LeAnn is an ace at juggling many tasks at once. This is further impressive when you are made aware of her impairment: she has really, really short pinky fingers. Despite this, she bravely plugs away at the unenviable task of helping a Ranch full of nerds communicate slickly with the general public.  

Despite all her poise and polish, LeAnn is inarguably one of us. She has a true appreciation for sci-fi films and had fierce childhood dreams of becoming an astronaut. In fact, over dinner sometime, she’ll tell you how she once got invited to a launch party for astronaut’s families...unless you annoy her by scraping your teeth on your fork. Other interests include belting out any ‘80s song that’s played on the radio, indulging in the delicacy of Sour Patch Kids, and understanding the virtues of hot sauce.

Prior to joining us at the Ranch, Shannon had been all over the map—literally. She attended 13 schools, including a boarding school in Australia, prior to graduating high school. Following that, she got her degree at Georgia State University, was Associate Director of the advertising/ design school The Creative Circus, and hunted down advertising executives as Recruiting Manager for Talent Zoo. She has also been a freelance writer, a stay-at-home mom, and a jazz singer at a mall cafeteria. Shannon can easily take things in stride after another notable gig: dressing up for children’s birthday parties. As she notes, you haven’t suffered until you’ve been a hung over Easter bunny in 100 degree heat on Stone Mountain with 200 children trying to pull your tail off.

You may remember Emily from her seven-year stint as co-founder and president of the Big Nerd Ranch. During that time she learned how to run a company by, well, running a company. In 2009, with Big Nerd Ranch firmly established, she left to pursue her love of start-up. In August 2011, she was lured back to Big Nerd Ranch with the promise of new and exciting opportunities to create and sell BNR mobile apps to the world. While she figures out how to do that, she happily tortures the talented BNR developers by asking her favorite question, "What would happen if…?"

When Emily's not working, she runs all over East Atlanta with her dog, wishes that she had an organic garden overflowing with tomatoes, and tries to eat at every good restaurant in Atlanta at least once. And no, she doesn’t really wear a tiara and fancy gloves to work every day, she just really really likes the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

As a kid, Stacy dreamed of being a vet. But since she doesn’t like getting dirty or the way animals smell, she decided to go into finance. Good thing for us. Today, Stacy is a CPA and keeps our accounting on track. Before she landed on the Ranch, Stacy worked as an auditor for Arthur Andersen (pre-Enron days), a controller for a photography company, a teacher for a private school in Florida and most recently as an accountant for a local CPA firm. When not crunching numbers, Stacy enjoys coaching, playing and umpiring girls’ lacrosse. She’s been married for over 20 years to her BFF, Trent, and they have 3 children who keep them very busy.

Charles (aka CBQ) merged his amazing Highgroove Studios into the Ranch to round out our capabilities and exponentially increase our usefulness. With his experience and mastery of back end web services, he helps us effortlessly develop, deploy and scale web applications to help companies grow. Charles graduated with high honors from Georgia Tech and has been a proven leader ever since, having served as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies the world over.

While there’s no question he’s an expert at Ruby on Rails, CBQ is also into things on wheels. He’s an avid cyclist, be it mountain, road, cross or motor. All this activity helps him burn enough calories to comfortably be a foodie. He’s also into coffee, more specifically pouring latte art in barista throw-downs. (Yes, there really is such a thing.) Other interests include watching films of questionable artistic measure, like certain sci fi flicks or “You’ve Got Mail” and belting out A-ha’s “Take On Me” when he thinks no one is listening.

Here at the Ranch, Jason leads the charge in all things consulting and business development, bringing his extensive knowledge of marketing, advertising and small business ownership to the team. Where did he acquire all this knowledge? From his days working at advertising heavyweights like McCann-Erickson, Ogilvy & Mather and BBDO.  If that's not enough, he also owned his own retail businesses, launched a poker chip company, and traveled the globe with his importing business. But, now that he’s a Nerd, he’s an even busier guy. One sure-fire way to get him to slow down for minute? Free donuts. Works every time. Jason has called Atlanta home for most of his adult life, living with his wife Sarah, and Italian Spinones, Gunner and Aldo.

We suspect Jami’s talent for keeping our Corporate Training on track stems from her previous career as a high school English teacher. (Seriously... is there a tougher audience than a room full of teenagers?) Of course, spending several years as the Director of Creative Services for a Fortune 500 company helped sharpen all the skills in her corporate toolbox as well. When she’s not at the Ranch, Jami can be found whipping up gourmet meals with the "help" of her two daughters, reading a book from the massive stack next to her bed, belting out show tunes, and laughing at her husband's jokes.