Full Name
Gerald Solomon
Job Title
Exec Dir
Company
NASEF
Bio

Gerald Solomon served as the Executive Director of the Samueli Foundation for 13 years managing their global philanthropy, having provided grants to innovative entrepreneurial programs in excess of $500 Mil. The focus was on STEM Education, Youth Development, Integrative Health, and Jewish Leadership. 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 workforce skills. 
In 2018, Mr. Solomon designed and launched the North America Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF), 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 skills needed in the workforce of tomorrow. Taking STEM to the next level, NASEF is based upon a credentialed State of Ca approved high school, CTE and middle school curricula. In 24 short months, NASEF is now in 48 states with over 18,000 students in over 1,600 clubs as well as developing affiliates in Japan, Mexico, Israel, the UK, France, Nigeria, South Korea, India and South Africa with expansion continuing globally. 
Mr. Solomon was recently appointed as Chair of Global Esports Education at IESF, the global leader in esports with over 100 member countries. He also currently serves as Chair 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 chair emeritus of the STEM Funders Network.

Gerald Solomon