Coach Alana is a UCLA graduate, former Lincoln-Douglas debate captain, nationally ranked MUN debater and children’s theater director. She has also participated in Mock Trial, Comedy Sportz and numerous other speaking events. At UCLA she wrote for the award-winning student paper The Daily Bruin and interned at the podcasting company Crooked Media. Coach Alana teaches several classes including MUN, Media Literacy, Littles Speech, and speech and debate comprehensive, and hopes to make debate accessible and engaging for students of all ages and skill levels. She has also worked for podcasting startup Crooked Media, publisher of the popular podcast Pod Save America, and has worked in C-SPAN’s digital department in Washington, D.C.

Coach Alex knows firsthand how finding your voice can be life-changing, and embraces this philosophy in her work. As an advocate for adult literacy, mental health, and youth empowerment, Alex strives to build confidence, raise awareness, and promote equity through civic and community engagement. Alex has successfully competed in national and international Model United Nations tournaments in both the Ivy League and NMUN circuits. She led her team as president of Model United Nations at Victor Valley Community College in the High Desert to achieve a top ranking; for the first time in the program’s history, the team was recognized as the best delegation at the Ivy League Level. Alex has received seven Best Delegate awards at various competitions. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science with honors from CSU San Bernardino and was selected by the County of San Bernardino for leadership development. She also presented at the High Desert’s first Mental Health Summit, where she addressed the need for mental health awareness and services. Alex founded a private tutoring program for students from grades K-12; she provided individualized lessons using neurodiversity learning techniques. These collective experiences are her strengths as a coach.

Coach Alex is an award winning Model United Nations coach and former Strategy Captain of his Robotics team. As Strategy Captain, he analyzed data and created tactics that helped lead his team to top finishes in international competitions. While a Model UN delegate, he and his team achieved the top level of awards at every national competition they attended. Alex took a leadership role on his team by assisting teammates with their research and writing for which they honored him with the Best Research award. Since then Alex has taught MUN to students of all ages, helping them learn how to research and diplomatically express themselves. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and continues to study International Relations and Political Philosophy.

Coach Ari is an award-winning collegiate Mock Trial competitor, an executive board member of Claremont McKenna's nationally renowned Model United Nations team, and a coach of several state, national, and Tournament of Champions finalists at the middle and high school levels.

In his high school career, Ari was one of the most successful Speech and Debate competitors in history. He earned a record-setting 50+ championships in two years in Impromptu, Declamation, SPAR, Extemporaneous, DUO, POI, Storytelling, Extemporaneous, Original Prose & Poetry, Humorous, Congress, and Parliamentary Debate. Notably, he was the 2017 NSDA National Champion in Expository Speaking and the 2018 NSDA National Runner-Up in POI.

Coach Bella is a Loyola Marymount University graduate who studied Political Science and Journalism. During her academic career, she has participated in many Model United Nations conferences, including the national championship, where Bella received a Best Delegate award. Throughout college, Bella continued her passion for public speaking, holding leadership roles in Phi Alpha Delta, LMU’s pre-law fraternity, and PESA Lions, LMU’s magnet club of a non-profit organization that supports diverted youth where she interned. Additionally, she was very involved in the Political Science department, notably, she was a Teacher’s Assistant for the congressional politics course, where students simulated congress for the entire semester. With an extensive background teaching K-12, Bella is excited to share her skills and help students become comfortable with their own voice.

Carl "Trig" is a national champion speaker who coached the two-time national champion collegiate speech and debate team at Concordia University Irvine. He coached many students to incredible success, including the middle school POI national champion. Coach Trig is loved by students for making learning fun while also demanding excellence and producing amazing results. Trig is a master of capturing audience attention and is also a successful magician who has performed across the country, including at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood.

Coach Cecilia (Cece) is a current transfer undergraduate at Western Kentucky University, the winningest collegiate speech and debate program in history. Attending her first national tournament with the team, Pi Kappa Delta, she emerged as a runner-up in Informative and DUO, a semifinalist in Prose, and a national champion in Poetry.

