Meet our leadership team behind Axis Sports Academy, dedicated to shaping future student-athletes through unparalleled expertise and guidance.
Leadership
Leadership
Leaders Championing Student Success
Dr. Ray Powers is the CEO & Managing Partner of Axis Sports Academy, and President & CEO of Envisage Global. Envisage provides a broad range of “continuing education” and “work force development” options for individual learners, large corporate training initiatives, and international education collaborations. Strategic alliances with universities, curriculum development entities, and world-class training partners, provides current and relevant practical application of academic theory to the benefit of both individuals and enterprise. Training options are independently evaluated for college credit equivalency allowing for delivery of high-quality and uniquely differentiated certificates, certifications, and badges.
Dr. Powers has extensive practitioner experience with over 30 years in a Fortune 50 corporate environment, followed by notable academic credentials as a Professor and a Dean in the Forbes School of Business at the University of Arizona Global Campus, and as the founder and Chair of the Forbes School of Business Board of Advisors. Dr. Powers holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) degree, an Master’s degree in Education, a Master’s degree in Psychology, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership.
Scott Dean started at IMG Academy in 2010 and by 2018, he was the Senior Vice President and Athletic Director. During this time, he earned 9 national championships, national rankings, a college placement percentage of over 90% every year with numerous student athletes moving on to the nation’s top academic and athletic colleges in the country.
Rick Tomljenovic, Owner/Partner for Tristar, Rick oversees new development, and daily property operations as Tristar’s Chief Operating Officer. Rick has overseen the construction, conversion, and renovation for 60 plus hotels over his career. Rick has completed over $300,000,000 dollars in new hotel construction and renovations. Tomljenovic received his degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Forest Park College in St. Louis MO. He worked for Bass Hotels, Hiton, and Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). After his corporate experience he honed his entrepreneurial skills working for various franchised hotel companies and owners. Rick has been a partner and owner of various hotel projects throughout his career.
Rick has concurrently, always had a passion for training and teaching and served as a hotel instructor at Forest Park College for five years early in his career, and most recently served as a guest instructor for University of Nevada Las Vegas and University of South Florida Hospitality Schools. He has been a featured panelist at the pre-imminent Hospitality and Educational Conferences. In addition, Rick has served on various commissions and boards throughout his career, including Heartland Bank of St. Louis/St. Charles MO.
Rick is currently the owner of HRT Consulting Services LLC since 2018. Rick has spent the last 5 years working with Park University Gilbert Arizona as part of their leadership team working with Strategic Business Development Partnerships athletics and Community Relations
When asked what are the key things that led to a successful career, his reply is, a strong education, classic training having several trusted mentors throughout his career, and never stop learning new technologies and management techniques to stay relevant with an ever-changing world. He believes that mentoring and teaching future generations is the key to a successful legacy.
Dr. Carie L. Powers joined the REACH.ai executive team in July 2021 as a Senior Director of Client Success with an exceptional track record of building and leading high performing teams. Previous to this role she served as Regional Director of Admissions at Chamberlain University, with oversight of the major campus locations in the Southwestern United States, leading enrollment/sales onboarding and the admissions lifecycle initiatives.
Prior to Chamberlain University, Dr. Powers held senior leadership positions in Fortune 500 corporate environments including: Barker Educational Services Team (BEST) as Vice President of College Relations/Regulatory Compliance; Director of Human Resources for Compass Telecommunications, Inc.; a member of the executive cabinet for Compass Corporate Holdings, Inc.; and 10 years in leadership at the University of Phoenix with responsibility for a broad range of student enrollment functions.
Dr. Powers received her Bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University, Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from University of Phoenix, and her Doctorate from University of New England.
My business and academic backgrounds bring a wealth of experience I love sharing with students. Whether working with corporate managers, employees or students, the most exciting and fulfilling part of any of my jobs is the ability to help each person reach a little closer to their dreams and goals.
