IYENGAR YOGA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

KEVIN ALLEN, SECRETARY

Kevin Allen has studied Iyengar Yoga since 2006. He’s been a faculty member at the Institutes of New York and Brooklyn since 2014. Kevin enjoys teaching adults and children about the art and science of yoga.

In 2014, Kevin traveled to Pune, India for the Iyengars’ first Yoganusasam. He attended the IYNAUS National Convention in 2016 and 2019.

In 2020, Kevin served as Secretary of IYAGNY’s Board of Directors.

He’s also an actor, writer, model and a native New Yorker… not necessarily in that order.

Kevin graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Government and currently serves as an Admissions Ambassador for the College.

In 2019, Kevin moved into an elevator building, fulfilling a lifelong dream of not having to haul laundry up and down the stairs.

RON BOZMAN

Ron Bozman is a longtime Producer in film and television, and hopes to use his budgeting, organizational and project management skills to assure a positive future for the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York. Among his many film credits are Paterson, Changing Lanes, The Human Stain, Beloved, Philadelphia, and The Silence of the Lambs, for which he earned the 1991 Academy Award for Best Picture. Ron has also worked on numerous TV projects, recently as an Executive Producer of the HBO series, The Young Pope, as a Producer of We are Who We Are, and earlier, as a Producer of HBO’s Succession.  He began his yoga practice at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York four years ago and has been fortunate to experience classes at several other Iyengar Yoga Studios around the world.  Ron is married to Kyle McCarthy; their son Regan lives and works in San Francisco.

ANEESH DESHPANDE

Aneesh is a Portfolio Manager at Capstone Investment Advisors, where he manages an investment strategy focused on interest rates and currencies in Emerging Markets. Prior to becoming an investor, Aneesh started his career at Goldman Sachs in India, where he spent three years facilitating investments by US institutional asset managers into India’s public equity markets. He graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he majored in International Economics with a special focus on Asia. 

Outside of his professional endeavors, Aneesh is actively involved with fundraising efforts for Georgetown University’s Dharmic Life Program, which facilitates the study and practice of Dharmic spiritual traditions on Georgetown’s campus. Aneesh is also an avid skier, pianist, and music aficionado; he loves to travel, especially to remote corners of the world that have their own Iyengar Yoga studios.   

Though he was introduced to the Iyengar method seven years ago, more recently, a workshop with Jawahar Bangera at the Institute in New York sparked his more serious dedication to the practice. He looks forward to synthesizing his passion for Iyengar Yoga with his professional and personal experiences to help IYAGNY further its mission in the years to come. 

SCOTT ALAN EVANS, VICE-PRESIDENT

Scott Alan Evans is a director, writer, and producer in New York City.  Yoga became an integral part of his life in 2001 shortly after 9/11, and his interest and dedication to the practice has grown steadily ever since. His early yogic explorations led him to the Iyengar Institute in New York City, where he has been studying continuously for the past 18 years under such teachers as Mary Dunn, Carrie Owerko, and, currently, Hugh Millard.  

For 25 years Evans served as the Executive Artistic Director of the award-winning Off-Broadway Company TACT/The Actors Company Theatre. With TACT, Evans unearthed, produced, and/or directed over 200 plays. Throughout his tenure with TACT, he led the company through significant and sustained growth and continued artistic excellence. His Off-Broadway directing credits include acclaimed productions of works by Arthur Miller, T.S. Eliot, A.R. Gurney, David Storey, Edward Bond,a World premiere of a lost work by Sir Noël Coward, and the first New York City revival of Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang, among others. He conceived, co-wrote and directed the world premiere of The Triangle Factory Project about the historic fire in New York City in 1911, and Three Wise Guys based on short stories by Damon Runyon.  

For 10 years, Evans served as Artistic Director of the American Musicals Project, an innovative educational program created by the New York Historical Society in conjunction with the NYC Board of Education. For AMP, Evans created a highly regarded annual concert series featuring great writers for the musical stage and Broadway headliners.  

He is a member of SDC and the Dramatist Guild.

ANNA IACCUCI

Anna Iacucci works at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where she is a supervisory officer focusing on relationship management and risk analytics within the global systemically important bank portfolio.   She leverages years of experience in the private sector where she worked for financial institutions in both New York and London in credit and trading risk management as well as in rating agency advisory.  In addition, Anna has provided technical assistance on a pro-bono basis to banking and insurance clients in emerging markets for the Financial Services Volunteer Corps. Anna holds a B.S. in management and international business and an M.B.A in finance from New York University.

Throughout her professional career, Anna has made time for yoga.  She discovered Iyengar yoga in the late 1980s at the YWCA and realized that the practice resonated with her.  She has been continuously practicing yoga since the late 1990s.  If not on the mat or enjoying the rich cultural offerings of NYC, she can be found traveling and hiking mountain ranges throughout the world.  And like many during COVD, she has embraced virtual performances, outdoor dining, and planning future journeys.

Anna’s connection to the Iyengar community and the Association has grown over the years as she has studied with a group of wonderfully talented teachers. She realized it was time to get more involved when Lisa Rotell asked her whether she would consider becoming a board member.  Not only is she following through on this request but she never misses an opportunity to go up into adho mukha vrksasana.

SHARIB KHAN, PRESIDENT

Sharib Khan is a technology entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of a technology company that is enabling clinical research here on earth and in space. Sharib holds a Masters in Biomedical Informatics and a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University. Before dabbling in technology startups, he completed his medical training at the University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

When not working with technology solutions, he can be seen taking and teaching Iyengar Yoga classes. He is passionate about supporting initiatives to increase availability and access to Iyengar Yoga via the Yoga Anywhere Fund. And somewhere in between, he supports independent film and media projects as an Executive Producer. His first short film as Executive Producer qualified for Oscars 2022 consideration.

