HISTORY
The “idea” of The Williamsburg Institute was born out of a clear and present need for improved and sustainable civil discourse and civic engagement in American society. By combining the intellectual prowess of William & Mary with the world-class historical resources of Colonial Williamsburg, a collaborative opportunity was identified to speak directly to this “idea.” An opportunity to educate, equip, and prepare individuals for effective leadership in their organizations and communities while promoting a deep understanding of the foundational principles of our nation and their contemporary application to engagement, civility, respect, and inclusivity. As the United States approaches its 250th year, the Institute is seen as playing a crucial role in this discussion, and beyond.
OUR TEAM
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Christopher Caracci, MA, MBA
Christopher Caracci leverages his remarkable 32-year tenure with The Walt Disney Company, where he was a senior leader with the Disney University and the Disney Institute, to excel in his role as the Executive Director of The Williamsburg Institute. His profound expertise in executive education, adult education and learning andragogy and methodologies, and immersive program experience design are cornerstones of his contributions. Chris stands as an expert in the arena of organizational behavior and culture strategy, with a pronounced emphasis on aligning core leadership competencies with values-driven operational philosophies.
In addition to his leadership role at The Williamsburg Institute, Chris holds a faculty position at William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business teaching leadership, organizational behavior, and global competitive strategy. In these roles, he teaches and offers insights into values-centric leadership, service-centric operational processes, corporate strategy, and sustainable organizational behavior.
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
James Boswell, MA, MBA, JD
James brings over 25 years of experience in the public and private legal sectors, in non-profit work, and in executive and corporate education, to his role as Chief Strategy Officer. He is deeply engaged in civic and academic service. He is the Chair of the Williamsburg Planning Commission and has served on the Williamsburg Architectural Review Board. He serves on the Board of Directors of the William & Mary Libraries and is a dedicated member of William & Mary’s Neurodiversity Task Force and the First-Gen Advisory Council.
James is the Chair of the Board of Advisors of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation, which tells the story of Williamsburg’s historic First Baptist Church of 1776. He recently concluded six years of service on the Advisory Board of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he held the position of Chair during his final year. He continues to co-chair a committee focused on reimagining the museum's facilities.
As an educator, James teaches Business Law and Ethics at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary, where he has also served as an instructional designer and Faculty Lead for executive education programs. He extends his expertise to Albany Law School, affiliated with SUNY-Albany, teaching courses in Human Resource Law and Human Capital Analytics. For several years, he taught business, legal, and compliance executive education courses for Cornell Law School.
He has published articles on Thomas Jefferson and the eighteenth-century Virginia cabinetmaker Robert Walker.
James graduated from William & Mary in 1986 and holds graduate degrees from the University of Georgia and Harvard University.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SPECIALIST
Cheryl Adkisson
Cheryl is an experienced professional educator with a strong background in program development and history-related curriculum creation. She has a proven ability to create and implement educational programming, particularly at the intersection of contemporary practice and historical context. Cheryl holds degrees in business education and library science from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky and the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Carly began her career as a secretary for a nine-person real estate firm. She climbed the corporate ladder at AT&T and Lucent Technologies through a willingness to tackle tough problems, a relentless focus on producing results and accepting accountability, and a passion for leveraging the talents of others and building high-performance teams.
She was recruited to Hewlett-Packard with a mission to transform the company from a laggard to a leader, becoming the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 company. During her tenure as Chair and CEO, Hewlett-Packard became the largest technology company in the world, innovation tripled, cash flow quadrupled, and revenue and profit growth accelerated.
Both the government and the private sector have sought out her vast problem-solving, team-building, and leadership experience. She has advised the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. She founded Carly Fiorina Enterprises to bring her expertise to private sector teams, and the Unlocking Potential Foundation to allow those in the social sector to benefit from her experience. She is the author of three best-selling books on leadership for general audiences, as well as a weekly LinkedIn newsletter with over 500,000 subscribers. She is a frequent speaker to teams and executives of many industries all over the world.
