Meet the Staff

David Madden
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director

David Madden is the co-founder and co-Executive Director of International Academic Competitions and the International History Olympiad. He began his involvement in academic competitions in the 1990’s playing quiz bowl for Ridgewood High School and Princeton University. In 2003, David received a Rotary scholarship to pursue a master’s in international relations at the Free University of Berlin. During his stay in Berlin, he appeared as a contestant on the American quiz show Jeopardy! winning 19 games in a row. He also participated in the Jeopardy! All Star Games tournament in early 2019 which he and his teammates won. While taking coursework to become a history teacher, he established the National History Bee and Bowl in June 2010. This quickly became a full-time position in its own right, particularly as in the 2011-2012 academic year, the International History Bee and Bowl were launched in Europe and Asia. These competitions, and many others, including the International History Olympiad, are now organized under the aegis of International Academic Competitions. As of 2025, over 100,000 students in over 50 countries compete in IAC events each school year. David is also a published art historian, an Ambassador with the Rainforest Alliance, and once hiked the entire length of the US east coast for the Fisher House Foundation, a veterans charity. He enjoys running, skiing, baking chocolate chip cookies, and playing with IAC’s mascots Apple, Maui, and Gigi (three cheeky parakeets).

Nolwenn Madden
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director

Nolwenn Madden is the co-Executive Director of International Academic Competitions and the co-founder of the International History Olympiad. Prior to her career in academic competitions, Nolwenn, a native of Alsace and dual French-US citizen, studied at the French grande école EM Lyon where she received a MS in Management. She also worked as a translator for Microsoft and booking.com before launching the International History Bee and Bowl in 2011. She and David were co-coaches for the first team from the USA to attend the International Geography Olympiad in Kyoto, Japan in the summer of 2013. This indirectly led to the idea for the first International History Olympiad two years later. She has organized and directed hundreds of tournaments for IAC throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and oversees organizational strategy and outreach for IAC. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the ukulele, which she began playing at the 2016 International History Olympiad in Honolulu. She also enjoys skiing and goofing around with Apple, Maui, and Gigi as well playing the cello, baking delicious French desserts, and traveling.

Eli Bertuccioli
Eli first joined IAC as an International History Bee and Bowl competitor in 2018, and went on to participate in several local and regional competitions, including winning the 2022 European Bee Championships, before starting to work as a staffer. He is currently pursuing a BA in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, where he is also active as a student representative. In his free time, Eli enjoys reading, coxing, and playing board games.

Sean Briody
Originally from Long Island, Sean Briody graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in American Studies and Egyptology & Assyriology (but sadly, he does not walk like an Egyptian). He is currently an AP U.S. History teacher and history bowl coach at Cardinal Newman School in Columbia, South Carolina. Sean was a player for Commack High School in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, and has been a familiar face at tournaments since he started staffing back in 2017. This will be his second IHO. He also used to play quiz bowl against Arthur Ramsay in high school, since they grew up 15 minutes from each other! He has a book coming out next year on the history of the Brown University Band, which was an important part of his college experience.

Kiersten Brown
If you’ve called the IAC help desk phone, you’ve probably talked to Kiersten Brown to have your questions answered. One of the IAC Jeopardy Alumni, Kiersten staffed the 2022 IGC and IHO events in Burlington and Princeton, and runs regional tournaments around the country for Elementary and Middle School divisions. In her downtime, she likes to spend time with her kids, her husband, and in Montreal for the comedy festivals. She also reviews books on World War II history, particularly in regards to resistance fighters.

Sara DelVillano
Sara DelVillano is a Tournament Coordinator for IAC’s US Varsity & Junior Varsity divisions. An experienced moderator and regional director, Sara coordinated the Geocache Treasure Hunt at the 2022 IGC and contributed to the Classical Music History Bee at the 2022 Olympiad. Sara studied music education at Ithaca College and was a 20-year music teaching veteran before joining IAC, and she continues teaching private woodwind lessons and plays in the Category 5 Wind Ensemble. Sara was a finalist on the Jeopardy! Teachers Tournament in 2019 and loves playing pub trivia. Sara is especially looking forward to visiting Italy for the first time, as her grandfather was born just over 150 km from Rome!

Jason Flowers
Director of Exams & Assessments

Jason Flowers is the Director of Exams for IAC and the 2023 Olympiad. Jason joined IAC in 2015 as a Team Leader for the US Geography Team and as the head writer for the US Geography Championships (USGC). Since then, he has helped to write the US History Bee and National Political Science Bee qualifying exams, all levels of USGC exams, National Championship Exams in history, and various exams and events for IHO and IGC. In addition to writing for IAC, Jason is the Quiz Bowl and History Bowl coach at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin, TX, where his teams have won two National History Bowl titles and four quiz bowl national championships.

John Garner
Field Trip Coordinator

John Garner is a history teacher at Temple High School and the field trip coordinator for the International History Olympiad and International Geography Championships. In his sixteen years of teaching middle and high school social studies, he has been repeatedly recognized for excellence in teaching, most recently being named the 2022 Gilder Lehrman Georgia History Teacher of the Year. For International Academic Competitions, John also coordinates teacher and administrator outreach and directs regional tournaments across the United States. Additionally, John serves as the president of the National History Club, sits on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Council for History Education, and spends quite a bit of time working with students on all things social studies. Having led close to two hundred field trips in his career, John will provide a memorable experience for anyone that takes one of his tours around Rome this summer!

