Shelby Huffman

Shelby Huffman has been part of the indoor percussion activity since age 12 and part of the Resistance family for over a decade. A product of the Oklahoma percussion community, he played tenors at Choctaw High School and snare with the University of Oklahoma Drumline before taking the floor with Resistance from 2014 to 2016, Gateway in 2017, and Monarch in 2019, where he finished his WGI career as a World Finalist. His summers were spent on the DCI tour, marching with the Mandarins in 2016, the Crossmen in 2017 and 2018, and aging out with the Cavaliers in 2019.

Shelby's path through the activity gave him a rare dual perspective. He grew up in the battery on tenors and snare before making the move to the front ensemble, where he competed at the highest levels of both DCI and WGI. Along the way he performed under some of the most respected staffs in the activity, absorbing how different programs teach, design, and build culture. As Ensemble Director, that range means he speaks the language of every section he leads. He understands what the battery needs from the pit, what the pit needs from the battery, and how a show comes together when every voice in the room is understood.

As an educator, Shelby spent nine years as Front Ensemble Director for Southmoore High School and three years as Front Ensemble Director for Oklahoma Baptist University, along with front ensemble tech roles with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps and Zephyrus, where he has taught since 2022. He returned to Resistance in 2022, moving from front ensemble tech to Front Ensemble Caption Head before stepping into the Ensemble Director role.

Shelby's impact at Resistance extends well beyond the rehearsal floor. Drawing on his career as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Virtualitics and five years building enterprise AI systems at Boeing, he revamped the organization's entire digital infrastructure, building a full operations dashboard that manages workflows across the org, and he manages the ensemble's website and online store. He is also the co-founder of Community Pledge, a fundraising platform that helps marching arts ensembles and sports organizations raise the money that keeps their programs alive. For Shelby, the mission is the same on every front: removing the obstacles that stand between performers and a world-class experience.

He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma and is pursuing a master's in Computer Science with an AI specialization from Georgia Tech. Shelby lives in Harrah, Oklahoma with his wife and son. He believes the gap between good ensembles and great ones is built in the off-season, and he is committed to giving Oklahoma performers a world-class home for the activity.