Who We Are

Courtney is a seasoned executive with a passion for education, technology and workforce development. In addition to his role at Skillz Academy, Courtney is also the founder and CEO of Torsh Inc., an education technology company and the Founder and CEO of Upriver Solutions Corp. Over a career spanning more than 25 years, Courtney has held senior roles at AOL, Time Warner, and Interactive One. He is an active member of his community, serving on a number of Boards including YouthForce NOLA and Krewe De Nieux. He also serves as a member of the Johns Hopkins School of Education National Advisory Council and is a 2010 CUP Fellow, a fellowship awarded to executives with an interest in public service. Courtney is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Oberlin College.

In 2014, Jacob moved to New Orleans to launch his career in sales. He spent four years learning to sell at two New Orleans-based startups. In 2018, he moved back to his hometown, Columbus, Ohio. He wanted to find a way to apply his sales skills to a cause and joined Venture For America (VFA) as a recruiter. VFA is a non-profit that helps recent graduates launch their careers in tech and startup businesses. In 2020, Jacob, who is also a VFA alumnus, helped recruit VFA’s largest and most diverse class ever. He is excited to have returned to New Orleans to launch Skillz Academy and teach New Orleanians how sales can be a life changing career. He is on the Board of Trustees for his high school, The Wellington School, has been a mentor with Son of a Saint, and is a graduate of Duke University.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Natasha began her career as a Venture for America (VFA) Fellow working in Marketing and Recruiting at a private equity firm in New Orleans. VFA is a non-profit that helps recent graduates launch their careers in tech and startup businesses. She is a graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University, where she majored in Political Science and focused on women’s empowerment through her work with the Athena Center for Leadership Studies. Natasha is excited to grow Upriver and drive impact through career advancement.

Carlton, a New Orleans native, has experience in property management, accounting, community organizing, and sales. Carlton spent time working for AT&T’s Business Sales Program in both Dallas and Atlanta before returning home to work with his family’s accounting firm. He is a graduate of Alabama A&M University and is excited to bring his versatility, energy, and unique professional experience to Skillz Academy. Carlton looks forward to making New Orleans a better place by recruiting talented individuals to join Skillz Academy where they will learn skills that can change their lives for the better.

Born in the Caribbean paradise of Trinidad and Tobago, Hermina began her career as an admissions counselor for SUNY. She is a graduate of Muhlenberg College. After having more than 10 years of admissions and marketing experience in Higher Education, to further hone her marketing skills, Hermina earned her MS in Internet Marketing from Full Sail University. When Hermina isn’t busy developing new ideas, she is serving in her community on the board of the Sigma Upsilon Nu Foundation. She looks forward to bringing her understanding of marketing, education, and experiences to help her to provide a unique marketing edge for Skillz Academy.

Felisa joins Skillz Academy as Director of Partnerships after working for the past 3 years at Torsh. Felisa earned both her BS and her MA in Elementary Education from NYU. After years of being a stay-at-home mother to three, now grown children, she began working for Advantage Testing, a private tutoring service that offers preparation for standardized tests and academic tutoring as well as college counseling. Felisa worked for Advantage Testing as a Program Coordinator and then in Business Development. Having served on numerous boards and fundraising committees during her years in Connecticut, Felisa comes to us with real-life experience working with educators and organizations.

Ali is a curriculum designer and writer with a career background in writing instruction. She finds her most rewarding work building equitable learning communities that empower learners’ self-expression. This mission led her out of the classroom and into innovative workforce and adult learning initiatives like Skillz Academy. She has held faculty positions in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified Schools, Louisiana State, Bard Early College New Orleans, and Delgado Community College. Most recently, she served as Manager of Instruction for the Earn and Learn Career Pathways Program at Tulane University.

LeAsha joins Skillz Academy as the Director of Student Services after spending many years in various sectors of education. LeAsha earned her BS from the University of Toledo and her MS from Indiana State University where she studied Higher Education and Student Affairs. Throughout her career, she has focused on the growth, learning, and development of minority individuals by ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to be successful in their respective fields.

Evan’s personal mission in life is to help deserving people get what they deserve, regardless of nationality/citizenship, race, creed, gender, marital status or age. His company, Trust Science, delivers its predictive power about people’s behavior (trustworthiness) via its globally-patented, Fintech SaaS product known as Credit Bureau 2.0 ®. Trust Science’s credit scores harness alt.data and AI/ML to help enlightened lenders score financially-stressed or under-banked borrowers in a fair and ethical way. Evan is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and was named to the Real Leaders Global 100 (alongside Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Peter Diamandis, et al.).