Carly believes that citizens and leaders in civil society have an important role and an enormous opportunity to drive positive change. In 2015, Carly launched a campaign for President. Americans came to know Carly as a clear-eyed, direct leader capable of actually solving problems and delivering results. She is a member of the newly-formed American Bar Association Task Force for American Democracy, which is focused on those actions necessary to improve citizens’ confidence in American elections. She serves as the founding visionary and Executive Chair of The Williamsburg Institute, where history-makers meet. She also serves on the Board of Visitors for James Madison University.
As a student of history and philosophy at Stanford University, Carly first began to appreciate the power of ideas to drive change and the impact of history on the present and future. She believes that a deeper understanding of our nation’s full history, as well as the ideas upon which America was founded is particularly important during the current climate of division, discord, and political dysfunction. She serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as well as the National Honorary Chair of the Virginia 250 Commission. In both roles, she is focused on ensuring that our nation’s founding is broadly understood, accurately portrayed, and commemorated in an inclusive, accessible way, particularly as we approach the United States Semiquincentennial in 2026.
Developed and honed throughout her experience over decades and around the globe, from the bottom of the ladder to the very top, from the private to the public to the social sector, Carly approaches each challenge with three core beliefs: every individual has more potential than they realize; people closest to the problem know best how to solve it; and the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others and work with them to solve problems and change things for the better. Putting those beliefs to work within the criminal justice system, she is the founder and Chair of Pathway to Promise, an organization that works with justice-involved youth so they can change their world.
She and her husband Frank have been married for almost forty years. They live in Lorton, Virginia, where they are both active members of the community and support numerous local charitable causes. Their daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters live nearby.
Peggy's long career in academia and leadership has spanned several esteemed institutions and roles. Before becoming William & Mary’s 6th provost in 2019, she held multiple significant positions at George Mason University, including serving as the dean of the College of Science, director of the NASA-funded Center for Earth Observing and Space Research, chair of the Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science, and as a distinguished professor specializing in remote sensing and spatial informatics. Peggy started her academic career at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, consistently ranked as one of the ten best universities in the world, before joining the College of Engineering at the University of Maine. Peggy's extensive expertise extends into the private sector, where she also served as a principal investigator on technology transfer projects. A prolific scholar, Peggy has authored over 100 publications in various fully refereed academic outlets and has served as principal (or co-principal) investigator in research projects funded by NSF, NASA, NGA, and other federal agencies, with budgets exceeding $35M. Peggy holds a diploma (BS/MS) in engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and MS and PhD degrees from the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. She also holds a degree in classical music from the Hellenic Conservatory of Music and Arts in Greece.
Kendrick is the Co-Founder and co-CEO of The St. James, a prominent developer and operator of performance, wellness, and lifestyle ventures. As a proud alumnus of William & Mary, Kendrick's accomplishments include his pivotal role as the co-founder of The William & Mary Alumni Angel Network, a group of angel investors, wholeheartedly dedicated to nurturing startups and emerging companies. Kendrick's vision and leadership have breathed life into this network, fostering growth and innovation in the business world.
Education is a passion that burns brightly within Kendrick. He has channeled this fervor into active participation in initiatives that champion educational opportunities. His dedication to empowering students through education is a testament to his commitment to a brighter future.
Kendrick's philanthropic endeavors have been a source of positive change in society, exemplifying his desire to make the world a better place through meaningful contributions. He has generously supported a range of charitable causes and organizations, including Board of Trustees membership at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the National Urban League, and the William & Mary Foundation, and a member of the Board of Visitors for William & Mary.
Kendrick's career story is one of unyielding dedication to innovation, entrepreneurship, and education. His profound impact in the realms of business and investment has earned him the respect and admiration of peers and colleagues alike. He stands as a revered figure in these communities, a beacon of inspiration for those who follow in his footsteps.
Cliff stands as an individual whose life has been marked by a variety of experiences in the domains of education and leadership. His journey is a testament to the places one can go through dedication and a deep passion for understanding and education in the field of history.
