Adrián Roberto Román (he/el), is a cooperative organizer and believes that prioritizing the culture of the team and relationship to the community leads to resilient organizations that can adapt and care for those involved. He founded Roman Ventures, is a co-owner of Colmenar Consulting Cooperative, a certified mediator, an authorized teacher of Full Presence Mindfulness and a member owner of Boston Leaders and Artists Cooperative. He is from Miami, FL, of Cuban and Chilean descent and his culture and family history informs his approach.
Cooperatives
Adrian has worked as an organizer for most of his career. He started as a cooperative organizer in 2021, starting his Coop journey at Boston Center for Community Ownership. He has led and developed workshops for clients and partners, including the City of Boston and Dorchester Art Project and supported teams through the cooperative development process preparing them for launch including the development of the bylaws and business plan. In addition, he helped develop the internal capacity of a self directed non profit that offers Cooperative Development services, the Boston Center for Community Ownership, by hiring and training new cooperative organizers and activating the culture through skillful facilitation and the analysis of the management structure. And was a part of the cooperative ecosystem assessment initiative in Brockton, MA.
Mindfulness
Adrian began leading mindfulness programs internationally in 2018 including courses, workshops, and retreats. He was fully authorized to teach Full Presence Mindfulness (FPM) in 2019 by Jack Petranker, a long time student of Tibetan Lama Tarthang Tulku and developer of FPM. He has been studying Tibetan Buddhism, Insight Meditation, Tibetan Yoga and contemporary modalities such as ‘Time Space Knowledge’ (TSK) and Full Presence Mindfulness since 2014. He currently teaches mindfulness for teams in organizations, programs for nonprofits and for the Center for Creative Inquiry.
Mediation
Adrian received his mediation certificate through SEEDS in Berkeley, CA, January 2021. Since then, he has been formally mediating and facilitating strategic meetings for organizations, in court and for individuals. He has developed conflict resolution processes and advised on individual and systemic pain points. He was certified in Re-Entry mediation through Community Mediation Maryland in 2023 and is part of the initiative to launch re-entry mediation in Massachusetts. He currently coaches for Community Dispute Settlement Center’s 40 mediation certification course.