Credentials & Work History:
Ph.D. Education (Adult), Master in Business Administration (MBA) with an emphasis in Marketing; and Master of Arts in Organizational Development & Leadership with a specialization in Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
Director of Marketing for a 3M Distributor for 12 years; Program Director for an undergraduate entrepreneurship degree; U. S. Army Veteran.
I proudly wear my “Jane of all Trades” badge with the experience that I bring in my Operations and Corporate Relations role. In my experience, I go by the philosophy of “anything is possible.” Those who know me, have seen that I will do everything in my power to put all great ideas into action and with optimal efficiency through automation wherever possible.
Credentials & Work History:
BA Justice Studies – Arizona State University, MBA specialization in Finance -Ashford University, Master of Accountancy (pursuing) – University of Arizona Global Campus
Manager of Operations, Zovio Employer Services; Corporate Partnerships, Bridgepoint Education; Academics, Ashford University and University of Phoenix; Accountant; also worked in healthcare, real estate, restaurant and retail.
John Godina, a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, attended UCLA where he obtained a BS in Biology and was captain of the UCLA Track and Field team. Immediately after attending UCLA, Godina embarked on a fourteen-year, professional track and field career during which he became a four-time World Champion, three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist in the Shot Put.
After retiring from competition in February of 2009, he expanded his already established training facilities into what is today ALTIS. Beginning with the World Throws Center, John created a self-sustaining business model combining elite athlete training, coaches education system and grassroots camps and clinics for youth across the country.
In 2012 he expanded his proof-of-concept to encompass all events in track and field and transitioned the World Throws Center into the World Athletics Center (WAC). In 2015 the WAC was successfully re-branded to ALTIS, sent 17 athletes to the World Championships and won 5 medals.
By leveraging partnerships and relationships to grow, in 2016 ALTIS expanded to 120 resident athletes, 150 visiting athletes and over 200 coaches and therapists in attendance for education. In 2016 at the Rio Olympic Games 21 ALTIS athletes won 5 medals and would have ranked #8 on the medal table if ALTIS were a country.
As CEO of ALTIS, John defined and steered the vision of the company, which he used to guide ALTIS’ global development. John drove ALTIS business development to include: On-the-ground staffing of agreements in Asia; Sport consulting, staffing and education agreements in the Middle East; Partnership with Barton Health in South Lake Tahoe, California as the performance systems provider and staff education partner in the new Center of Excellence; ALTIS’ World Headquarters property development project and the ALTIS global online education system and library which has now served almost 10,000 online education students.
Past and present ALTIS Partners include the Shanghai Sports School in China, ASPIRE Academy in Qatar, USA Bobsled, EXOS, The Chinese Athletics Association, Barton Health, Athletics Canada, US Ski and Snowboard, Welsh Athletics, San Diego Padres, Denver Broncos, California Angels, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, Canadian Sport Institute, Triathlon Canada and TopSupport Shenzhen, China.
In 2018, John sold ALTIS and embarked upon new ventures to include:
· Global sport business consulting
· Public appearances and speaking
· Founding of new companies
Most recently John served as the Performance Director and Chief Athletics Officer at Elite Sports Group which is the largest sports park in the world and hosted 4.3 million visitors in Year 1 of operations.
John’s team also includes his wife who is an expert in finance with decades of experience as a CFO in both private and public companies as well as a member of several public and private corporate board.
Daniel B. Krieger is a seasoned technology expert with over 20 years of industry experience. With a diverse background spanning IT, systems management and implementation, website design and development, as well as product management, marketing automation and UI/UX design for several multi-million-dollar startups, just to name a few. Daniel has consistently delivered exceptional results throughout his career.
He has operated and overseen successful teams in both design, development, systems management and platform execution. Armed with this diverse background and skill set, he possesses a strong foundation of knowledge and expertise. Daniel’s unwavering commitment to creative solutions, coupled with his keen eye for precise detail, has made him a valuable asset to every organization he has worked with. BAS in Information Systems & Digital Design from Arizona State University.
Now Accepting Online Learning Applications for the 2025 School Year
Our 15-acre campus is breaking ground, with in-person
applications opening soon.