At The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CWF), Cliff holds the positions of President and CEO. This foundation, renowned as the world's largest living history museum, is on a continuing and noble mission to safeguard and illuminate American colonial and revolutionary history. Under his leadership, CWF has emerged as a vanguard in historical preservation and innovative educational programming, with history coming to life for guests through engaging experiences meticulously crafted to transport them back in time.
Cliff holds four academic degrees from William & Mary in the fields of history, business, and law, providing him with a solid foundation for excelling in executive leadership roles. He extends his wisdom and experience to the next generation as a faculty member of William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
Pam's impressive 40-year career in finance, auditing, and accounting reflects her dedication and expertise in the field. A proud graduate of William & Mary with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, Pam began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers as the only woman in their Norfolk, Virginia office. After two years, she continued her auditing journey at KPMG in Norfolk, where she also met her husband, Jim, who later attended William & Mary Law School. In 2016, Pam was honored as an honorary alumna of the Law School.
Pam's career took her to Houston with KPMG as an audit partner before transitioning to private industry. She held senior leadership roles at Securities and Exchange Commission-listed companies, including serving as senior vice president and controller at American General Corp. and later as executive vice president and chief accounting officer at HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. during a successful merger with Tokio Marine. Pam retired in 2016.
Together with her husband, James D. "Jim" Penny, J.D., Pam has generously supported both the W&M Law School (Penny Professorship of Law, Penny Accounting Scholarship) and the Raymond A. Mason School of Business (Penny Business Analytics Scholarship). Pam has also served in various volunteer roles, including on the Raymond A. Mason School of Business Accounting Programs board, and is currently a trustee of the William & Mary Foundation board. In her Foundation board role, Pam chairs the Academic Initiatives Subcommittee of the Development Strategy Committee and contributes her expertise to both the Audit and Trusteeship Committees.
Pam's passion for Virginia history has led her to serve on the board of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, which supports Historic Jamestowne, and to be actively involved with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, and George Washington's Mount Vernon.
Jeff Trammell has decades of experience advising corporate and political leaders. He headed public affairs for the international consulting firm, Hill & Knowlton, for over a decade, helping corporate leaders around the globe succeed in overcoming public and governmental challenges. He was indispensable counsel for CEOs and other corporate leaders in managing public affairs to the benefit of their bottom line.
Jeff spent years working as a staff member in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, immersed in the inner workings of the legislative process. He served as a senior advisor to four presidential campaigns.
In 2011 he was elected Rector, chair of the Board of Visitors at William & Mary. In this capacity he led the university to adopt an innovative financial model, the William & Mary Promise. He served on the Virginia gubernatorial transition team on education and the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments. For five years he served on the Board of Trustees of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities, whose membership includes virtually all educational institutions in the nation. He was consulting editor of Trusteeship magazine which educates the nation’s college and university trustees and is the author of Effective Board Chairs: A Guide for University and College Chairs. He is the former chair of the board of the Harriman Fellows in International Diplomacy, which provides competitive fellowships for students in that field.
He is a trustee of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and has served as a board member of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and James Monroe's Highland, underscoring his commitment to the preservation of historical and cultural institutions and the role they play in undergirding American democracy.
ADVISORY BOARD
Robert Currie, B.F.A.
Director of Entertainment: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Dan Dutcher, B.A.
Founder & Owner: Dan Dutcher Public Relations and Communications
Alexandra Joose, Ph.D.
Public Policy Faculty: Public Policy Program, William & Mary
Ann Marie Stock, Ph.D.
Presidential Liaison for Strategic Cultural Partnerships and Chancellor Professor of Modern Languages & Literatures: William & Mary
Matt Williams, M.B.A.
Marketing Faculty: Raymond A. Mason School of Business, William & Mary
Owner and Managing Partner: Brand Federation Marketing
Sally Wolfe, B.A.
Senior Director of Development: Williamsburg Landing
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