Our Team
Karen E. bOHLIN
Karen E. Bohlin is Director of the Practical Wisdom Project at AAI, Research Affiliate at Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, and Principal of the Practical Wisdom Group, LLC. With more than two decades of leadership and teaching in both secondary and higher education, Dr. Bohlin's work explores the intersection of practical wisdom and leadership for flourishing. She teaches Wisdom at Work: Revitalizing School Leadership, an online executive education program that equips leadership teams to shape institutions committed to individual and collective flourishing. Author of several books and articles on applied virtue ethics, practical wisdom and the “schooling of desire,” she is a sought after speaker and leader of professional education workshops. Dr. Bohlin also serves as senior scholar at Boston University’s Center for Character & Social Responsibility, founder and director emerita of the LifeCompass Institute for Character & Leadership at Montrose School and advisory board member for the Kern Partners in Character and Educational Leadership (KPCEL).
Andrea Rolla
Andrea Rolla began her career as an elementary school teacher. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages and Literatures from Princeton University, her master’s degree in Educational Research Methodology from the University of Oxford, and her doctorate in Language and Literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has held research, policy, and leadership roles at Harvard University, WestEd, the Chilean Ministry of Education, and Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, and has worked as a consultant for international organizations including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Her work focuses on strengthening teacher–child interactions, language and literacy development, and the design of effective professional learning for educators.
Colette Kania
Colette Kania is currently the Chief of Staff at the Practical Wisdom Project in Cambridge, MA, where she supports the Wisdom at Work: Revitalizing School Leadership Research-Practice Partnership. Colette has teaching experience as well as a background in education policy in the state of Florida. She graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Education Sciences concentrating in Schools, Society, and Policy. Her experience expands across disciplines in human formation as a founder of a woman’s personal development program serving 300 young women and creating a habit-forming application for a platform that reaches over 5 million individuals monthly.
Dr. Mark B. Pacheco
Dr. Mark B. Pacheco is an Associate Professor in UF's College of Education and Affiliate Faculty of the Hamilton School. His research focuses on character education within diverse classroom contexts, and has been funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest, and the National Science Foundation. With the Practical Wisdom Project, he lends his expertise in design-based research and professional development. Dr. Pacheco works on varied character education projects in his teaching and research, including the Classical Education Initiative at the Hamilton School, the Building a Better World Exhibit at the Museum of Discovery Science in Fort Lauderdale, and the Human Dignity Curriculum with the World Youth Alliance. He lives in Bermuda with his wife, Ashley, and their two young children.
Manee Ngozi Nnamani
Manee Ngozi Nnamani is a researcher and educator passionate about promoting human flourishing through education and learning, with a special focus on the role of technology and the education of girls. As Co-Pedagogy Lead at the Practical Wisdom Project at the Abigail Adams Institute, she serves as the chief implementer across all teaching and learning strands and the primary driver of coherence between design-based research and pedagogical implementation. Her leadership in education spans more than a decade across Nigeria, Spain, and the United States. In Nigeria, she has played a central leadership role at The Lagoon School in Lagos. In Spain, she developed a Digital Ethics curriculum for schools. In the United States, she has contributed to research and design projects at the intersection of technology, character, and education, including a research role at the MIT Teaching Systems Lab—a computer science education researcher–practitioner partnership with over 16 schools in Massachusetts. She has also contributed to the development of resources for Coursera, SubjectToClimate, Teach For All, and executive education programmes. Manee earned her B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, and a Master’s in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology from Harvard University.
Miroslava Duranková
Miroslava Duranková is a co-founder and director of the Great Works Academy - a program dedicated to promoting character development of students and their teachers through a powerful pedagogical encounter with great stories and art. Designed to awaken young people’s desire for wisdom and beauty, students leave the program with a demonstrated commitment to pursue virtue in their own life. Miroslava earned her Masters in Character Education from the University of Birmingham (UK) and completed a mixed methods thesis on The importance of moral imagination and desire in character education. She leads professional development initiatives and collaborates with experts in the field of character education worldwide, including the United States, Spain, UK, and Slovakia. She has been a part of the Practical Wisdom Project since 2022, when she served a Visiting Scholar at the Abigail Adams Institute and researched the impact of the Practical Wisdom Framework at Montrose School. Miroslava is currently developing a character education program, using the Practical Wisdom Framework™at the Citadela Elementary Schools- the first elementary schools in Slovakia rooted in principles of classical education. She is a PhD candidate in moral education at the University of Trnava, Slovakia.
Maura Ronayne is the Director of Marketing & Communications at the Abigail Adams Institute and its subprogram, the Practical Wisdom Project. She leads the Institute’s branding, communications, and digital presence, while also overseeing event programming and all community-facing initiatives. With a professional background in marketing and publishing, Maura brings a strong foundation in strategy and storytelling to her work. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2020 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Government.