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 founder and CEO Axis Sports Management and the former President & CEO of Envisage Global, which provides a broad range of continuing education and workforce development solutions for individual learners, large-scale corporate training initiatives, and international academic collaborations. Through strategic alliances with universities, curriculum development organizations, and elite training partners, Envisage delivers industry-relevant programs that bridge academic theory with real-world application.
Dr. Powers brings more than 30 years of practitioner experience from his leadership roles in a Fortune 50 corporate environment, followed by a distinguished academic career. He served as a Professor and a Dean at the Forbes School of Business at the University of Arizona Global Campus, and founded the Forbes School of Business Board of Advisors, which he also chaired. His academic leadership is grounded in a multidisciplinary educational foundation: he holds a Bachelor of Science in Business, an MBA, a Master’s in Education, a Master’s in Psychology, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership.
In addition to his executive leadership and academic accomplishments, Dr. Powers is a passionate advocate for learner transformation, talent mobility, and global education accessibility. His work has helped organizations design scalable, credit-worthy learning ecosystems that align education with evolving workforce needs. Through Axis Sports Academy, he brings this vision into the realm of elite student-athlete development, empowering future leaders in both sport and scholarship.
With more than two decades of leadership in sports education, training operations, and athlete development, Scott Dean serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Axis Sports Academy. He oversees the Academy’s strategic vision, operational execution, and program innovation, ensuring the seamless integration of elite academics with world-class athletic training.
Scott began his career at IMG Academy in 2010 and rose to Senior Vice President and Athletic Director by 2018. During his tenure, IMG teams earned nine national championships, achieved consistent national rankings, and maintained a college placement rate of more than 90 percent each year. Many student-athletes advanced to the nation’s top academic and athletic programs under his leadership.
At Axis, Scott leads strategies ranging from optimizing training environments to advancing recruitment and building community engagement. He plays a pivotal role in long-term campus development, competitive positioning in the sports academy sector, and aligning high-performance sports training with strong academic support.
Scott’s expertise in program design and strategic partnerships is grounded in both his business education and extensive leadership experience. He is recognized for combining rigorous athletic development with a values-driven approach that emphasizes academic and athletic excellence.
With over 30 years of progressive leadership experience across education, operations, and executive management, Mark Plitzuweit serves as the Head of School and Senior Vice President of Academics at Axis Sports Academy. In this role, he oversees the strategic direction and execution of academic programming, ensuring educational excellence in support of the Academy’s mission to deliver elite academics and athletic development for high school students.
Mark is an award-winning Operations Executive, recognized for pioneering sustainable innovation in education and workforce development. With deep expertise in education, strategic leadership, and scalable curriculum design, he fosters cultures where students and staff feel seen, supported, and empowered to lead. Driven by a servant leadership philosophy, Mark has a proven history of transforming organizations and departments by aligning mission with metrics, advancing inclusion, and mentoring emerging leaders. He is also a dedicated community servant, having coached youth sports, organized fundraisers, and advocated for equitable educational opportunities for all students. Whether crafting transformative pitch decks or presenting internationally on cross-functional topics in business and education, Mark leads with heart, strategic vision, and unshakable purpose.
Prior to joining Axis Sports Academy, Mark served as the CEO of a charter school organization and has held senior leadership roles across both K-12 and post-secondary institutions. This breadth of experience has cultivated a deep understanding of classroom excellence and the design of efficient, impactful instructional training models.
Mark holds a Master of Education with a concentration in Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He has also completed doctoral-level coursework in Educational Leadership and Change. His leadership style is grounded in servant leadership, emphasizing situational influence and meeting individuals where they are on their personal journey.
With over 25 years of progressive leadership experience across operations, finance, and human resources, Amanda G. Jones serves as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Finance, and School Administration at Axis Sports Academy. In this multifaceted role, Amanda oversees the strategic direction and execution of key business functions that support the Academy’s mission to deliver elite academics and athletic development for high school students.
Amanda brings a deep background in operational excellence, financial strategy, and compliance, having successfully led complex initiatives in both the education and corporate sectors. Her leadership at Axis includes end-to-end oversight of financial systems, budget forecasting, third-party contracting, human capital development, and regulatory compliance. She also plays a critical role in the Academy’s long-term planning, property acquisition, and accounting system implementation.
Prior to joining Axis Sports Academy, Amanda held senior roles at Zovio/University of Arizona Global Campus, where she led multi-department operations, budget administration, and enterprise-wide technology integrations, including Salesforce, SharePoint and Power BI. Earlier in her career, she held accounting and administrative leadership positions within real estate and legal services, contributing to her broad and versatile expertise.
Amanda holds a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies. She is nearly complete with her Master of Accountancy degree. Her leadership style emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, ethical financial stewardship, and the continuous pursuit of operational excellence.
