Meet Grand Master Stephen Oliver
Grand Master Stephen Oliver, MBA, is a 10th Degree Black Belt and the Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, one of the martial arts industry’s leading coaching and consulting organizations for professional martial arts school owners, BJJ academies, and MMA gyms. A martial arts school owner since 1975 and business coach since 1985, Oliver has spent more than five decades building, operating, and advising successful martial arts schools. He also serves as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA (the National Association of Professional Martial Artists) and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. A Georgetown University cum laude graduate, he earned his Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026 and inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame in August 2026.
Beginnings in Tulsa
Stephen Oliver began training in 1969 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during what martial artists of that era call the “Blood & Guts” years. His first instructors were Bob Olinghouse and Gran Moulder, Black Belts in the Jhoon Rhee Institute system, in the lineage that runs from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee through Allen Steen and Pat Burleson. He began teaching in 1974 and opened his own school in 1975, at age 15. He received his 1st Degree Black Belt from Grand Master Jhoon Rhee in 1978, posting one of the highest scores recorded on the Jhoon Rhee Black Belt Exam. The full rank history is on the lineage page.
He also studied at the University of Tulsa for two years as a University Scholar and National Merit Finalist, on a full scholarship, before transferring to Georgetown University.
Washington, D.C.
While at Georgetown, Oliver served as head instructor and branch manager for the Jhoon Rhee Institute in Washington, D.C., then the leading martial arts business organization in the world, and became its youngest-ever branch manager. He worked directly under Jhoon Rhee, Nick Cokinos (later chairman of the Educational Funding Company), Jeff Smith and Ned Muffley. He graduated from Georgetown cum laude in 1982 with an A.B. in International Economics, then spent a year at the Library of Congress and the Small Business Administration studying direct-response marketing, management and sales.
Building Mile High Karate
On August 6, 1983, Oliver founded Mile High Karate in Lakewood, Colorado, with $10,000, bringing the Jhoon Rhee system to the Rockies. He opened five schools in eighteen months. By 1985, at age 25, Mile High Karate had more than 2,500 active students and over $1,700,000 in annual revenue — approximately $5,200,000 in today’s dollars.
By the late 1980s the organization had roughly 50 staff and more than 3,500 active students, and it kept growing beyond that through franchise locations across the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Oliver has personally promoted more than 1,000 Black Belts, ranging in age from 5 to 76.
Sport karate
In 1989 Oliver founded the Mile High Karate Classic, which held NASKA World Tour status from 1989 to 1999 and drew competitors from all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti. Over the same decade he served on the NASKA Board of Directors and as its national sanctioning director, and Mile High Karate produced more than 110 intramural tournaments.
Coaching the industry
Oliver began coaching other school owners in 1985, while opening his first Denver-area locations. In April 1987 he was elected to the first Educational Funding Company (EFC) Board of Directors and served on that board through 2001, becoming EFC’s lead keynote speaker and seminar leader. He earned his Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver in 1992.
In 2000 he formally founded his coaching organization as Stephen Oliver’s Inner Circle, later rebranded Martial Arts Wealth Mastery — one continuous body of work that began in 1985. The same year he began franchising Mile High Karate internationally. Since 2007 he has served as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA, the National Association of Professional Martial Artists, founded in 1994 by John Graden, and as Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine.
Author and columnist
Oliver wrote one of the first books on internet marketing written specifically for martial arts schools, in 1999, and is the author of twelve books, including The Way of the Mile High Maverick, Everything I Wish I Knew When I Was 22 and, with Grand Master Jeff Smith, Extraordinary Teaching. He writes for six industry publications. See Books by Stephen Oliver and his magazine covers and columns.
Rank and recognition
Grand Master Jeff Smith promoted Oliver to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026, and on August 15, 2026, he was inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement induction. Read the 2026 announcement and the full list of achievements and awards.
Today
As Founder and CEO of Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, Oliver personally coaches professional school owners — traditional martial arts schools, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies, MMA gyms, Muay Thai gyms and Krav Maga schools — on marketing, enrollment, pricing, retention, staff development and operations, alongside Grand Master Jeff Smith, Chief of Instruction; Chief Master Greg Moody, Ph.D.; and Bob Dunne, National Director. He applies the same direct-response systems to financial advisors and wealth managers through Advisor Wealth Mastery. He is based in Golden, Colorado.
Read next: Full biography · How the coaching works · Speaking and media kit · Coaching with Stephen Oliver
Last updated: October 2026
Standards and Responses to Criticism
Some critics have called the business systems Stephen Oliver teaches a blueprint for the “McDojo.” His answers are collected on Criticism and Responses, and the standards he teaches are published as Coaching Standards and The Mile High Karate Standard.
