Board of Directors

Nick Guggenbuehl
Co-Founder & President
Nick Guggenbuehl is a social entrepreneur with an academic background aimed at the intersection of neuroscience and philosophy. He founded the Minnesota Stoics, co-founded The Stoic Fellowship, and is happiest when he’s hiking amidst a forest of pines or in the act of creating something new, be it a business, piece of music, or batch of home-brewed beer. Read more or contact him at https://nickguggen.com.

James Kostecka
Co-Founder & Treasurer
James Kostecka, F.C.S.P., is a mentor at the College of Stoic Philosophers as well as co-founder of the Redwood Stoa, Stoic Fellowship, and Intergalactic Stoic School. He is currently an active member of the Fremont Stoa, Regional Support Volunteer for West Coast, U.S.A., and a board member at The Stoic Fellowship. James's current projects include curriculum development at Intergalactic and supporting the Stoic Fellowship Pioneers Program.

Greg Lopez
Co-Founder & Secretary
Gregory Lopez is the founder and facilitator of the New York City Stoics, co-founder of The Stoic Fellowship, co-host of Stoic Camp New York, and on the team at Modern Stoicism. He is also co-author of A Handbook for New Stoics with Massimo Pigliucci. You can find out more about him at https://greglopez.me.

Michael Maune
Board Member
Michael Maune is Secretary and Curriculum Director of the New England Stoics. He has served as an organizer for Stoicon-X New England and Stoic Practicum. He writes occasionally about Stoicism on his blog, A Person First.

Juan Pérez
Board Member
Juan Pérez is an author, podcaster, and co-founder and Sr. Change Manager at Axia Stoic Management. He founded the group Estoicismo Práctico in Guadalajara, Mexico. He is a business consultant, entrepreneur and organizational psychologist that enjoys his time creating new projects, reading, playing music and sharing time with his two kids and wife. Juan's current goal is to share Stoicism with vulnerable groups of young people in Mexico.

Brittany Polat
Board Member
Brittany Polat is co-founder of Stoicare, an organization that shares Stoicism with everyone who cares about other people and our beautiful planet. She is also a member of the Modern Stoicism team and frequently contributes talks, interviews, and articles to the worldwide Stoic community. Brittany holds a Ph.D. in applied linguistics. You can read more of her thoughts on humanist Stoicism, human nature, and moral psychology at Living in Agreement.

Kellys Rodriguez
Board Member
Kellys Rodriguez is the founder of Stoa Madrid, a school and community of Stoic philosophy based in Madrid (Spain) that aims to promote Stoicism's practical approach to learn and cultivate the art of living a good life. She’s also a member of our Social Service and Care team. Since 2018, she has organized activities for the Spanish-speaking Stoic community including online and in-person Stoic trainings, meetups, webinars, immersions, talks, Stoic hikes and get-togethers, group challenges, as well as social volunteering activities. Kellys has an academic and professional background in Economics and is the first South-American – Spanish member of our board.
Board Emeriti

Pete Fagella
Board Member
In addition to being a board member, Pete also serves as the president of the New England Stoics. He is an active pilot with the Civil Air Patrol and the Franconia Soaring Association. He flies everything from gliders to high performance single engine aircraft. He also has two teenage sons with whom he spends quite a lot of time. In his capacity as a director of the board, he is responsible for the organization of Stoicon-x events around the world.

Massimo Pigliucci
Board Member
Massimo Pigliucci is an author, blogger, podcaster, as well as the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His academic work is in evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and the practical philosophy of Stoicism. He is the author of How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (Basic Books) and his most recent book is Think like a Stoic: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World (Teaching Company / Audible). More by Massimo at his blog, Philosophy as a Way of Life.
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