Dr. Carie L. Powers serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Axis Sports Academy, where she leads strategic initiatives that drive brand visibility, enrollment growth, and institutional impact. With over two decades of experience in education, marketing, and executive leadership, Dr. Powers brings a proven track record of driving large-scale initiatives, building high-performing teams, and positioning organizations for sustainable growth along with a dynamic blend of strategic insight, creative direction, and operational excellence.
Before joining ASA, Dr. Powers served as Regional Director of Admissions at Chamberlain University, overseeing multi-campus marketing and admissions operations across twelve U.S. markets. Under her leadership, campuses achieved marked and sustained enrollment growth, improved conversion metrics, and strengthened team performance through data-informed coaching and culture transformation.
Earlier in her career, she held cross-functional leadership roles at the University of Phoenix, where she collaborated with marketing, operations, student services, and executive teams to implement strategic initiatives impacting national enrollment. Her decade-long tenure demonstrated her strength in both strategy and execution, contributing to systems redesign, training frameworks, and leadership development programs.
She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Arizona State University, a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a specialization in Transformational Leadership from the University of New England. Known for her passion, precision, and people-centered approach, Dr. Powers is committed to advancing ASA’s mission of excellence both on and off the field.
Dr. Paula Zobisch is a seasoned business executive, educator, and U.S. Army Veteran with a proven track record across corporate marketing, entrepreneurship, and higher education leadership. With a deep passion for helping others unlock their potential, Paula is known for her ability to bridge real-world strategy with academic insight, empowering students, professionals, and entrepreneurs to turn ideas into action.
She holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education, an MBA with a concentration in Marketing, and a Master of Arts in Organizational Development & Leadership with a specialization in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Her corporate career includes 12 years as Director of Marketing for a major 3M distributor, where she led high-impact campaigns and drove revenue growth. In academia, Paula has served as Program Director for an undergraduate entrepreneurship degree and taught thousands of students in online and on-ground settings.
Currently, she continues to educate and mentor the next generation of business leaders, combining theory, innovation, and lived experience. Whether working with aspiring entrepreneurs or established executives, Paula’s mission is clear: to help others rise, lead, and achieve their goals with clarity, courage, and strategic thinking. A nationally certified Krav Maga instructor and black belt, Paula is also advancing toward her second-level black belt through the Executive Black Belt Club in Tae Kwon Do bringing the same discipline and resilience to her personal pursuits as she does to her professional leadership.
Maine native, Seth Brown has spent his professional career developing people and process in the areas of sport and education. Student, Coach, Teacher, Administrator, and “Process Architect” with a demonstrated history of growth in revenue and scale, Seth brings a broad scope of experience to an organization.
A decorated and championship winning youth and college soccer coach whose entrepreneurial spirit and drive helped guide organizations administratively at the youth club, collegiate, professional soccer as well as revenue impacting positions in the Boarding School, Collegiate and private sectors. Seth guided the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL to the largest class in school history and record setting revenue generation.
Seth joins Axis from Maine Maritime Academy, where he served as the Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations. Seth resides in Maine with his wife and three children. A parent of former and current collegiate athletes, as well as a current youth soccer player/Gymnast, Seth embraces the world of sport and education. Seth’s wife, Mariko is a National Board-Certified HS Teacher, specializing in special education and math.
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.
Brett Miller serves as the Vice President of External Business at Axis Sports Academy, where he leads national and regional strategy across camps, corporate partnerships, and sponsorships. With nearly six years of executive experience in the sports industry, Brett has built his career at the intersection of athletics, business development, and education. A former collegiate basketball player and lifelong competitor, he brings both firsthand athletic insight and strategic vision to every initiative, particularly within the private school and high-performance training sectors.
Prior to joining Axis Sports Academy, Brett founded and led a sports facility management company responsible for the largest sports and family entertainment venue in the United States, spanning 320 acres and more than 100 fields and courts. Under his leadership, the organization grew to nearly 400 staff, welcomed over 5 million annual visitors, and hosted more than 500 premier domestic and international events each year. Brett also played a pivotal role in securing high-profile partnerships with global brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Under Armour.
A proud Arizona native and graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Communications, Brett remains deeply committed to his community through a range of philanthropic efforts.
Dr. N. Jonas Ohrberg is the VP of Special Projects and Development. With over twenty years in project management and leadership in education and sports, he brings a wealth of knowledge to Axis Sports Academy. Dr. Ohrberg’s vast experience includes national and international cultural and academic projects in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Zambia, and Bosnia.
His previous experience includes roles in post-secondary education leadership, faculty management, education program administration, and instruction. This experience consists of the University of Arizona Global Campus, the University of Maryland Global Campus, Bowie State University, and Wayland Baptist University. Moreover, Dr. Ohrberg has a robust background in leadership development, corporate training management, and business development in the federal contracting sector.
Dr. Ohrberg holds a Ph.D. in Organization and Management with an emphasis on Business Leadership. Dr. Ohrberg’s focus on leadership involves several years of research and scholarship on topics such as emotional intelligence, employee motivation, and leadership modalities.
