Staff

Barry Soskin

Owner

Barry has been involved as an owner of various teams in the past 25 years such as the two time champion Toledo Storm of the East Coast Hockey League, Nashville Nighthawks of the Central Hockey League, Waterloo Blackhawks of the United States Hockey League, Traverse City Enforcers of the Continental Junior Hockey League and the Pelham Prowlers of the Southeast Hockey League.

Barry is married to his wife, Fran for over 35 years and has three adult children, Heather, Brian and Rachel. Barry and his family resides in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

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Cary Ross

Minority Owner

Cary is very excited to be part of the ownership bringing "winning" professional hockey back to the Triad. Cary is a graduate of Western Illinois University and has been in the printing equipment business for almost 40 years.

Cary grew up in the Chicago-land area and currently resides in Mt. Prospect, Illinois with his wife Lisa. He has a son, Michael and 2 daughters, Amanda and Carly, and 2 grand-kids, Landon and Madeline

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Rick Chaikin

Minority Owner

Rick has been a retail and residential construction professional for the past 34 years and he is thrilled to be part of the Thunderbirds ownership group. Along with his passion for professional and amateur hockey, Rick enjoys the Chicago Cubs and the music of “Chicago”.

Residing in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Rick is married to his wife Denise for 36 years. Together they are devoted to their 4 children and 9 grandchildren.

Kelly Curl

General Manager

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Kelly was hired on May 18, 2020 as the third general manager in franchise history.

Curl played on the inaugural Thunderbirds team in 2017 and has played at least a game in every season for Carolina since. He won the Commissioner’s Cup with the 2019 championship team.

A native of McLeansville, Curl becomes the first native-born North Carolinian to be general manager of the Thunderbirds.

Collegiately, Curl played NCAA Division III hockey at Lebanon Valley College (Penn.). Prior to his time with the Flying Dutchmen, Curl played prep school hockey at The Hill School in Pottstown, Penn.

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Kaitlyn Lusk

Vice President of Tickets and Gameday

Phone336-774-8882

Emailklusk@carolinathunderbirds.com

Kaitlyn comes to the Thunderbirds from Visalia, California with a lifelong passion for sports. She graduated from Fresno State University with a Bachelor’s in Recreation Administration in 2015 and moved to North Carolina a year later to join the Thunderbirds. In her west coast days, Kaitlyn worked for the Fresno Monsters, a junior hockey team near her hometown. She also worked for two years with the San Francisco Giants of the MLB. Since moving to North Carolina, Kaitlyn has spent her time getting to know the local community and enjoying life on the east coast. On her down time, Kaitlyn loves to travel, explore new places, and hike local trails.

Drew Blevins

Vice President of Media Relations/Communications

Phone336-748-3950

EmailSend a message

Drew is a Wake Forest, N.C. native joining the Thunderbirds for his first season in 2019. He is a graduate of N.C. State University with a major in communication media and a minor in journalism.

While at N.C. State, Drew served as the play-by-play voice of the Wolfpack club hockey team for four seasons on both radio and television. He also worked three seasons as the voice of the Carolina Eagles of the USPHL

Drew has also served as Director of Media Relations for the Coastal Plain League's Wilson Tobs and has covered numerous events at the NCAA division-I and high school levels, including football, basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball and lacrosse.

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Tayler Hunt

Season Ticket Coordinator

Phone336-748-3949

Emailtaylerh@carolinathunderbirds.com

Cathy "Cat" Pighini

Vice President of Marketing and Sales

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Returning for her fourth year with the Carolina Thunderbirds, Cat Pighini is our VP of Marketing and Sales.

She has worked in several different positions within the office but now enjoys working from her home. From there, she is accessible by phone, email and in person when needed.

While she does not attend every game like she used to, when she is there, you will see her wandering all over the place saying hello, checking on fans, season ticket holders and sponsors.

Cat loves to travel and is an adventurist. Her latest adventure was front country camping for eight days from the Virginia Skyway all the way to the bottom of the Blue Ridge Parkway, all by herself! When you see her say hello, as she is sure to engage you.

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Christy Tate

Vice President of Concessions Operations

Phone336-774-8873

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Christy is a Winston-Salem native with over a dozen years in the food and beverage service industry. She is an alum of North Forsyth High School and Forsyth Tech. Christy enjoys working with people in the service industry. She has three biological children (Christopher, Austan and Tayler) but she also has about 20 or 30 hockey children who all call her “Mama Bird.” When asked for a quote about her bio she responded with “I’ve got too many things to do, I’ll get to it later.”

Cliff Etchason

Corporate Partnerships Sales Account Manager

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Cliff and his family transplanted to Winston-Salem in 2006. He and his two boys have been active in Winston-Salem Adult and Triad Youth hockey since 2010 and his lovely daughter is a pitcher for her travel softball team. With his love for hockey and his background in advertising and sales, he approached Scott Brand for a position in sales and corporate partnerships when the team was first founded in 2016. He resides in Clemmons with his wife and 3 kids.

Shannon Campbell

Vice President of Finance and Merchandise

Shannon moved to Winston-Salem when she was around 12 years old and graduated from Mt. Tabor High School in 1995. The most important thing in her life is her 10-year-old son, Lucas. Shannon has worked in insurance for 16 years and is engaged to Tim Russ. Tim and Shannon enjoy working Thunderbirds hockey games, and Tim’s daughter Hannah works concessions as well; it’s a family thing! Shannon loves camping, watching her son play sports, and she absolutely loves working with the Thunderbird fans.