AVI USA BOARD
From L-R: Bill Leon, Julian Lines, Matthew Andrew, Maggie Greer, Binah Thillairajah, Jack Alexander, Mary Alexander
Matthew Andrews, President
Matthew is a writer, musician, entrepreneur, spiritual activist, and yoga teacher. He is co-owner of Yoga Center Amherst, has co-taught several Embodyoga teacher trainings, and organizes yoga-oriented retreats in North and South India. Matthew first visited Auroville in 2000 as part of the Living Routes program, and was immediately attracted to the spiritual vibration and aspirations toward human unity.
Before owning the Yoga Center Amherst, he worked for Best Buddies International for 10 years, most recently as Senior Director, State Operations. In 2020 he co-founded Reparations for Amherst Massachusetts, a local organizing group working with town government, anchor institutions, the business community, and individual residents to establish a means for economic reparations for anti-Black crimes such as chattel slavery, redlining and land theft, wage suppression, and race-based predatory lending.
Binah Thillairajah, Vice President
Binah Thillairajah was born the same year as Auroville. First arriving in the community as a small child with her mother, she spent her formative years watching the countless sapling planted in dry, barren earth mature into the lush, vibrant forests that now lend their cooling shade to the entire area. A childhood spent living simply off the land and learning the local language in the surrounding Tamil villages had an indelible effect on how she views the world. In the early 1990s she traveled to the U.S. to pursue higher education, attaining a BA in Government and Asian Studies at Skidmore College and a Master’s degree in International Development at American University. In the time since she has worked in International Development at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and at various other non-profits. She is both proud and honored to be able to offer her expertise to benefit her hometown and foster collaboration between the United States and Auroville.
Maggie Greer
Maggie Greer was accepted as an Aurovilian by Mother in 1972. Originally, she lived in Sincerity and worked in the community kitchen at the Matrimandir worker’s camp. Later, she moved to live and teach at Equals One, an experimental school in Pondicherry. She traveled to the States in 1975 with the intention of a short three month visit that ended up being 35 years. During those years, she earned a Master’s degree in Educational Technology and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. She then educated students from kindergarten through graduate school until retirement in 2013.
In 2014, Maggie began to visit Auroville every couple of years for extended visits each time. Additionally, she happily reconnected with many old friends and made many new friends once she began attending the annual A.U.M. conferences in 2015.
Maggie also currently serves on the boards of AVI-USA, Auroville International, and Children Rights Collaborative of Northwest Ohio. She lives in Toledo, Ohio, although she considers her true home Auroville.
Bill Leon, Secretary
Bill Leon, Ph.D. is a former President of AVI-USA and has been a member of the Board since 1992. He is a professional evaluator, geographer, educator, and community developer. He has developed and managed programs to bring university students to Auroville and assists many Auroville units with their projects. He is President of Geo-Education & Research near Seattle, where he works with nonprofits, Tribes, government agencies and foundations to evaluate programs dealing with homelessness, health, education, environmental and other issues. He has co-published a collection of expressions of oneness (see www.theonebook.world) and continues to collect them for his website blog. He is engaged in other nonprofit work with a local environmental nonprofit and an itinerant homeless camp.
Mary Alexander, Treasurer
Mary Alexander lived in Auroville during its early years, and later moved to the USA, where she headed AVIUSA’s operations as Vice President with her husband, Jack Alexander, for many years. She has recently helped organize several Auroville reunions, and joined the Board again in 2005.
Julian Lines
Julian spent the summer of ’72 in upstate New York with Robert and Deborah Lawlor, Marjorie Spalding, Robert McDermott, Adm. Rutledge Tompkins, Prof. Jehangir Chubb and others learning about Auroville and Integral Yoga. He has been involved in helping Auroville ever since. He served on the Board of the Foundation for World Education, as Executive Director of Auroville International and from 2009-2017 he was appointed to the Auroville International Advisory Council by the Government of India. He and his wife, Wendy, who lived in Auroville in the seventies, are trustees of Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Center near Woodstock, NY. They completed a two story super-insulated building called “Auroville House” where they hold yoga and movement classes, concerts and “Awareness Through the Body” trainings. Books and handicrafts from Auroville are for sale as well.
Jack Alexander
Jack Alexander came to Auroville in the early ’70s with his wife, Mary. His son, Satyavan lives in Auroville with his wife and daughter. Jack owns BMH Equipment and lives in Sacramento, CA.