Our Staff

 Playing professionally for over 30 years, Jade has won over 30,000 masterpoints, and numerous championships in local, national, and international competitions.  Jade has contributed extensively to the body of bridge theory, and works continuously to improve bidding, play, and defensive techniques.  To increase the popularity of duplicate bridge, Jade coaches our youngest beginning players.  Currently, Jade continues to assist in the development our up-and-coming bridge champions by establishing a bridge internship program within his own corporation. 

Although Donna learned how to play bridge over 30 years ago, she did not become significantly involved with the game until 2007.  Until that time, Donna was a software engineer with the MITRE Corporation (a 40-year career working mostly with the Department of Defense).  In 2007, Donna began directing bridge games in California and opened a full-time bridge club in 2009.  Donna retired from MITRE in 2013, and closed the bridge club in May of 2014.  Since June of 2014, Donna has been a full-time player on the Great American Bridge Tour, and was recently appointed CEO. 

 Karen Lee Barrett has been playing duplicate bridge since 1969. Like many young players, she struggled to find a balance between her passion for the game and the rest of life.  College waited for completion for 20 years and nearly every vacation was bridge related. In the early years, she played both duplicate and rubber bridge. Playing for money against some of the best players in California during the 1970s provided a very strong incentive to improve her declarer play.
  During the early 1980s, she developed long term partnerships that improved her bidding and defense and that began a long string of successes at the regional and national levels. Karen's first national title was in 1984, the Life Master Women's Pairs. After achieving this goal, she went back to college and got a degree in computer programming and a traditional job. In 1993, she met her husband GS Jade Barrett playing bridge online and they were married in 1995. In 2007 the Barretts moved from Vancouver, Washington (Karen's home for 30 years) to Elk Point, South Dakota where they live in a huge old house with two very spoiled dogs. Karen now works in her own Aunty Kay's Vintage Shop and also plays approximately 6 weeks of bridge most years.
Since 1984 she has added two more titles (1998 Womens KO, 2000 Womens Swiss teams), been second twice (1992, 1998 Women's BAM), and has lost track of her top 10 finishes in national events. With 14,000+ masterpoints and 200+ Blue Ribbon qualifications, she ranks higher than 99.82% of the ACBL and is one of 315 living Grand Life Masters.