Most notably during her high school career at Westmoore High School in Oklahoma, she became the first person in NSDA history to ever final at the National Tournament in three different events -- back to back to back. She finaled in Dramatic Interp her sophomore year, POI her junior year, and Humorous her senior year. Additionally, she finaled at the NIETOC in Dramatic and Humorous, is a 5-time state champion, and has multiple other finalist and championship titles at recognized tournaments across the nation during her high school career.

Centered around creativity and messages, Cecilia coaches in skill-sets for the long term, while homing in on the small details that make a performer stand out. She believes everyone has a compelling story to tell, and as a coach, it is her mission to bring those convictions to light.

Outside of coaching and competing for her college, she frequently cooks Kenyan foods with her mother, takes landscape pictures, and tries niche restaurants.

Involved in speech and debate in the Dallas area for over four decades, Chris Agee recently retired from Newman Smith High School after 27 years of service to the community. He is a double diamond coach in the National Speech and Debate Association and was inducted into the Texas Forensic Association's Hall of Fame in 2015. A former policy debater for the University of North Texas, Coach Agee qualified for the NDT 3 times during his college career. Since then, he has experienced success in numerous formats and organizations, coaching students to local, state, and national success. Coach Agee is experienced in coaching multiple speech and debate events. In addition to private tutoring for middle-school students, he also provides coaching support to several schools in the metroplex, including Coppell High School and the Greenhill School. "Speech and Debate was a life-changing experience for me beginning at a young age. I was fortunate enough to build a career out of doing what I love the most--sharing these skills with others," he says. Adept at simplifying difficult concepts for younger debaters, Coach Agee is still actively engaged in the speech and debate community and looks forward to offering his unique set of skills to serve a new generation of competitors!

Coach Cody is an aspiring filmmaker, born and raised in Woodland Hills, California who really loves words! In high school, Cody was ranked 2nd (and named the final round champion) in the state of California in Original Prose and Poetry and was a national quarterfinalist in Original Oratory. Cody went on to win an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) National Championship in Persuasive Speaking; he was also the National Runner-Up in Slam Poetry and a National Finalist in both After Dinner Speaking and Informative Speaking. Cody also enjoyed national recognition in Mock Trial, where was recognized as the #1 witness in the United States of America (a double-sided, top-ranked All-American) during his senior year. Cody attended the illustrious Howard University, where he obtained his BA in Film and Television. While at Howard, Cody served on the HU Speech and Debate and Mock Trial teams, as well as a member of the Howard Players. Cody has a deep love of both forensics and public speaking in general and is happy to help a new generation of fiery, passionate storytellers.

Coach Fidencio competed in competitive speech and debate in high school and college. Fidencio is a Phi Ro Pi national champion in Extemp, a state champion in Congressional Debate, and an award-winner in Persuasive, Communication Analysis, and Impromptu. Besides being an impressive competitor, Coach Fidencio is an outstanding coach. As the head of ModernBrain’s Congressional Debate program, he has coached multiple Congress finalists at the Middle School Tournament of Champions, the international Stanford competition, the Jack Howe invitational, the Claremont tournament, Seattle Academy, the Independence Winter Classic, the CSU Fullerton competition, the Southern States Championship, and the California Middle School State Championship. He was the coach of the 2022 NSDA National Middle School Champion.

Coach Finn is an award-winning poet, screenwriter, and playwright from Southern California. In high school, Finn won back-to-back state championships in Original Prose & Poetry, a league championship in Thematic Interpretation (recognized nationally as POI), and made national quarterfinals in Original Oratory. He was also a co-star alongside Oscar Winner Marcia Gay Harden on the ABC sitcom Trophy Wife, described by critics as “funnier than it sounds.” Shortly after, he was named the 1st Runner-Up for the Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate in 2018 and went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a BFA in Writing for Screen/Television.

