Board of Directors
Hanuman Maui is stewarded by a seven-member volunteer Board of Directors led by President Dassi Ma, Ram Dass’s longtime assistant and companion. Each of our board members knew Ram Dass intimately and works to carry forward his legacy through shared service, devotion, and community leadership.
Collectively, the board brings decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, mental health work, Indigenous cultural stewardship, and contemplative practice. Members have founded or directed mission-driven organizations serving communities in Hawai‘i and internationally.
The board is a diverse group of individuals consciously invested in keeping Ram Dass’s heart space open and rooted in Bhakti and Aloha. The board is majority women, majority LGBTQ, and primarily Maui-based, reflecting Hanuman Maui’s commitment to inclusivity, local rootedness, and love in action.
Dassi Ma
President
From 2005 until Ram Dass’s passing in 2019, Dassi was his chief caregiver and personal assistant, a period that profoundly shaped her understanding of love and devotion in action. Dassi and a group of Ram Dass’s caregivers and close satsang decided to start Hanuman Maui shortly after his passing in December 2019. Dassi is a longtime student of Ram Dass’s, and was for many years a devoted practitioner of Zen Buddhism, where she received juikai transmission in the White Plum lineage from Roshi Enko O’hara. Before moving to Maui she was a Human Resources executive in Philadelphia.
Steven “Stever” Dallmann Ph.D.
Treasurer
Stever is a spiritual practitioner, writer, teacher, and licensed psychotherapist. In 2008 he founded the non-profit Liberation Institute in San Francisco, a community organization with an innovative model of offering mental health services to the entire community regardless of income. Stever currently resides and practices on the island of Maui in Hawaii, from where he continues to guide the ever expanding Liberation Institute. He also serves on the board of The Sacred Community Project.
Govinda Michael Cobb
Secretary
Govinda was Ram Dass’s caregiver and housemate from 2017 until his passing in 2019, a grace he will be integrating for this entire incarnation. Govinda holds a masters degree in Social Enterprise and has experience working with non-profits, foundations, and social driven business. His writing has appeared in Stanford Social Innovation Review, and he has presented at Harvard University and Dartmouth College. He has taken refuge and bodhisattva vows in the Drikang Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He lives with his partner, Ananda, and their daughter Sita on Maui.
Lei’ohu Ryder
Lei’ohu Ryder offers her gifts on Maui, in Hawai'i and throughout the world, through blessings, music, public speaking, intensives, counseling, healing work, and ceremony. Lei'ohu's talents and knowledge are honored and loved in her community and the world. Lei’ohu has received the Gandhi-King Peace Hero Award, the Peace Educator Award from the United Nations, the Woman of Honor award from Women's History Month, the Educator Award from the Peace Corps, and the Malama Ka'Aina Award from the Sierra Club. She has shared her gifts all around the world throughout Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe and North America.
Priti was as born and raised in India and moved to the United States in 1999 and has been a devoted student of Ram Dass since 2009. She serves as an “End of Life” companion at hospices in America and is actively involved with non-profit shelters in India that serve the old, dying, and unhoused elders. Some of her sources of joy are chanting and listening to music, spending time in nature, and her two incredibly supportive daughters.
Maydeen ‘Īao
Maydeen ‘Īao is a Hawaiian spiritual teacher, musician, and advocate for "Aloha," she is co-founder of Kukuipuka Ohana and Aloha in Action alongside her partner Lei'ohu Ryder. Maydeen is an emissary of “aloha” and advocates for the indigenous soul in all people, blind to the labels that separate us from experiencing the true nature of ourselves and others. She reminds us that there is no lack, limitation or separation. Maydeen and Lei’ohu first met Ram Dass through their teacher Auntie Mahilani Poe Poe in 2004 and remained close with Ram Dass until his passing in 2019.
Sitaram Dass spent several years serving his beloved teacher Ram Dass on Maui, where he was shown the path of Bhakti, the yoga of service and devotion to God. He is a kirtan singer, social worker, author, and spiritual counselor. His book, From and for God, is an intimate and contemplative collection of writings on the spiritual path. He is the founder and director of the Sacred Community Project, which works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices.
Sitaram dass, lcsw
Priti “Durga” Bhartiya
Vice President
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