College Stanford University ’96
High School St. Albans School (DC) ’93
Washington Post First Team All-Met ’92 & ’93
Gatorade Player of the Year (DC) ’93
Experience Five years San Diego Padres minor leagues (AAA)
2004 National Double-Goal Coach of The Year
Brendan was a four-year varsity player at St. Albans School (’93) where he was three-time All-Interstate Athletic Conference; two-time Washington Post First Team All-Met [’92-’93], and the 1993 Gatorade Circle of Champions Player of the Year for Washington, D.C. Brendan completed his Stanford University degree in three years and was also admitted to law school while being drafted by the San Diego Padres after his junior (final) year. While a member of the Cardinal, Brendan participated in three NCAA regional tournaments and a College World Series, leading the team in saves and appearances during his sophomore season. Brendan was also selected Reliever of the Year in the Cape Cod Summer League, as closer for the Cotuit Kettleers. Drafted in the 26th round in 1996, Brendan signed with the San Diego Padres. His five-year professional baseball career with San Diego and Texas featured two consecutive Community Service Awards from the Padres while in Triple-A.
Brendan is the Founder and President of The Headfirst Companies. The Headfirst Companies started with a single pitching lesson during Brendan’s first pro off-season and has grown to a national footprint with 30 full-time team members and more than 700 annual summer staff. Headfirst’s DC-area programs have been named one of the Top 50 camps in the country by Sports Illustrated for Kids, and Headfirst has been recognized for youth experience excellence in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, MLB.com, Fox News, the New York Times and NPR. In 2017, Headfirst was recognized as a “Best Place to Work” by Washington Business Journal. Brendan lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Tricia, and two daughters, Livi (3) and Stella (1).
College Georgetown University, B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, FDNY Scholarship
Georgetown University Law Center, JD, Magna Cum Laude, Order of the Coif, Public Interest Law Scholar
National University of Ireland, Galway, LLM, First Honors, Valedictorian
High School Chaminade High School
Two-Time All-CHSAA
Experience Former Player, Georgetown University
Former Headfirst Honor Roll Camper & Coach
Associate, Jones Day & The World Bank Group
Joey was the starting third baseman at Georgetown University after spending his freshman year playing at Davidson College. While at Georgetown, Joey was a four time All Big East Academic All-Star and the team’s Most Valuable Teammate. Upon graduation, Joey was named a Rhodes Scholar Finalist and a Mitchell Scholar.
Joey received his LLM in Public Law from the National University of Ireland, Galway. His dissertation and publications expounded on US laws that severely restrict the ability of veterans to hire the expert legal advocates that are needed to aid them in navigating a too often hostile and complex Veteran Administration’s disability adjudication system. Joey has since founded the Academy for Veterans and worked as a law clerk at the National Veterans Legal Services Program. Joey has also published in the Huffington Post and was featured in a 2009 article.
Prior to attending Georgetown University Law Center, Joey moved to a barrio in the Dominican Republic to operate the non-profit Beisbol y Libros, which uses baseball and softball to incentivize literacy for children. Before joining The Headfirst Companies, Joey was an associate in the Washington, DC office of the international law firm, Jones Day and at The World Bank Group. His practice focused on complex civil and criminal litigation.
Joey serves as our COO and General Counsel. In this role, he spearheads our efforts to transform the expectations of parents and coaches when evaluating the organizations that are entrusted with the care and development of their children and young adults.
College Lafayette College, Summa Cum Laude, ‘15
Academic All-Patriot League Team, ’14 & ‘15
Patriot League Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, ‘14
First Team All-Patriot League, ‘14
High School Hayfield Secondary School (Alexandria, VA), ‘11
First Team All-National District, ‘10
National District Pitcher of the Year, ‘11
Experience Former Headfirst Honor Roll Camper
Former Headfirst Gamer
Cory was a four-year relief pitcher and two-year captain at Lafayette College in the Patriot League. In addition to his Patriot League accolades, Cory was chosen as a Baseball Senior Class Award Candidate and Postgraduate Scholarship Recipient by the NCAA. Cory’s relationship with Headfirst began in high school when he attended Honor Roll Camp and played for Headfirst’s travel organization, the Gamers. Cory started working for Headfirst immediately after graduation in the Summer of 2015 as a Leadership Fellow and now works across all the company’s divisions as an Associate of Operations.
College Amherst College, ’11
2010 & 2011 NESCAC All-Academic
2011 NESCAC All-Conference
2011 CoSIDA Academic All-District
High School Lexington High School (Lexington, MA)
Experience Former Player at Amherst College
Head Baseball Coach at The Masters School
Assistant Baseball Coach at Phillips-Andover Academy
Max was a four-year contributor at Amherst College as a pitcher, first as a closer and then a weekend conference starter, earning two-time NESCAC All-Academic and All-NESCAC honors as well as CoSIDA Academic All-District his senior year.
