Our Team
Kimmie Thomas, JD
President/CEO
With her extreme ambivert personality, Kimmie enjoys the creative thought in empowering youth. As a self-proclaimed nerd, you can find her most times hidden behind a desk of laptops and monitors or indulging in a book of her choosing determining whether or not she can “people” that day. As the sister of Derek, Kimmie proudly pushed forward with every dream her baby brother could think of in his honor with the same goal of global change through youth empowerment! While she always remained comfortably hidden doing the work of IGL while her brother mastermined, she plans to spend her life dedicating to all goals which create community change.
Her favorite games are dominoes, Mortal Kombat, God of War, Grand Theft Auto, Words with Friends, poker, spades. She aspires to always beat her son, Chance, in each one of these games for as long as he continues to challenge her.
She can be charmed from her hiding place with seafood, cheesecake…and fruit from Edible Arrangements.
Bryan Manning
Chief Gaming Officer
Jamal Melancon
VP of Operations
George Batiste
Chief Financial Officer
Samantha Serrano
Internal Operations & Arts/Design Director
Dylan Smith
Competitive Gaming Director
Yuri Oguma
Educational Enrichment Director
Erik Scharff
Director of Partnerships & Business Relations
Belko Ramirez II
Computers & Retro Gaming Instructor
Professor Rootz
Virtual Investments Instructor
Aloha, I go by Crypto Rootz (on Youtube). I am on a mission to teach my people about cryptocurrency and modern technology, in hopes that we can use the knowledge to uplift ourselves in this digital era. I enjoy living in raw nature, mostly beaches and jungles. I’ve been a programmer for 3 years since i first found out about Bitcoin. I enjoy pastas and seafood and burritos. My favorite video game of all time is Super Smash Bros.
Erika McFatter
Development Director
Jamaal Rasheed
Digital Illustration and Photoshop Instructor
The things that interest me are things that touch my soul like reading books of all sorts and raising my 1-year old son. I aspire to inspire and help others unearth their full potential from a creative aspect! I was drawn into IGL based on its standards—it was a creative platform for the arts and entertainment community that didn’t discriminate but strived to enhance and teach artistic skills to those from all walks of life. In my life I would say Mochi is my favorite past time food. For the last 10 years Call of Duty has been my favorite console game to play!
Solanke Kerr
Director of Events and Community Engagement
Quincy Trinh
Tournaments Instructor
Noah Waltzer
Esports Director
Cherice Himel
Director of Outreach
Dawson
Student Intern—Recruitment and Logistics
Likes: Friends, writing, cheap/easy to make food, and his dog, Mae.
Aspires to: Get a full-time job at IGL, try out voice acting, learn a second language,attain immortality, and fry a golf ball.
What brought him to IGL: Former student for more than half a decade that was offered as an internship by the late founder, Derek—took it gladly!
What I plan to do after High School: See the “Aspires to” section.
Chance
IGL Student Intern and GameHedz President
Favorite Foods: Strawberries and Deviled Crab (Great Grandmother from Savannah makes)
Likes: Editing videos, gaming and playing with my dog, Charlie
Isaiah
Student Intern—Streaming and Competitive Gaming
Favorite Foods: Pasta and Cheeseburgers
Likes: Money and Gaming
Aspires to do in the Future: Professional Gaming or PC Building