Members Emeriti
A member emeritus is a former member of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ who is no longer active in the day-to-day operations of the company, but who is still involved in an advisory capacity. Not all former members become members emeriti.
Craig Barker
A native of Livonia, Michigan, Craig Barker played four years of quiz bowl at , leading the Double Blue and White to the 1995 State Finals. He then played four and a half years as an undergraduate at the , where he won academic national championships in 1998 and 2000, as well as "TRASH" national championships in 2000, 2003, and 2007. The 1997 Jeopardy! college champion, Craig graduated from Michigan in 2000 with a B.A. in History and a Secondary Education certification and now works as a World/AP U.S. History teacher at his alma mater. He earned his Masters Degree in 2004. Craig is the founder of , the largest academic competitions portal on the web and one of the first comprehensive . Craig became a member of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ in 2001 and previously served as ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Vice President of Operations.
Eric S. Hillemann
Eric Hillemann has been involved with academic competitions since 1983 when he was in graduate school at the . From 1990 to 2010 he coached the , where he is employed as College Archivist. He is widely known in the academic quiz community for his “frequency of mention of titles” databases in art, music, and literature, for his twin 500-question “diagnostic” tests, for pioneering tournament innovations such as the “Deep Bench” invitational and popular “singles” tournament format, and for having won a tournament while playing solo. Eric was the recipient of the 2003 , annually given by the Academic Competition Federation “for meritorious services in sustaining and enriching collegiate academic competitions.” Eric previously served as ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Chief Editor. Eric became a member of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ in 1997 and made the transition to member emeritus in 2005.
Ken Jennings
Ken Jennings grew up in Seoul, Korea and then played quiz bowl for for three years before graduating with a degree in computer science. In 2004 he won 74 straight games of Jeopardy!, and was crowned the show’s “Greatest of All Time” when he returned for a 2020 tournament. He is the author of twelve books, most recently Planet Funny: How Comedy Ruined Everything, co-hosts the podcast , and serves as a producer and sometimes host of Jeopardy!. He and his wife Mindy live in Seattle with their two children and dog. Ken was a member of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ from 2002 through 2021 and became a member emeritus in 2022.
Patrick G. Matthews
A founding member and ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s first president, Patrick Matthews graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. At Penn, Patrick was the director and chief question editor for Penn Bowl, the nation’s largest and most acclaimed invitational tournament. Patrick is credited with helping to develop the intercollegiate tournament circuit in the Northeast.
Kevin P. Olmstead
Kevin Olmstead has Chemical Engineering degrees from and , a doctorate in environmental engineering from Michigan, and is presently a Senior Project Engineer with in Ann Arbor, MI. Kevin has been involved in academic competitions for over 20 years as a player and coach. He is an advisor and coach for the University of Michigan Academic Competitions program, the largest collegiate program in the United States. A former high school player from the Toledo area, Kevin appeared three times on Jeopardy! in 1994. He also won $2,180,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in April 2001, thus setting the worldwide record for winnings on a game show. Kevin was a founding (1996) member of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ and previously served as ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Chief Financial Officer. He made the transition to member emeritus in 2005.
Julie K. Stahlhut
Julie Stahlhut is a molecular ecologist who has been fascinated by insects since the Johnson administration (Lyndon, not Andrew). She played quiz bowl as a high school student in Enfield, Connecticut and as an undergraduate at MIT, and returned to the game over a decade later while earning a Ph.D. in biological sciences at Western Michigan University and serving for several years as a ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ subject editor. Now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester (NY), Julie has retired from active ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ membership in order to devote more time to her research on insect ecology. When not being poked by paper wasps in Panama or chomped by carpenter ants in Connecticut, Julie still volunteers at quiz bowl tournaments, where she can be found reading packets while surrounded by plush and plastic bugs. Julie was a founding member of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ and made the transition to member emerita status in 2004.