During his time in college, Finn used his life-threatening brain aneurysms to shamelessly guilt administrators into awarding him the Jack Oakie Comedy Scholarship and sell his first screenplay. He has plays with Pioneer Drama and Dramatic Publishing that have been performed all over the world, and his horror comedy feature film, The Mean One, premiered in over 150 U.S theaters in 2022. When Finn isn’t writing, he helps teach and plan events at his family’s performing arts nonprofit, Showdown Stage Company.

Frank Smith is a speech coach originally from Boston, Massachusetts. A two-time state champion and national semifinalist himself, Frank loves all interpretation events (but particularly adores Humorous Interpretation). He has worked for UTNIF, Fluency, Milton Academy, Leland High School, and many others. He’s coached NSDA and NIETOC finalists and champions in Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Original Spoken Word Poetry, Prose, Storytelling, Expository, and Programmed Oral Interpretation. In 2021, he coached a four-time Showcase Finalist (the highest possible honor) at NSDA Middle School Nationals.

Frank also works as a TV and film writer. He is currently staffed on two TV series for YouTube: children’s comedy OCEAN EXPLORERS from Moonbug Entertainment (COCOMELON) and Baby Einstein (851K subscribers), and an under-wraps teen drama (17M subscribers). Previously, he wrote on Disney Channel’s RAVEN’S HOME. Prior to that, he wrote an animated pilot with Tornante TV (BOJACK HORSEMAN), developed a live-action series with Vice Studios (FYRE), and rewrote a horror movie with Fangoria (THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK).

He has also published seven plays, a mix of comedy and drama, with the nationally-recognized speech and debate publishers Mushroom Cloud Press and Always Writing 4 U. Before moving to California, Frank managed an organic chemistry lab, and planned to attend medical school. A few years ago, he starred in Episode Five of the Emmy Award-nominated TIDYING UP WITH MARIE KONDO on Netflix.

Coach Gabriel is a member of Stanford's nationally ranked Debate Society and Mock Trial team. He was a NSDA National Runner up in US Extemp, and California State Champion in US Extemp. His placings in US Extemp at the national and California state tournament, his placing in public forum debate at the California state tournament, and his NSDA speaker points are all the highest in his high school's storied history. He was also the founder and captain of his high school's successful Mock Trial team. As a captain of his high school's speech and debate team as well, he has coached many novice and varsity students throughout the years. A pre-law public policy major, Coach Gabriel is dedicated to providing students the argumentation, public speaking, and critical thinking skills needed for both competitive success and real-world change. 

Coach Gift is a nationally recognized orator and actor and an acclaimed coach for students of all ages--from elementary schoolers to working professionals. In high school, he was ranked #2 overall in California by the National Speech and Debate Association's honor society, won the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California championship in Audition Monologue, and earned 14 championships in Oratory, Dramatic Interpretation, Storytelling, and Parliamentary Debate. The California Public Interest Research Group awarded him the designation of 'Most Charming Tabler' for his canvassing work. He attended UCLA for his undergraduate degree, where he served as a Resident Assistant, a member of the Spirit Squad, and even a mascot at sports games.

Dr. Iain Lampert serves as ModernBrain's director of organizational development. He earned his B.A. in Political Science and his College Counseling Certificate from UCLA, his M.A. in Education and Human Development from the George Washington University, his Certification in Advanced Education Leadership from Harvard University and Human Resources from Madison Area Technical College, and his Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Vanderbilt University. He's pursuing his executive MBA at Northwestern University (class of 2025).

Iain is a lifelong advocate for competitive communication; he founded eight teams, coached students to over 1,500 individual championships, including eight national NSDA champions), and received the National Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the activity. Iain’s students are the first team in the history of Southern California to earn the National Speech and Debate Association’s Outstanding Distinction team award. In 2019, his team won sweepstakes at the Tournament of Champions. He’s coached NSDA national semifinalists, finalists, and champions in Public Forum Debate, Original Oratory, Declamation, Informative, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Programmed Oral Interpretation, Congress, International Extemp, National Extemp, Storytelling, Expository, Poetry, Commentary, and Impromptu Speaking. During his college years, he won the American Mock Trial Association’s national championship twice.