Leslie Jacobs is a native New Orleanean who has been engaged in education reform for more than 35 years. She is considered the architect of Louisiana’s accountability reform policies and was instrumental in creating the Recovery School District. Leslie has served as Chairman of GNO Inc, Vice-Chairman of the New Orleans Business Council and CEO and co-founder of the New Orleans Startup Fund. She is also the founder of 504ward, an initiative focused on retaining young talent in New Orleans, Chairman and co-founder of YouthForce NOLA and co-founder of Belltower. Leslie has received numerous honors including co-New Orleanian of the Year by Gambit magazine, a Top 100 Female Insurance Executive by Business Insurance and one of the “Twenty People Who Influenced Louisiana 1981-2001,” by Louisiana Life magazine.

Mark is a Deputy Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is a highly regarded expert in education policy and reform. He has more than 20 years of experience in education and workforce development having worked as a researcher, policy analyst and grant maker. During his time at the JP Morgan Chase Foundation, Dr. Rigdon was instrumental in implementing a number of workforce development initiatives for the Bank. As advisor to Skillz Academy, Dr. Rigdon provides strategic guidance as well as subject matter expertise in the education and workforce development. Dr. Rigdon holds an MBA from Northwestern University, a PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a BA from Oberlin College.

Charles Warner is the author of the widely-used textbook now in its fifth edition: Media Selling: Digital, Television, Print, Audio, and Cross Platform. Until May 2021, he taught at the graduate Media Management Program at The New School in New York City. Charlie was a Vice President of AOL Interactive Marketing from 1998 through 2002. He taught at the Missouri School of Journalism from 1988 to 1998, and before that was a Vice President of CBS and NBC. In his role as Advisor to Skillz Academy, Charlie has been hugely influential in developing our proprietary sales curriculum and will continue to advise us as we develop additional content and courses for other tech roles and functions.

Tim Williamson is the founder of the LOA Group, LLC, an organization that works with entrepreneurs to launch new ideas into the world by providing consulting, capital and coaching. Tim is a transformational executive with over 30 years of experience in all aspects of business formation, operation, finance, and management. He is a visionary product developer with a solid record of managing projects from concept to completion and coaching individuals to success. From 2000 through 2016,Tim founded and ran The Idea Village, a critical component of New Orleans’ burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem and was President of NOLA Media Group, the owners of the Times Picayune, from 2016 to 2018. transformational executive with over 30 years of experience in all aspects of business formation, operation, finance, and management. He is a visionary product developer with a solid record of managing projects from concept to completion and coaching individuals to success. From 2000 through 2016, Tim founded and ran The Idea Village, a critical component of New Orleans’ burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem and was President of NOLA Media Group, the owners of the Times Picayune, from 2016 to 2018.

Eric Lugo is the Founder and Principal of Conciencia Ventures LLC, an innovative practice with a mission to connect entrepreneurial and creative strategy to the social impact sector. Conciencia advises non-profits, foundations, and systems in strategic planning, collective impact, resource development and workforce strategy. Eric also currently serves as Director, External Relations for Discovery Partners Institute, leading efforts to build partnerships with key systems, corporate, community and civic organizations in scaling efforts to support and develop technology talent across the city, region, and state. Prior to DPI, Eric served as Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff at City Colleges of Chicago, Vice President in Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Senior Development Officer at Instituto del Progreso Latino.

Helen Orlando is a lead user experience consultant with more than 20 years of experience in defining, designing and implementing intuitive user-centered design solutions for large scale websites, interactive television, handheld and desktop applications. Helen has supported well-known brands such as AOL, eBay, BBC, T-Mobile, BMG, Barclays and the UK Department of Education. Helen is very passionate about education, technology and mentoring. Helen previously served as Chief Creative Officer for Torsh, an education technology company and has remained as a technology advisor. As advisor to Upriver Solutions, Helen will focus on ensuring the usability and design of all digital portfolio.

Steve Richard is the founder of ExecVision & Vorsight (sold in 2021).  Steve’s mission and life’s work is to help as many sales teams as possible become wildly successful.  He has been featured in numerous publications including The Harvard Business Review, The Washington Business Journal, and The Washington Post.  Outside of work, Steve enjoys scuba diving, skiing, running, and watching lots of football.  He lives in Arlington, VA with his wife Ellen and their four kids ages 6, 8, 10, and 12.

Follow Steve’s one minute sales tips of the day on LinkedIn.

David Stillman is a 3x founder and CEO (2 exits), investor and advisor. His passion for strategy and operational excellence drives his leadership style. A focus on company culture, business fundamentals, and product vision has built incredible teams that have built long lasting company success.

Outside of work, David enjoys golfing, skiing, travelling, eating, and watching lots of sports (mostly University of Michigan).  He lives in Arlington, VA with his wife and their twins ages 7.