Mr. Gilbert Velez is currently the highest ranking individual promoted under the IKKA, being promoted to 9th Degree Black Belt. His first exposure to the martial arts was at the RendoKan Dojo in Tucson, Arizona. His brothers and a cousin studied Judo there, yet he did not opt for the lessons as he was more interested in the mystical side of the martial arts.

Mr. Velez initially met Mr. Ed Parker in 1968 at a social function where he was playing in his mariachi group. He met Mr. Parker not in a martial arts setting, but in a musical setting. While Mr. Velez played numerous casinos, inaugurations, and numerous locales, Mr. Parker was the only one he has ever heard play "Malaguena and Granada on a six-string ukelele.

Five years later, Mr. Velez began his study of American Kenpo and in 1974, bought the school he was studying in and switched it an IKKA affiliate. Also in late 1974, he began to study consistently with Mr. Parker, driving 500 miles to the Tucson school. Once there, Mr. Velez would work with Mr. Parker as much as possible.

Mr. Velez currently runs his own restaurant and enjoys the culinary arts as well as the martial arts. He actually credits his Kenpo when cooking; he feels his martial arts experience has helped his artisitic creativity (his favorite dish is shrimp flambed in tequila). Since 1992, he has also travelled over a half million miles on behalf of the IKKA, giving seminars all over the United States as well as in Portugal, Spain, England, Ireland, Greece, New Zealand, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden; his goal to create a standard American Kenpo curriculum.