Iain became the inaugural season-long sweepstakes champion of the Professional Speech and Debate Association in 2021. In 2023, he received the W. Ward Reynoldson award for co-coaching UCLA to its fifth American Mock Trial Association national championship. He's also the 2024 professional season-long International Public Debate Association national champion--the only person outside of the American south to achieve this ranking in the history of the organization.

Coach JP is an accomplished orator and academic researcher who has spent many years working in corporate settings. He works as a science and technology communicator for the United Nations, which gives him unique insight in coaching Model United Nations students at ModernBrain. He has won over 10 different top research, delegation, and committee awards at top National MUN conferences in New York and Washington D.C. John Paul is currently earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering while he presides as founder and president of the Hyperloop research and development team at his university and runs his own nonprofit to help disadvantaged students get STEM internships.

Coach Jonah is a prized member of Western Kentucky University's nationally recognized forensics team. Jonah is originally from Minnesota, where he was a member of the Apple Valley Speech and Debate team. At Apple Valley, Jonah was the NSDA DUO national champion in both 2020 and 2021. He's the first and only competitor in the NSDA's history to win DUO twice and with different partners. Jonah also made multiple national final rounds at the NIETOC and TOC. In high school, Jonah competed in events like POI, HI, INFO, DUO and Storytelling. In college, Jonah won the NFA national championship in DUO and AFA national championship in POI. Jonah’s performances were not exclusive to speech; he was also a member of Apple Valley’s recognized theatre program and represented his school in the Minnesota all-state choir.

Coach Kate was a NSDA National Champion in Impromptu, a California State Champion in Impromptu, and a Stanford Impromptu and SPAR Champion. She was mentored by the winningest speech coach in Southern California history, and she went on to coach national champions herself. Coach Kate was involved in Speech and Debate since her freshman year of high school. She competed in a wide range of events, including Original Oratory, OPP, Impromptu, Extemp, and Parliamentary debate. She was also the team captain of one of the most successful high school teams in California history. Coach Kate is also an accomplished MUN and Mock Trial competitor and coach. She competed for Brown University.

Coach Kyla is a current American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) competitor at UC Irvine, working as an award-winning witness, attorney, and captain. This past summer, she also helped organize, instruct, and coach for UCI’s Mock Trial boot camp, where her team finished in second place. Beyond this, she has served as a mock trial coach and internal board member for UCI’s chapter of Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity, in which all of her teams were undefeated.

Kyla’s speaking experience began at the age of five when she began acting professionally. She has worked for Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and several other productions, most notably The Amazing World of Gumball for twelve years. She has since maintained her status as a member of SAG-Aftra, and has directed these performative skills into her pre-law pursuit.

As an Honors Political Science and Sociology double major at UCI, Coach Kyla cannot wait to guide students in learning mock trial and honing their skills in presentation!

Coach Kyle primarily focuses on speech events, specifically interp and platform. Most recently, he has won both a State and Nationals title for Interpreter’s Theatre; a conglomeration of events involving poetry, prose, platform and more. This year, he also competed with a Persuasion speech, becoming the Top Persuasive Speaker in California at the State Championships and winning a gold award at the Phi Rho Pi Nationals Championship as well as representing the Southern California region at Interstate Oratory; the oldest tournament in the nation. Not only did he enjoy competing alongside his team, but has been fortunate to write and develop speech events with his peers and work with elementary and middle schoolers interested in speech. He is excited to continue working on forensics activities at ModernBrain!