After graduating in 2011, and inspired by his experience and mentors at Amherst College, he was awarded Phillips-Andover Academy’s 2011-2012 Teaching Fellowship, where he was a history instructor, dorm parent, and assistant baseball coach. After the Andover Fellowship, Max went to The Masters School as a history instructor, dorm parent and head baseball coach before coming back to Headfirst.
Max re-joined the full-time Headfirst team – having previously served as the Honor Roll intern in the summers of 2010 and 2011 – in 2014 as an Associate of Marketing & Customer Experience. Having been impacted by the core philosophy and team atmosphere of Headfirst, Max now focuses his mission-driven approach as the Manager of Product of Marketing, overseeing the day-to-day marketing and customer experience at Headfirst.
College Georgetown University ’12
High School Syosset High School ‘08
Experience Four-year varsity softball letter-winner at Georgetown U.
NFCA Scholar Athlete
Big East All-Academic Team
Cara anchored Georgetown University Softball’s first-ever recruited class to compete in the Big East Conference. A four-year starter, Cara emerged as a slugging first basemen and leader for the Hoyas, being named to the Big East Softball Honor Roll. This Long Island native has lived – and conquered – the rigors of high-academic college athletics and carried that success to her career. Joining Headfirst originally as a seasonal coach in 2014 after a two-year stint with the Highway Safety Protection Corporation, Cara has rocketed through our ranks and now leads an internal team and division as our Manager of Operations.
College Georgetown University
NFCA Scholar Athlete
Big East All-Academic Team
2014 All Big East First Team
High School Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, NY
Experience Former player, Georgetown University
Elyse was a four-year starter (198 out of 199 collegiate games), four-year NFCA Scholar Athlete, Big East All-Academic Team and 2014 All Big East First Team on the Georgetown University softball team. She has brought unwavering energy, dedication and work ethic from her standout career to her current role as Senior Associate for Headfirst’s Professional (Major League Baseball) Camps. Elyse grew up in New York as the younger sister of Joey Graziano, initially joining our team as a Camp & Safety Coordinator for our New York Yankees Camps. She has filled multiple roles at Headfirst and now manages the operations and curricula for all of Headfirst’s Professional Camps.
College Davidson College
Experience Former Player, Davidson College
Assistant Coach, University of Richmond
A four-year letterman and contributor at Davidson College, Mike brings a unique background of both playing and coaching experience to our Headfirst team as the Associate of Honor Roll Camps. Mike finished his college career 5th all-time in career saves at Davidson, and as the closer for the winningest team in Davidson history (a record broken this past season by the class of 2017). After his playing career, Mike transitioned into college coaching, first as the Director of Baseball Ops for a VCU team that went on to reach the Super Regional of the NCAA Tournament in 2015, and then as an Assistant Coach at the University of Richmond in 2016. Mike is an Honor Roll alumni, joining our team in full-time in December, while he pursues his MBA at George Washington with a concentration in Sports Management.
College Duke University, Cum Laude, ’99
Harvard Business School, MBA
High School St. Albans ’95
Two-Time All-Interstate Athletic Conference
Experience Two years Cleveland Indians minor leagues (Single-A)
Ted was a two-time All-Interstate Athletic Conference selection at St. Albans in Washington D.C as a pitcher and third baseman. He attended Duke University, where he was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Academic Team each of his four years there. In 1999, Ted earned Duke’s Fireman of the Year Award, given to the team’s best relief pitcher.
Ted graduated Cum Laude in 1999 and was drafted in the 37th round by the Cleveland Indians that June. He spent his first professional season with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York Penn League (short season single-A). After reaching High-A (Kingston), Ted was released by the Indians in October of 2000 and retired after two years of professional baseball.
In 2001, Ted moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he was a Managing Director for Fins Denim, LLC. After three years at Fins, Ted attended Harvard Business School, graduating in June of 2006. He then moved to New York City, taking a Business Development and Marketing role at Rave Wireless, Inc.
In 2009, Ted founded GameChanger Media, Inc., a technology company that offers a mobile platform for youth, high school and college team communities. The GameChanger scorekeeping app provides coaching insights and live play-by-play updates for over 200,000 baseball and softball teams. As the company’s CEO, Ted guided GameChanger through an impressive seven years of growth prior to its acquisition by Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2016. He continues to serve as CEO for GameChanger and resides in Manhattan with his wife Margaret and their two children, Willa and James.
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