Brian M. Shulman, Founder & CEO

Brian Shulman is the Founder and CEO of Learning Through Sports.  He is a nationally-recognized speaker and writer on the subject of sports and character education, having recently authored The Death of Sportsmanship and spoken before Congress on the subject.  Prior to founding LTS in 2001, he was a senior sales and marketing executive in the healthcare information technology industry.  A graduate of Auburn University, Shulman was a Captain of the Auburn University football team and helped lead them to the 1988 SEC Championship.  He was an eighth-round draft choice for the Green Bay Packers professional football team.  He graduated from Auburn in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Shulman launched and funded Learning Through Sports in 2001 with the goal of introducing innovative, cost-effective technology solutions from other industries into the education space.  Believing that the intersection of sports and digital gaming technologies represented a powerful motivational platform for today’s kids, Shulman assembled a team of PhD researchers, educational content experts, and software developers to design and create Kid's College – a Web-based Math and Reading/Language Arts skills practice program – and STAR Sportsmanship – a Web-based role-playing program for students, coaches, and parents.  These two programs have combined to produce notable improvements in math and literacy results on standardized state tests while also dramatically reducing fighting, ejections, and other poor sportsmanship behavior on the athletic playing fields.  In 2007, Shulman and LTS launched MySportsmanship.com, the first monitored social networking site for 7-12th graders focused on positive sports behavior. 

Jack Risenhoover, Director of Development

Jack Risenhoover directs overall business development and strategy for LTS.  He is responsible for creating new initiatives and relationships, with a recent focus on LTS’s captive agency, Sports Triangle, and its marketing efforts directed at corporate ad sponsors. He is a director for After Sports, LLC – a non-profit organization devoted to helping professional athletes make a difference in their communities.  He has over 20 years experience in senior executive roles managing Legal, Human Resources, Technology Infrastructure, and Administration.  He has enjoyed a diversified career having worked with Merrill Lynch in the launch of Oklahoma Venture Partners,  serving as COO of a Los Angeles advertising agency, and having operated for a decade as an Executive Officer, Secretary, and General Counsel for a publicly-traded software company with more than 2,000 employees and a market capitalization over $1 billion.  He is also a Board Member and Managing Principal for Health Robotics, a worldwide leader in chemotherapy robotics.

Risenhoover received his Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University, Master of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma, and Bachelor of Science in Management from Pepperdine University.  He has been married for 17 years and has four daughters.

Roger Brown,Chief Operating Officer

Roger Brown manages daily activities of the company, including product development and delivery, technical specifications, sales trends and projections, accounting procedures, and corporate policies.  He oversees Corporate Support personnel, the Business Development Team, Academic and Sportsmanship Coordinators, and Technical Support.  Prior to joining LTS, he served as Mortgage Controller for Regions Bank and before that, dedicated 27 years to SouthTrust Bank (now Wachovia Bank) as Senior Vice President and Divisional Controller for Wealth Management.

Brown received his B.S. (Accounting) from the University of South Alabama, graduated from the Southern Trust School, and completed one year of National Graduate Trust School.  He has been married for 38 years and has two children and three grandchildren. He has been an instructor at the annual Southern Trust School for the past 25 years.

Laura LeNoir, Director of Operations

Laura manages a team of experienced support personnel at Learning Through Sports and is personally responsible for all communication with the customer including technical support, operations, sales, and customer care. Her career as a speech therapist and work in marketing communications ensures that each and every person that contacts Learning Through Sports is handled with care and their needs are met efficiently. Like the founder, Laura is also a proud graduate of Auburn University and enjoys football.

Amy Frith, Marketing & Web Specialist

As Marketing & Web Specialist, Amy oversees production of LTS print collateral and email communications, and development of the www.learningthroughsports.com and www.mysportsmanship.com web sites. She is the touch point for customer success stories from Kid’s College, STAR Sportsmanship, and MySportsmanship.com users from across the nation, and acts as the media contact for the company. Before joining LTS in 2006, Amy served as a marketing and communications specialist in the information services industry. She graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

Amechele Toups, Utilization Specialist and Coaching Liaison

As Utilization Specialist for LTS, Amechele maintains product guides and other documentation for accuracy and currency. As the Motivated Data Academic Coaches Liaison, she provides support to academic coaches to ensure that all administrators, teachers, students and parents are utilizing LTS products effectively and efficiently. Amechele assists with operations, customer care, technical support, special projects and community involvement. She has a background in Elementary/Early Education from the University of Montevallo. Her previous career as a Clinical Research Coordinator ensures individualized and detailed customer care.

David M. Rees, Business Advisor and Director
David is a partner of Vincent & Rees, LC, a legal and business advisory firm located in Salt Lake City, Utah and also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of a financial consulting and marketing firm in Salt Lake City, Utah. David has many years of experience working with companies in various capacities, including arranging and structuring financing, operations, sales/marketing, cross-border transactions and legal advisory services.

Among other positions, David has served as Chief Executive Officer of a publicly traded educational software company in Sandy, Utah and as Vice President of Strategic Planning for a publicly traded Internet company in Los Angeles, California. David was an associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance departments at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York City. David received his B.A. in History from Weber State University and his J.D. from New York University.

Dr. Garry L. McDaniels, Data Analysis & Reporting
Dr. McDaniels is an expert in services for at-risk children, youth and adults. He was Chief of Evaluation and Research for the U.S. Department of Education's Title I program. Dr. McDaniels also served as the Director of Research, Evaluation and Demonstration programs for the then Bureau for the Education of the Handicapped at the Department of Education. In 1982, he served as the Director of Federal Special Education Programs.