BARBARA MANN

Barbara Mann is Professor of Hebrew literature and cultural studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary on the Upper West Side. She completed her doctoral work in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and was a member of the faculty at Princeton University before joining JTS. She is the author of three books and has lectured widely in the US and abroad. As part of her professional service, Barbara serves as a Core Member of the Association of Jewish Studies Committee on Sexual Misconduct. A native New Yorker, Barbara lives with her daughter in the Bronx, where she is active in her neighborhood synagogue.

Barbara started practicing Iyengar Yoga as a graduate student and never looked back. She first attended classes at the Institute in New York in the late ‘90s, and is grateful to have learned with senior teachers there and in Berkeley, Ann Arbor and Tel Aviv. Whenever she travels, she searches out the local Iyengar Yoga studio, and has taken classes in Warsaw, Paris, Venice, Berlin and Cape Town. She continues to abide by the wise words of her first teacher, Mary Lou Weprin, from The Yoga Room in Berkeley: “It doesn’t matter why you do yoga, just so long as you do it.” She is grateful for this opportunity to become more involved with a community and practice that mean so much to her.

STEPHANIE PERRY-BUSH

Stephanie is a long-time yoga student and teacher.  She began studying yoga in 1995 and teaching in 2001.  She has a broad yoga background and began studying Iyengar Yoga in 2008 and became a CIYT in 2019. Stephanie is deeply inspired by the power of precise alignment to experience freedom in the body and clarity of the mind.

In 2011, Stephanie founded Black Girls Do Yoga, an online community to reflect and encourage diversity in the yoga community and to promote yoga as practice for a healthy and joy filled life.

Stephanie also practiced as a Civil Engineer and currently lives in Morristown, NJ.

LIZA TOFT

Liza has been studying yoga since 1991, and teaching yoga since 1999. She was first introduced to yoga when she was a student at The School of Visual Arts in NYC, where she was studying fine arts. She explored many styles of yoga before committing to study Iyengar Yoga in 2003. The intelligence of that system of learning asana, the fact that its philosophy is not separated from the physical practice, and the way that it serves as a foundation that deepens with practice, has always been a source of mystery and wonder to her.

Liza is also a licensed Creative Arts Therapist, graduating from Pratt University with a Masters Degree in 2000. Other major appeals of Iyengar Yoga are the psychological and emotional benefits she gets from the practice and the science and creativity of sequencing asanas, observing how it affects the deeper layers of our being. As an art therapist who focuses on the body in therapy, Liza has a unique insight and sensitivity into what her students’ bodies are communicating about themselves and what would be beneficial.

Liza deepened her commitment to Iyengar Yoga by completing the teacher training at the New York Institute with James Murphy, Lara Warren, Tori Milner, and Naghmeh Ahi.  She received her Introductory Level I/II certification 2018 and traveled to Pune, India for the 2018 Centennial Celebration. 

Liza continues to paint and draw and has been a long-time practitioner of mindfulness meditation, which has had a deep impact on her life and work.

PEGGY WALLACE, TREASURER

Peggy Wallace is a Managing Partner of Golden Seeds.  She also helped raise and serves as a General Partner of Golden Seeds Funds I and II and, as a result, is one of the few female venture partners in the US focused on seed and early stage investing.

Peggy has been a leader in the growth of Golden Seeds from 5 members when she joined in 2005 to one of the nation’s largest angel networks with 300 members today.  Widely recognized for its best practices and expertise, Golden Seeds was the first angel group formed to focus on the immense opportunity of investing in women leaders with a keen focus on educating investors to join the early-stage investment asset class. 

To date, Golden Seeds has invested $120 million into 150+ companies in enterprise, healthcare and B to C, which have gone on to raise over $1 billion.  Golden Seeds members have held over 100 board seats and observer seats.  Peggy was an original instructor for all Golden Seeds courses and continues to teach the class on board service and governance. 

An experienced Board member herself, Peggy currently serves on the Boards of four privately held companies, Cognition Therapeutics, Chromis Technologies , Bergen Medical, and ShipperBee  and as a Board Observer on Cadenza Innovation and Paradigm4.  In these and other involvements, Peggy has served on Nominating and Governance, Audit, and Finance Committees and as a Board Chair.  Additionally, as a General Partner of two funds that have collectively invested in over 40 companies, Peggy has had direct fiduciary contact with numerous other Boards and the issues faced by their respective companies. 

Peggy has a deep understanding of the pace of innovation from early to late stage, broad exposure to the trends and ideas that entrepreneurs are identifying, and significant networks in the world of innovation and in women’s leadership circles.  Because of the sector diversity and geographic breadth of Golden Seeds coupled with her passion for following disruptive technologies, she remains current on industry, economic, and global trends while possessing finely honed financial skills.  She has reviewed over 4000 companies over the past 14 years and has deep expertise in innovation and what it takes to grow and lead a company.

Peggy is quoted in the media for her expertise on angel and venture investing and has been featured on Bloomberg News and in Entrepreneur Magazine.  She has served as a juror on the International Cartier Women’s Initiative Award and served as a Judge for the NY EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  Before Golden Seeds, Peggy was on Wall Street as a Managing Director in the Structured Finance/financial institutions arena giving her substantial financial and market expertise.  She spent a significant portion of her prior career at JP Morgan/Chase.

Peggy has been practicing Iyengar Yoga for 15 years.

ADVISORY BOARD

LAURA SHAPIRO KRAMER, Advisory Board Chair

LOREN FISHMAN, M.D., B.PHIL.
ANNA GOLFINOPOLOUS, Institute Faculty
DONNA KARAN
FRANK LIPMAN, M.D.
VIREN MEHTA
MIRA NAIR
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG
DALIA ZWICK, P.T., PH.D.