Coach Michael is a national champion speaker and debater. While he was competing, he claimed the title of national champion in Parliamentary Debate from Phi Ro Pi. Both his undergrad and graduate work was in economics. Michael has worked as an economic consultant and he has performed research on training students to become financially and economically literate and has helped create standardized Econ tests for schools. When students learn from coach Michael, they don’t just learn speech and debate: they learn how to think like an economist.

Coach Natalie found her love of debate during her junior year of high school when she joined Hebron High School’s Congressional Debate team. She quickly rose in notoriety in the same year and was chosen to attend the prestigious American Legion Auxiliary Bluebonnet Girls State, where her love for legislation shone as she was one of the five girl senators whose bill had been chosen for debate on the Texas Senate Floor. Since then, Natalie has coached for Hebron High school's congress and extemporaneous speaking teams while teaching Congressional Debate online, helping debaters learn how to efficiently conduct source research in an era of the rapid spread of information and misinformation. She is working towards a bachelor's degree in Economics with a concentration in International Studies at the University of Dallas.

Coach Noah, who currently studies at USC, has coached students to great success in Lincoln-Douglas, Policy, Public Forum, and Congress debate. Noah is a leader with a passion for public advocacy. He is the youngest person to receive the ACLU’s Voice of Tomorrow award for his hard work and activism to make the world a better place.

Coach Noah's students ranked in the top four in the nation for the Reagan Great Communicator Debates, earning both scholarships and internship opportunities. His students have advanced to elimination rounds at various circuit competitions in Lincoln-Douglas and Policy Debate, including the Middle School Tournament of Champions, the High School TOC, the Jack Howe, and La Costa Canyon. He's qualified back-to-back teams to the High School Policy Tournament of Champions, one of the most prestigious competitions in America; both teams included novice debaters.

Coach Rand is a former NSDA national champion who currently competes for Northwestern University’s mock trial team. In high school, Rand won championships in Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Improv Duo, and Original Oratory at invitational and league tournaments alike. Rand earned octofinals in Humorous Interpretation, finals in Expository Speaking, and a National Championship in Storytelling during his junior year. Following high school, Rand enrolled at Northwestern University and joined the school’s nationally recognized mock trial team. In 2021-2022, Rand was selected to compete on Northwestern’s top team at the National Championship Tournament, ultimately earning 8th place at the competition — the program’s best placement in over a decade.

Rebel is ModernBrain’s director of recruitment and communications. She graduated with honors from Cal State Long Beach with a BS in communication studies and a Master’s in communication studies. She is an award-winning communication researcher, with the top paper in the Women’s Studies Division of the National Communication Conference in 2018. While Rebel was competing, she was a National Finalist in Duo, Persuasion, and Communication Analysis and claimed a title as an AFA award-winning speaker.

Coach Rich Simpkins has coached and judged high school various levels for 35 years both on a volunteer and professional basis. During that time, he’s worked at TFA, UIL, and NSDA (formerly NFL) speech tournaments, was tournament director for the SMU Symposium Classic from 2004 to 2007, volunteered to coach a new team at Singley Academy (which won the UIL district championship for Lincoln-Douglas debate that year, the first year of the team’s existence) and consulted for Hebron High School for the past 6 years. In all, Rich has been a part of more than 300 DFW area tournaments and has judged well over 1,000 rounds of speech and debate events. He specializes in Lincoln-Douglas, parliamentary, world schools, and policy debate, as well as extemporaneous speaking and oratory. Beyond debate, Simpkins has been partner and outreach coordinator for the online book selection engine, WorldsWithoutEnd.com for the past 20 years. Every story is itself an argument, and that’s how he has approached his bookish endeavors, as well. Rich believes that there’s no avenue of research that doesn’t benefit from broad historical and literary context.

Involved in speech and debate in the Dallas area for over thirty five years, Robert Martin retired from Newman Smith High School in 2023. He is a double diamond coach in the National Speech and Debate Association and was recognized by the University Interscholastic League for thirty years of service in the forensic community in Texas.