McDaniels and his colleagues created SkillsBank and Cornerstone, which became the two of best selling supplemental computer product for U.S. schools. In 2000, McDaniels and his associates founded a new company that brought these popular disk products to the web under the name of SkillsTutor. McDaniels is currently President of the non-profit Orion Research Group focused on evaluation of basic education programs for children and adolescents with disabilities and low skilled adults. He is the author of over 100 professional papers; 50 magazine columns on education research and data, and a frequent speaker on education topics. The University of Michigan, where McDaniels received his PhD, honored him for his work with the Distinguished Alumni Award, in 1995.

Barton Listick, Software Development & Production
As the CEO of Trylonix Corporation, Mr. Listick has over 25 years of experience in software development and is the developer of Knowledge Adventure’s best-selling JumpStart series of children's edutainment software. As the very first grade-based edutainment software, JumpStart literally created an entire new category of educational software. Fernando Echovera who was formerly with Knowledge Adventure, brings a wealth of experience in data base programming to this outstanding team.

Whether as a producer, executive producer, or designer, Barton has personally been involved in the creation of more than 15 edutainment titles, as well as the development of an innovative online tutoring service and home learning software for robots. Captivating gameplay and engrossing characters, combined with solid learning and progress tracking, has been the hallmark of this award-winning company. Learning Through Sports is proud to employ the services of this development firm specializing in edutainment and game software, education technology, and children’s products.

Mark J. Lacy, Instructional Design
Mark is a founder and Senior-Vice President of LetterPress Software, Inc. He is an award winning instructional designer and developer of e-learning training and education programs. Mark has more than fifteen years of work experience in the field of instructional technology and has a bachelor's degree in Instructional Communications from California State University Sacramento and a Master's degree in Instructional Technology from Utah State University. Mark possesses cutting-edge expertise and experience in managing, designing, and developing technology-based training, educational software, instructional software components and multimedia software products. He currently leads the company's instructional design efforts for new product development.

The team at LetterPress is made up of instructional designers, media specialists, artists, project managers, animators, programmers, and writers committed to creating learning experiences that are efficient, effective, and engaging. Together with Learning Through Sports, we design and develop technology-based training and educational software products based on the science of instruction.

Michael Glover, Business Development
Michael has been working with the educational community across the country since 1978 in financial services and educational technology. He has led national sales teams for 25+ years at National Teacher Associates, Tudor Publishing, Knowledge Adventure & Curriculum Advantage. Michael provides overall business development and strategy based on his extensive knowledge of the market and experience in working with national and state associations and the relationships he has built with school districts across the country.

Dan Washburn, AHSAA
Mr. Dan Washburn is Former Executive Director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association (ASHAA - www.ahsaa.com) and President of the National Federation of High Schools Board of Directors.

Don Hinton, MHSAA
Mr. Don Hinton is currently serving his 7th consecutive year as a member of the Executive Committee of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA - www.misshsaa.com). Don holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education (‘76) and a Master’s Degree (‘85) in Educational Administration, both from the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2005-06, he was selected as Mississippi Athletic Director of the Year by both the Mississippi Association of Coaches and the MHSAA.

David Sheppard, Academic Coach
Mr. David Sheppard, Ed.D., (University of Southern Mississippi, ’60) serves as the LTS Academic Coach for six pilot school districts in the State of Mississippi. David trains teachers and administrators on best practices for using the Kid’s College program and assists with data analysis at the district, school, grade, and class level to help determine progress. David worked in the Laurel School District of Mississippi for 37 years, the last 19 years as superintendent. He taught at the University of William Cary and the University of Southern Mississippi. David also established and directed the educational consortium “SCMCEED” at USM. He was selected as the State of Mississippi Superintendent of the Year in 1997, as well the Director of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents for five years.

John Tatum, STAR Sportsmanship Coach
Mr. John Tatum works with the athletic departments of schools across the State of Alabama to introduce STAR™ Sportsmanship to coaches, parents, and athletes. John has recently retired from the active coaching ranks after 38 years, most previously as Athletic Director for the past 12 years at the Montgomery Academy in Montgomery, AL. In those 12 years, Montgomery Academy won 28 State Championships and 19 State Runner-ups. John also coached at Everett Junior High School in Florida and Walker High School in Georgia. In his 27 years as a head high school football coach, John’s overall record is 196-112-1. His teams made it to the playoffs 21 out of 27 years.

Jim Chesnutt, CLAS, Academic Coach Coordinator
Mr. Jim Chesnutt is Membership Consultant for the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools (CLAS - www.clasleaders.org) and serves as Academic Coach Coordinator for Learning Through Sports’ Academic Coaching professional development program, which provides consultants who assist administrators and educators to better utilize Kid's College student data and differentiate their teaching. Jim coordinates with more than 30 Academic Coaches to stay aware of best practices for maximizing the success of students, educators and administrators who use Kid's College.

Debbie Hildreth, Assistant Coach Coordinator
Debbie Hildreth, Ed.D., is Assistant Coach Coordinator for the Kid’s College Academic Coaching professional development program. Debbie is a retired elementary school principal and former Kindergarten and first grade teacher. She completed her undergraduate work at Samford University, then earned her Master’s Degree as an Educational Specialist, as well as her Doctor of Education Degree, at the University of Alabama.   After working with elementary students for 29 years, Debbie recognizes the significant impact that motivation and skills practice have on student achievement. She believes Kid's College combines these two critical factors. 

Dr. Clem Mejia
Former Regional Educational Superintendent, Kane County, IL (www.kane.k12.il.us).