esports ohio Board of Directors
Jacob gebers - President
I currently work at Napoleon Area City Schools as a Technology Specialist/Network Coordinator. I have worked at Napoleon Area Schools since 2015. I graduated from Tiffin University in 2017 with a bachelors in Information Technology. As long as I can remember, I have always had an interest in video games, mostly playing console games during my childhood. After college graduation, I began to explore and play more PC games and have continued to this day. In the spring of 2018, I helped start an esports program at Napoleon, with a focus on getting more kids involved with extracurriculars. We were one of the first high schools in Ohio to have dedicated machines, and a dedicated lab for our athletes to compete in, that included 14 machines. Since that time, we have continued to grow our program and are up to 27 machines and almost 50 kids. I have been involved with Esports Ohio since the inception of the league and have continued to help promote esports throughout Ohio. I firmly believe that esports is a great avenue for kids to be both competitive, but also help gain valuable life skills. I hope that esports as well as Esports Ohio continues to grow to continue to give more kids opportunities for scholarships, camaraderie, and competitive gaming.
Nick Rackley - League Director / co-Vice President
Nick Rackley is a Social Studies teacher at Bluffton high School in Bluffton Ohio. He is currently in his 7th year there, with his 5th year as the Esports head coach and Club founder. Nick has always enjoyed video game competitions participating in many when he was younger mostly of the console variety, later switching to PC. Rackley also enjoys shout casting, photography, videography, and working with any student on multimedia projects. He currently resides in Pandora Ohio with his wife Britney who is also an educator.
Joe Stringer - co-Vice President/Tournament operations
Joe Stringer is the head coach of Middletown Esports, and is currently an educator at Middletown High School teaching physics. Partnering with a local university, Joe helped Middletown grow an Esports program and develop an arena for their players. He enjoys all video games and teaching people about the ever-expanding field of Esports. Growing up in Michigan, Joe attended MSU and got some experience with the League of Legends esport. Hoping to grow the understanding of Esports within schools, Joe joined Esports Ohio determined to help wherever possible.
Jared Craigo - Secretary
Jared Craigo is a content creator and life-long gamer applying communication, media production, and gaming knowledge in the eSports industry. After interning for ESO as a content creator, Jared dedicated himself to the organization and was promoted to the Board of Directors in less than a year. He graduated with a Bachelor’s of English from Cleveland State University in 2020 where he honed his skills in writing, editing, graphic design, video editing, communications, education, and more. Jared began call-casting for Oberlin High School’s League of Legends eSports team in the fall of 2021 and has been inspired to be more involved with scholastic eSports since. Adaptable and dependable, Jared hopes to further the development and outreach of Esports Ohio for everyone.
Jessie Dorman- Treasurer
Jessie Dorman has is in her 15th year teaching science. She graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Microbiology and then went on to work biodefense at Battelle in West Jefferson, Ohio. While enjoying science, she did not like the grant chasing and politics involved and decided to become a teacher. She has always enjoyed playing games, and has played most consoles since the Atari. When not grading or doing tasks for the Virtual Eagles (New Albany's Esports team) she is often playing video games with the family. Jessie loves coaching Esports because even though she doesn't play the games offered, she does game and it is fun to just hop on and pay a joke around with the kids.
Discord: Dorman [New Albany]
Chris McClellan- Head of Middle School Program
NAte Meeker- College Advisory Concil Member
Jeff Caranna- Advisory Council Member
Chalin Cahlik - College Advisory Council Member
Chalin has competed in the esports scene for 14 years, starting in the early days of Halo 2 and leading into the current League of Legends era. Chalin created the Great Lakes Esports Conference (GLEC) in which many teams currently compete in. Chalin is a graduate of Tiffin University where he majored in communications with a concentration on electronic media and completed his MBA in 2017.
Nick Rider - Founder/Advisory Council Member
Nick Rider is the Founder of the educational non-profit, Esports Ohio, which specializes in the organization, oversight and competition structure of scholastic esports at the high school level. Nick recently has helped develop a curriculum in esports coaching and management and serves as an adjunct professor at Rhodes State College. Throughout his 15 years of education experience, he has spearheaded several STEM initiatives, served on several educational advisory committees, most notably the Ohio Department of Education Digital Task Force, and has been selected to present innovative strategies at countless educational technology conferences.