Adam Mangana
Chief Executive Officer
Adam Mangana, M.Ed is the Chief Executive Officer and a founder of Optima. Mr. Mangana has over 15 years of experience in education technology. He also launched Optima Classical School, the world’s first virtual reality charter school, a tuition-free online school serving students grades 3-8 in the fall of 2022.
Prior to the launch of Optima Classical, he was the Head of School at Benedict Day School in Sumrall, Mississippi. At Benedict, he built the only virtual reality lab in the Pine Belt.
He also served as the Director of the Extended Reality Lab at Jackson Preparatory in Flowood, Mississippi where he worked to build the Southeast’s largest extended reality lab in K-12 schools. This work is focused on curating the best educational experiences in virtual reality as well as teaching students to build their own experiences and content in VR.
He is a Teach For America Alumni as well as an Albert Bennett award recipient. After his two-year teaching commitment with TFA, Mangana worked for the prestigious education consulting firm Carney, Sandoe, and Associates. His career path has led him to work with both public and private schools in Miami, Providence, Chicago, and Jackson before founding the first Charter School in the state of Mississippi’s history, Midtown Public Charter School.
Mangana holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Brown University with a double major in Classics and Public and Private Sector Organizations. He also earned a Master’s Degree from Vanderbilt University in Independent School Leadership.
Adam lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with his wife Sophy and his son Aaron and daughter Aaliyah.