Joan gained a great deal of experience in facilitation, organizational development and strategic planning through her work in California state government, retiring as the Deputy Director of the California Civil Rights Department. She was honored to volunteer those skills in service to the Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery and then to serve for a year as the vice president of the Saranaloka Board. As someone who greatly admires Ayya Anandabodhi’s way of teaching and living the dharma, she is now honored and delighted to serve on the board of Pārāyana Vihāra.
Joan lives in Folsom, California with her husband of forty years.
Kate Hathirat
Treasurer
Kate grew up in Thailand and has naturally learned Buddhism and meditation since childhood. After she moved to the US, she has been blessed with having Leigh Brasington and then Bhikkhu Anālayo as her main teachers. Even though Kate considers herself mostly aligned with Early Buddhist Texts, she has also learned from Tibetan masters, particularly Tsoknyi Rinpoche.
Kate met Ayya Ānandabodhī when she moved to Washington and was immediately drawn to her. Kate found Ayya Ānandabodhī’s embodiment of the dhamma extraordinary which inspired her to serve Ayya and to help advance the cause for bhikkhunis.
Kate studied Economics, Finance and Quantitative methods, and was a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Her latest degree was a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She has worked in the global investment and banking industry in the USA, Thailand and Singapore, and has done some work in the charity sector in Thailand.
Robert Hohn
Director
Robert’s first encounter with Buddhism was through the Soto Zen tradition of Shasta Abbey in the early 1980s. He started exploring other Buddhist practices and attending some Vipassana retreats in the early 1990s. At the opening ceremony of the Meditation Hall at Spirit Rock he heard Ajahn Amaro chant the Dhammacakka Sutta and was totally entranced. That led to visits to Abhayagiri and eventually a year-long stay at the monastery as an anagarika in 2000. Robert met up with the nuns at the Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery when he volunteered to help build a yurt platform. Robert served on the Saranaloka Foundation Board from 2015 to 2025.
Robert feels honored and grateful to be a part of the community of people who are supporting the growth of the Theravada Bhikkhuni sangha.