Gerald Solomon

Founder, Executive Director

Gerald Solomon https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerald-solomon-21a91b262/ served as the Executive Director of the Samueli Foundation for 14 years managing their global philanthropy, providing grants to innovative entrepreneurial programs in excess of $500 Mil worldwide. The focus was on STEM Education, Youth Development, and Integrative Health and Wellness. During his tenure, he designed and launched the STEM Learning Ecosystem which today consists of over 90 cities across the globe (www.stemecosystems.org) redefining STEM learning in and out of schools with a focus on developing workforce skills and economic impact.
In 2018, Mr. Solomon designed and launched the North America Scholastic Esports Federation (www.nasef.org) the nation’s first ever academic approach to esports, whose mission is to provide opportunities for ALL students to use esports as a platform to acquire the STEM skills needed for the workforce of tomorrow. Taking STEM to the next level, NASEF is based upon a credentialed State of California approved high school, CTE and middle school curricula. In 48 short months, NASEF is now in 49 states with over 25,000 students in over 3,000 schools as well as having created NASEF affiliates in 30+ countries around the world, including: Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Israel, UK, India, Nigeria, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Coast Rica, Panama, South Africa, Ghana, and growing.
Mr. Solomon serves on the Board of Directors of IESF (www.iesf.org) and as well serves as the Chair of the Esports Education Commission at IESF, the global leader in esports with 139+ member countries. He is Chair Emeritus of the University of Ca, Irvine Esports Advisory Board, and on the board of Calif Dept of Education Foundation. He recently completed service on the boards of the Schools of Engineering at UCLA and UCI, the Teacher Advisory Council at the National Research Council within the National Academies, Southern California Grantmakers Assoc., and was co-founder, co-chair and now chair emeritus of the STEM Funders Network.