(February 6, 2025) - The Pahara Institute announced today a new cohort of the highly selective Pahara Fellowship. These 24 individuals join the Pahara community of leaders, which is designed to strengthen and sustain values-driven leaders who are transforming public education so that every child is prepared to lead a free and fulfilling life.
The Pahara Fellowship is a one-year, cohort-based program that identifies exceptional leaders in the educational excellence and equity movement, facilitates their dynamic growth, and strengthens their collective efforts to dramatically improve public education, especially those serving low-income children and communities. The Fellowship provides these leaders with the unusual opportunity to step back from their demanding daily work to reflect with peers on their collective and individual impact as leaders and change agents. Fellows challenge each other to think beyond traditional silos and sector boundaries to develop strategies that enhance their effectiveness as leaders, address leadership challenges in public education, and accelerate the improvements needed to provide high-quality learning opportunities for all of our nation’s children.
The newest cohort of Pahara Fellows includes:
Veronica Benavides, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Bilingual Generation
Brenda Calderon, Former Chief of Staff, US Department of Education
Elsa Chagolla, Executive Director, Lynwood Partners Educational Foundation
William Collins, Chief External Affairs Officer, Surge Institute
Dalia Contreras, Chief Executive Officer, City Education Partners
Sharon Contreras, Chief Executive Officer, The Innovation Project
Amanda Cox, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Future Public School
Nadya Chinoy Dabby, Chief Impact Officer, UnboundEd
Caleb Dolan, Vice President Regional and School Support, KIPP Foundation
Charlie Friedman, Executive Director, Nashville Classical Charter Schools
Dwight Ho-Sang, Chief Schools Officer, Legacy Early College
Reneta Johnson, Executive Director, Legacy Prep Schools
Wayne Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship
Mary Cypress Metz, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education
Joel Muñoz, Superintendent of Schools, BakerRipley Community Schools
Michael O'Sullivan, Executive Director, GeorgiaCAN
Ashley Philippsen, Executive Director, ImpactTulsa
Greg Ponikvar, Executive Director, Marshall Street
Erick Roa, Chief Operating Officer, Making Waves Education Foundation
Maribel Sainez, Directory of Advocacy & Community Engagement, Aspire Public Schools
Emily Schultz, Executive Director, Alabama Families for Great Schools
Alex Serna, Chief Operating Officer, Breakthrough Collaborative
David Soo, Vice President, Strategy Engagements and Policy, Jobs for the Future
Andrea Zayas, Chief of Collaboration & Partnerships, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
To access bios and photos of the Pahara Fellows, click here.
For more information please contact info@pahara.org.
About the Pahara Institute
The Pahara Institute seeks to strengthen the movement for educational excellence and equity by developing and sustaining values-driven leaders. The guiding principle of the Pahara Institute is that bold improvements are needed in our public schools so that every child in America is prepared to lead a free and fulfilling life. Pahara’s programs are designed to identify leaders in education innovation, and through a time-tested dialogue approach, strengthen and sustain their efforts to bring about critical improvements to our public schools. For more information, please visit pahara.org.