Our Team

Board of Directors

  • Josh Gold

    CEO and Co-Founder, Budo Accelerator

    Chief Instructor & Co-Founder, Ikazuchi Dojo

    Executive Editor, Aikido Journal

  • Mark Tercek

    Board Chair & Co-Founder, Budo Accelerator

    Senior Advisor, Centerview Partners

    CEO, The Nature Conservancy (2008-2019)

    Managing Director & Partner, Goldman Sachs (1984-2008)

  • La'Tonya Rease Miles

    Director of Sales & University Partnerships, ReUp Education

    Chief Student Affairs Officer, Menlo College (2021-2022)

    Executive Director of First Year Experience & Strategic Initiatives, UCLA (2016-2021)

  • Ellis Amdur

    Classical martial arts instructor

    Martial arts historian & author

    Principal, Edgework Books

  • Adrianne Wonnacott

    Board Chair, Aikido West

    Aikido instructor, Stanford University & Aikido West

    Former Genentech researcher

Leadership

  • Josh Gold

    CEO

    Josh is a martial arts expert and innovator who has taught thousands over his 30+ years of experience. He is a notable speaker on the martial art of aikido, having led programs for Fortune 500 companies and premier idea festivals.

    Earlier in his career, Josh built 15 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience, leading start-ups and special projects for companies such as Intel, Sony, Disney, and Formula One.

  • Setsuko Okumura

    Program Operations Director

    Setsuko holds an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business and brings her extensive business experience (over a decade of experience managing Broadcom’s global real estate portfolio) to the management and operations of Budo Accelerator’s programs.

  • Rush Cosgrove

    Program Design Director

    Rush holds a PhD in Education and a Masters degree in Educational Statistics from the University of Cambridge. He also holds a MSc in Higher Education from the University of Oxford. He has over a decade of educational program design experience.

  • Daniela Gojinetchi

    Director of Finance

    Daniela is a graduate of the USC Leventhal School of accounting and is a CPA and financial analyst. She has over 8 years experience in financial management at both small organizations and global enterprises.

Instructors

  • Ellis Amdur

    Ellis is one of the world's foremost historians of the traditional martial arts and is ranked as a master in two arts, with over 50 years experience. He holds a degree in Psychology from Yale University, and a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Seattle University. Ellis has authored numerous works related to crisis intervention, hostage negotiation, and martial arts traditions and their application to modern society.

  • Mark Cheng

    Mark has over 35 years martial arts experience, holding black belts in Inosanto Kali, Chinese wrestling, and TaeKwonDo. He is a contributing editor for Black Belt Magazine and Founder of K3 Combat Movement Systems, where he trains Olympians and professional athletes.

  • Adrianne Wonnacott

    Adrianne is a 5th degree black belt in aikido with 30 years experience in the marital arts. She teaches aikido at Stanford University and Aikido West, in Redwood City, CA. Adrianne holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and a BA in MCD Biology from CU Boulder and is a former Genentech researcher.

  • Francisco de Los Cobos

    Francisco has 37 years in the marital arts with 24 years teaching experience across 9 different arts. He holds a 5th degree black belt in karate and a 4th degree black belt in aikido. He is a certified accountant in Mexico, currently pursuing certification in CA.

  • Ania Small

    Ania holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Northeastern University. She trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction at the UMASS Medical Center and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard Medical School, focusing on behavioral medicine related to treatment of anxiety and depression. She is a 6th degree black belt in aikido with 40 years experience.

  • Bruce Wonnacott

    Bruce is a fifth degree black belt in aikido with over 30 years martial arts experience. He has been involved in software development and media publication since 1992 with expertise in management of distributed dev teams, and design and deployment of internet infrastructure technologies. Bruce sits on the board of several nonprofits, with a focus on education and scientific research.

  • Jenny Woo

    Jenny is the Founder / CEO of Mind Brain Emotion. She holds a PhD in Human Development and Education from UC Irvine, and a Master’s degree in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

  • Noah Levine

    Noah is a third degree black belt in aikido with 10 years of experience. He completed a year-long full time apprenticeship under Patricia Hendricks, one of the world’s highest ranking female aikido instructors. Noah holds a degree in engineering from Penn State.

  • Anastasia Shuba

    Anastasia is a third degree black belt in aikido with over 15 years experience. She is active practitioner of aikido, kali, BJJ, and Jeet Kune Do. Anastasia holds a PhD in Computer Engineering from UC Irvine.