A high school debater and assistant coach while in college at Texas A&M Commerce before his professional coaching career, he has experienced success in numerous organizations and a variety of speech and debate events. He has coached dozens of students to the elimination and final rounds at state and national championship tournaments. Coach Martin has experience in most types of debate and individual speaking events.

“My high school speech and debate program changed my life. It gave me confidence, improved my critical thinking skills and even gave me a career. Although I retired, I want to continue to be an advocate for students and help them be successful in this amazing activity,” he says.

Coach Martin was also an AP World History teacher and currently tutors students in content comprehension and essay writing strategies that improve scores on the College Board exam.

Coach Samuel has over five years of experience in Mock Trial and is a current American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) competitor at UC San Diego. Throughout those five years, Samuel has worked as an award-winning attorney and witness on either side of the bench. In high school, Samuel received many accolades for his Mock Trial career: Coach’s Award (x2), MVP (x3), Outstanding Attorney (x6), and Outstanding Witness (x1).

Samuel has also been active in the world of Speech and Debate, competing most notably in the Ronald Reagan Great Communicator Debate Series. In his final year as a competitor, Samuel qualified for Nationals through the Western Regional and placed 5th at the National Championship with the most ballots secured in preliminary rounds.

In his spare time, Samuel is recognized as the California State Champion in PowerPoint, and hosts a podcast covering political divisions in faith-based contexts.

As a double major on a three-year track in Political Science and Psychology at UC San Diego, Coach Samuel is eager to guide his students in experiencing the world of public speaking and effectively improving their skills to the best they can be!

Coach McKeever is one of the best debate coaches in Orange County. He has taught speech and debate in southern California for over a decade. He is a current graduate student of secondary education and has crafted curricula for over a dozen schools throughout Orange County. His teams have won over 400 awards in four different leagues at the local, state, and national championship levels of competition. Some highlights include: mentoring students to consecutive regional championships and national elimination rounds at the Reagan Presidential Foundation Great Communicator Debate Series; coaching Jeffrey Trail Middle School to the designation of #1 ranked debate team in the Orange County Debate League (twice!); and earning #1 national rankings in both Parliamentary and Team Policy debate at the STOA National Championship.

Scott Wheeler is ModernBrain’s director of debate. He is one of the best debate coaches in the United States. He is the first coach in history to receive the Ted W. Belch award for being the best policy debate coach in the US for two consecutive years. Over the past eight years, Mr. Wheeler has coached his teams to four national championships and seven state championships as well as winning at the most prestigious and difficult competitions in the US including Stanford, Cal Berkeley, Emory, Greenhill, St. Marks, Blake, and MBA. Mr. Wheeler’s teams have won the Unger Cup twice, an award for the Policy Debate team that places highest in six different national tournaments. Scott has a BS in Communication from Northwestern.

Coach Sean is an aspiring actor, director, and public speaker with years of leadership experience in academically competitive events ranging from Forensics to Mock Trial. As a senior in high school, Sean was ranked #1 in the United States of America by the National Speech and Debate Association and a four-time national tournament qualifier. He won numerous championships in multiple events including Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Student Congress, and Parliamentary Debate.

Also competing in Mock Trial for five consecutive years, Sean is an All-American competitor who helped captain the Yale Mock Trial Association to several championships, received numerous awards for “outstanding attorney” and “outstanding witness” respectively, and was the highest-ranked witness in the 2021 National Final Round.

Sean is a recent graduate from Yale University, where he double majored in Political Science and Theater and Performance Studies.

Coach Tanya was the 2023 Pi Kappa Delta LD Debate National champion. In her time competing on Western Kentucky’s highly prestigious LD debate team, she was also second place speaker at the Grand Prix national tournament and an NFA national quarterfinalist. Beyond debate, Tanya has experience competing in every event category, competing in interpretation and platform speaking at the national level. She served as the debate student representative for the National Forensics Association from 2022-2023, and was captain of one of the most successful community college forensics teams in the country for two years.