Our reinforcement comes from our Board of Advisors, carefully selected to include experts with non-traditional backgrounds who are amazing human beings, who posses deep knowledge within their specialty, and have a passion to positively impact young humans.
Steve has over 20 years in the interactive entertainment industry including leadership roles at Bungie Studios (Halo, Halo 2), ngmoco/Dena, SK Planet and Electronic Arts. A veteran in the mobile space, he has been Art/Creative Director and Product Owner for multiple mobile gaming titles. A passion for Children's Educational Software lead Steve to found his own studio developing edutainment software for kids aged 6-12.
Dr. Blankson is a pediatrician Board Certified in Adolescent Medicine. He is a United States Air Force veteran with over 13 years of military service. In 2015, he moved with his wife and three daughters to Dallas to join the Girls to Women Health and Wellness clinic. Alongside Girls to Women, Dr. Blankson's Young Men’s Health and Wellness clinic has grown to be one of the premier sites for adolescent male healthcare in the country.
Dr. Blankson has published in peer-reviewed journals on adolescent healthcare utilization, obesity, sports-related overuse injuries and energy-drink consumption, and has been featured by the New York Times, Huffington Post, CNN, Time magazine, Forbes, and more. He has served as a featured expert on Oprah’s Happiness O-Course and completed coursework to become a culinary medicine specialist. Published in 2015, The Saucier's Bones is his recipe-filled, middle grade novel about an adolescent chef coming of age. Most recently, he launched a company called Gamer Wellness that educates and supports gamers and their loved ones.
Jan Zanetis is an education veteran with a 20 year career as an educator and university administrator, spanning K-12 and higher education. Jan’s expertise is the application of video technologies in education. She has written extensively on this topic for education journals and has co-authored two books.
Jan is an active member of several professional organizations including the International Society for Technology in Education or ISTE, the United States Distance Learning Association, and the Consortium for School Networking; Jan is currently the Managing Director of the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration.
Dr. Maniar is a licensed psychologist who specializes in sport psychology and leadership development. As a sport psychologist, he has over 20 years of experience working with professional, collegiate, and youth athletes in virtually every sport; including team sport psychologist for the Cleveland Browns, The Ohio State University, Washington State University, and the University of Akron. He also served as the league-wide sport psychologist for the Alliance of American Football. As an executive coach, he has worked with C-suite executives across the globe to hone and develop their leadership skills.
Dr. Maniar is the Founder & President of the Center for Peak Performance and has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals on mental training, psychology of injury, stigma of seeking help, and smoking cessation.
Mukesh is Founder and CEO of Pracrea Corporation; a Silicon Valley based Software Company that developed a lead generation tool for business for sale and commercial real estate. Mukesh is also an investor, advisor, and or a board member of start-up technology companies where his experience provides the companies guidance for product, customer, and corporate development.
These companies include B2B solutions, enhanced cloud memory architecture, data analytics, financial technology and crowdfunding. Mukesh served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Field Operations at LTX Corporation, a NASDAQ listed company; and Mukesh worked four years as Vice President of Marketing and Sales at LogicVision, also a NASDAQ listed company, where he was a part of the management team that led the company through an IPO process. Mukesh also has a strong background in hospitality through his family businesses.
Scott is a long tenured college athletic administrator and coach. With over 25 years of experience working in collegiate athletics at both the NCAA Division I and Division II levels he has seen first hand the development of college athletics over three decades. He has worked as a coach at both Miami (Ohio) University and Xavier University. He then transitioned to athletic administration and has worked at the University of Colorado, University of Tennessee, and Notre Dame College. During his time in administration he has served in the areas of compliance, eligibility, fundraising, and operations. In addition he has served on the NCAA Management Council as well as numerous conference level committees.
Dr. Kathleen L. Rodgers is a veteran educator. Her experiences span K-12 through postsecondary education. Dr. Rodgers’ professional career includes work with the Department of Juvenile Justice, Homelessness, Foster Care, Equity, Title IX, Discipline and Restorative Practices. Some of her notable accomplishments comprise leading the Circuit 2 Collective in attaining statewide awards for equity and inclusion and leading efforts to create inclusive school communities for her school district. Her most recent accomplishment was facilitating her team to create a mentoring initiative, Parent Navigators Program. This initiative focuses on parents mentoring parents so that they can make informed decisions to assist themselves and their children in making better choices both inside and outside the school that would reduce the potential of students getting deeper involved in the system. Dr. Rodgers has also led her two times Blue Ribbon School in significantly reducing disciplinary referrals and subsequently receiving the statewide John Gardener Award (Little Red School House Award) for the state of Florida. Her innovative program IPOD Night won the Department of Education Parental Involvement Award for Region I and is published in the Florida Department of Education annual publication, Sparkplugs.
Educating children and developing leaders are Dr. Rodgers’ passion. She calls her students “gems” and daily strives to do the heart work she has been charged to do. Dr. Rodgers has recently retired as Assistant Superintendent in the Leon County School system after 39 years of service to her students and school district. She continues to lead with a servant’s heart engaging in efforts that fosters programs and activities that benefit students and put them on the road to success.
