Allan began his career in the entertainment industry, directing and producing dozens of short films and claiming the 2000 Audience Choice Award at AFI Fest, Los Angeles’ most prestigious film festival. In 2001 Staker founded Liquid Media, a boutique advertising agency where he designed print campaigns and directed broadcast Superbowl commercials for regional clients in the consumer electronics and packaged goods industries. He later managed Studio Relations for Hollywood’s premier box office research and tracking firm.

In 2003 Staker founded a consumer electronics company where he created the Yoostar Entertainment System, a gaming console which the NBC Today Show listed among “Hollywood’s Hottest Gifts,” UberReview dubbed one of the “Coolest Toys on the Planet,” and Rolling Stone included in its “Great Rock & Roll Gift Guide.” Yoostar later evolved into multiple games for XBox and PlayStation platforms.

Allan later managed product marketing for the Safari web browser at Apple, also placing as a finalist in the Apple iContest, a competition to foster internal innovation. As Director of Business Transformation at Hawaiian Airlines in Honolulu, Staker led initiatives such as the rollout of a new in-flight entertainment system. He then directed pricing strategy for Dell Computers’ $3.9 billion North America consumer hardware business.

Staker graduated magna cum laude with University Honors at Brigham Young University in Film Directing and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

In addition to being a co-founder of Brain Chase, Heather is the founder and president of Ready to Blend, a research initiative focused on helping educators and families use blended learning to improve the academic achievement and holistic well-being of K-12 children. She is also an adjunct fellow for the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a nonprofit think tank that promotes disruptive innovation in education and health care.

Heather is the author of Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools (San Francisco: Wiley, 2015). Her publications for the Christensen Institute include “The Rise of K–12 Blended Learning”,“Classifying K–12 Blended Learning” and “Is K–12 Blended Learning Disruptive?” She has appeared on radio and television and in legislative hearings nationwide as a spokesperson for blended learning, competency-based learning, and student-centered design.

Prior to these roles, Heather served as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, completed a term as the student member of the California State Board of Education during Governor Pete Wilson’s administration, taught U.S. history as a teaching fellow at Harvard College, founded and ran a co-op preschool, and marketed Oil of Olay for Proctor & Gamble.

She holds a BA magna cum laude in government from Harvard University and an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School. She is the mother of five children and lives in Austin, TX.

Gracie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas at Austin (2013) where she majored in the Plan II Honors program, focusing in English and Education. Gracie started her career in education as a Teach for America Corps Member, teaching middle school English Language Arts in Dallas-Fort Worth. She then taught middle school English Language Arts at a private school in Austin, TX before co-founding Village Learning, an academic coaching company serving K-12 and college students in Houston and Austin. She received her MBA from the Acton School of Business (2019) with a focus in Entrepreneurship. Gracie is certified in English Instruction 8-12, Generalist Instruction 4-8, English as a Second Language, and International Baccalaureate studies. She has received educational training in Social Emotional Learning and Mindfulness.

Gracie loves creating new ways to bring learning adventures to life!

Travis was born and raised in a small farming community in Northern Utah. Farm life didn’t really agree with Travis’ wheelchair, so he spent a lot of time indoors drawing and making little houses out of toothpicks. Thinking he would turn that (very marketable) skill into a career building models and special effects miniatures for film and TV, he went to film school.

Travis earned a BA in Film Production from Brigham Young University 2001, where he acted in, directed, and edited several short films. After graduating, he worked in Salt Lake City as a film and video editor from 2001 to 2013. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he continued as a freelance video editor and an actor.

Some of Eberhard’ acting credits include the feature films Churchball, Stalking Santa, Three of a Kind, 17 Miracles, Ephraim’s Rescue, Gnome Alone and Appetites, as well as the video game Tex Murphy:Tesla Effect. He’s also been in several short films, training videos and commercials. Demi Lavato was lucky enough to dance on stage with Travis at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.

In 2018 Travis made the move from Los Angeles to Austin to accept a full-time position as Content Manager at Brain Chase.

Melanie is passionate about learning. As an early teen, she decided she would take her education as far as possible by completing a doctoral degree. In May 2017 Melanie earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance from the University of Texas at Austin, following her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Utah (2012) and Brigham Young University (2014). The most exciting part of Melanie’s time at the University of Texas was her position of organist on the Longhorn baseball team for two seasons. She currently plays the organ for University Christian Church in Austin, TX and gigs around town.

Since graduating with her doctoral degree, Melanie has turned her passion for learning and education toward helping others. She wishes Brain Chase was around when she was a kid!

He has built his career emphasizing real people in extraordinary situations; from the dangerous world of logging in History Channel’s “Ax Men,” to the high-octane world of NASCAR racing in Discovery Channel’s “Roush Racing: Driver X.”

He has written, produced, and directed over 100 hours of television for the History Channel, Discovery Channel, FOX, VH1, TLC, and The Travel Channel. Further expanding his reach into new media he has produced several Webisode Series for AOL Corporation with high profile talent such as HGTV Star Eric Stromer, TLC chef Curtis Stone, and HGTV designer Kelly Edwards.

Credentialed Brain Chase teachers oversee any elective submissions that require feedback, from creative writing to engineering, art to cooking. They work full-time teaching K-12 language arts and science during the school year, but they moonlight as virtual instructors when our treasure hunts begin. Our Brain Chase teachers are passionate about education and enjoy the opportunity to help students learn and grow in innovative ways.

Our Program Assistants come from all walks of life. Some are certified teachers. Others are recent college graduates or students. They do everything from assisting with technical questions, to mailing out our bonus challenge materials, to responding to customer service inquiries. Our team of Program Assistants is always standing by to help you with anything you need.