Monthly Backgammon Expertise Learning Series on Zoom with Kent Goulding & Karen Davis

These events are an amazing opportunity to see two of the best players in action. And, fun too!

Karen Davis, PhD, is President/Executive Director of the U.S. Backgammon Foundation; and founding member, Board of Directors 2010-2021, Chairman 2010-2017; President/Executive Director 2017-2020 of the U.S. Backgammon Federation. She is co-founder of Women in Backgammon, a nonprofit organization helping to promote women’s participation, place, and pre-eminence in competitive backgammon.

Her backgammon activities and achievements include: 2021 American Backgammon Hall of Fame induction; Organizer of the Cherry Blossom and Sunny Florida ABT Backgammon Championships; BMAB Master Class 2; #6 in USBGF Lifetime National Master Points, and #2 in USBGF Lifetime Online Master Points.; 2021 Ultimate Backgammon Contender one of 13 qualified participants Marbella Spain; Member, Team USA in 2021 World Backgammon Federation World Team Championship in Trier Germany; Member, Team USA in 2019 Montenegro World Team Championship; 2019 - Third, Ladies Event, Montenegro Merit Open; 2020 - Member, Team USA in Magriel Cup, winning 5 of her 7 matches; 2020, Captain USA Women’s Team and Best US Player of the Genud Cup.; 2021 – Finalist in Michigan Masters Jackpot; Second, U.S. Open Online Super Jackpot, 2021; 2019 – 1st Super Jackpot, NY Metropolitan Open; 1st in BMAB-USA at the Cherry Blossom.

In her professional life, she is Professor Emerita in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management and former Director of the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health from 2013-2017. She served as President of The Commonwealth Fund from 1995-2012, and prior to that was Chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (1983-1992), the first woman to chair a department at Johns Hopkins; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Department of Health and Human Services (1977-1980), first woman to head a US Public Health Service Agency (1980); senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. (1975-1977) and research associate (1971-1975), a visiting lecturer in economics at Harvard University (1974-1975); and an assistant professor of economics at Rice University (1969-1970).  She received her Ph.D. in economics from Rice University. She has written extensively on health and social policy issues, and received numerous awards and recognition for her public service.

Kent Goulding was inducted into the American Backgammon Hall of Fame in the inaugural cohort in 2015. His citation noted that he “is esteemed as a backgammon player, publisher, director/organizer, witty auctioneer, and raconteur extraordinaire. He introduced the first U.S. backgammon ratings system, and as director of the World Cup, he instituted the use of clocks and record matches. He was voted to the Giants of Backgammon six consecutive times from its inception. He won the Tournament of Champions at Paradise Island in the Bahamas in 1978. He published 12 issues of Backgammon with the Champions between 1981 and 1982, the Inside Backgammon magazine with Bill Robertie from 1991 to 1998. He was organizer/director with Bill Robertie of the World Cup (known as the U.S. Invitational in early years) from 1984 through 1998.

Most recently he was 5th in the Masters Jackpot at the 2022 Los Angeles Open where he served as Auctioneer of the Calcutta Auction, He was 3rd/4th in the 2022 Cherry Blossom Classic Super Jackpot, 3rd/4th in the Cherry Blossom, and tied for 2nd in the 2022 DC Metro Open. He tied for 3rd/4th in the Cherry Blossom Capital Doubles with Karen Davis; he and Karen won the Doubles in the February 2022 Big Freeze Out ABT Online tournament.