Penpa Tsering is the democratically elected Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration. He was the speaker of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration (Tibetan Parliament in Exile) for two terms between 2008 and 2016. Penpa Tsering was born in Bylakuppe in the Indian state of Karnataka in 1967. He graduated with an Honours degree in economics from Madras Christian College. He served as the executive director at the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre (TPPRC) in Delhi between 2001 and 2008. Penpa was elected to the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) for two terms from 1996 and 2006. Following this, he became the speaker of the 14th and 15th Parliament between 2008 and 2016. In July 2016, he was appointed the ‘North America Representative of the Dalai Lama, Representative to Office of Tibet, Washington, D.C.’ for a year. He formally took charge on 29 August 2016. Penpa was sworn in as Sikyong on 27 May 2021 in the presence of the Dalai Lama who attended virtually.