Jeff Gepner
Jeff Gepner has taught history at international schools in Guam and the United Kingdom, and currently teaches history at an Ruamrudee International School in Thailand. In addition to teaching, Jeff coaches his school’s History Bowl team. Jeff has also directed tournaments for International Academic Competitions in Asia and is looking forward to staffing his third Olympiad, having previously been on staff in both 2018 in Berlin and 2022 in Princeton and New York.

Susan Madden
Susan Madden has been staffing IAC tournaments since 2010, including every prior International History Olympiad and many other regional, national, and international tournaments. She has an MBA from NYU Stern and is an alumna of Wellesley College and Tenafly High School. She has worked for Chase Manhattan in banking, in numerous community volunteer positions, and as a parent advisor and driver for the powerhouse Ridgewood High School quiz bowl team in the 1990’s. Susan spent a semester studying in Strasbourg, France while in college and is looking forward to returning to Paris for the first time in 22 years. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, skiing, traveling, and solving the New York Times crossword. 

Tim Madden
Tim Madden has staffed over 100 IAC tournaments since their inception, including every prior International History Olympiad. In high school, Tim played on the Loyola Academy (IL) quiz bowl team, and he is an alumnus of Boston College and New York University, where he completed his MBA. Before retiring in 2016, Tim worked in banking for 43 years, including postings with Chase Manhattan in Jakarta and Paris, the latter exactly 50 years ago. He recommends you visit his favorite Parisian brasserie Au Pied de Cochon, while you are in France. Tim advises IAC on organizational strategy and also built the flagpole stantions that you will see holding your country, region, or state’s flag in Paris. His favorite International History Olympiad memory is moderating the finals of the Naval History Bee on the deck of the USS Missouri during a tropical depression in 2016.

Alex Marshall
Alex is looking forward to his first International History Olympiad this summer, having previously moderated at regional IHBB tournaments and IAC’s 2023 European Championships. Alex has history as a competitive quizzer and game show contestant, and writes and hosts pub quizzes in London. Alex also works as an extra in various film and television productions around the South East. In his free time he loves to cook, plays for a football team, and is a big fan of both board and video games.

Grayson McCready
Grayson’s teaching career started in the mountains of British Columbia but over 20 years ago, he left to teach internationally with stops in the Bahamas, Cuba and now Basel, Switzerland. Prior to teaching, he served as a paratrooper in the Canadian Army. Grayson has staffed both the International History Olympiad and International Geography Championships in 2018 in Berlin and in 2022 in Princeton and New York. He has attended two European History Bowl Championships in Rome as a coach and based on past performance, expects to earn a gold medal the Gelato Consumption events this summer!

Steve Muench
Steve Muench is a world history teacher at Leonia Middle School in Leonia, NJ. Steve has been part of IAC’s staff for nearly a decade, serving as tournament director for elementary, middle, and high school regional competitions in across the United States. This will be his fourth History Olympiad on staff, having attended the Olympiads in 2015, 2018, and 2022. Along with Jason Flowers, Steve is the co-coach of Team USA for the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo), having taken the team to Serbia in 2017, Quebec City in 2018, and Hong Kong in 2019. After this year’s IHO, Steve and Jason will be bringing Team USA to Indonesia for the 2023 iGeo in Bandung. Despite his extensive travels, this will be Steve’s first time in Rome. Back home, Steve is proud to be married to Ligia for 29 years and has two adult children.

Jess Peña
Jess Peña is a Regional Coordinator for IAC’s Elementary and Middle School competitions in the United States. She got her start with IAC in 2021 in writing National Championship Exams and has since served as Assistant Director of Exams at IAC’s US National Championships since then. Outside of IAC, she has worked for educational nonprofit organizations and has taught high school social studies for five years. Jess lives in Austin, TX with her husband and adorable pup, Bear. In her free time, Jess enjoys powerlifting, live music, and pub quizzes.

Anthony Walker-Pearson
Anthony is a professor of History and Geography at École Jeannine Manuel in Paris, France. In 2016, he started a History Club for 8 students at the school. Since then, the club has grown tremendously with over 60 passionate students now part of the History Club. EJM students etched their way into the IHBB history books during the 2022-2023 academic year as they claimed thrilling victories in the Varsity, JV, and MS divisions at the European Championships in Barcelona. Anthony is very excited to staff his first International History Olympiad this summer, and is looking forward to seeing the very best students around the world come together and compete against one another!

Jay Wickliff
As Director of Strategic Planning, Jay helps chart the future of IAC. He is the co-founder of the National Political Science Bee and coordinates the related discussion groups. He designs academic games like the Great Trading Game and MCs award ceremonies at major competitions including every International History Olympiad. As a teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, he coached the History Bowl team to a National Championship. Jay has also served as Executive Director at Presidential Classroom, a Washington-based civic education program for outstanding high school students, where he founded the Future World Leaders Summit for teenage leaders from around the world. During his career in human resources management, he worked as Vice President for Global Human Resources at Gerber Scientific, Inc., a mid-sized New York Stock Exchange listed company.