Staff

Barry Soskin

Owner

Barry has been involved as an owner of various teams in the past 25 years, including 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 nearly 40 years and has three adult children, Heather, Brian and Rachel. Barry and his family reside 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 three grand-kids, Landon, Madeline, and Ari.

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Rick Chaikin

Minority Owner

Rick has been a retail and residential construction professional for the past 35 years and he is thrilled to be part of the Thunderbirds ownership group. Along with his passion for professional and amateur hockey, Rick enjoys model railroading and the music of “Chicago”.

Residing in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Rick is married to his wife Denise for 37 years. Together they are devoted to their four children and nine grandchildren.

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Kelly Curl

General Manager

Phone336-774-4625

Emailkellyc@carolinathunderbirds.com

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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Shannon Campbell

Assistant GM, Accounting and Merchandise

Phone336-774-8882

Emailscampbell@carolinathunderbirds.com

Shannon is in her 5^th season with the Thunderbirds, having worn numerous hats over the years. After being enlisted to work concessions during the team’s inaugural season, she quickly found herself running merchandise sales and keeping track of the team’s finances. In the summer of 2021, Shannon was named Assistant General Manager. She’s lived in Winston-Salem since she was 12, and graduated from Mt. Tabor High School in 1995. Shannon loves camping with her son Lucas, daughter Hannah, husband Tim, and her dogs, Willow and Daisy.

Dillon Clark

Vice President of Media Relations/Communications

Phone336-748-3950

Emaildillonc@carolinathunderbirds.com

A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Dillon joins the Thunderbirds for his first season in 2021. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in broadcast journalism, concentration in sports media, and minor in sport and entertainment management.

Dillon spent all four years at South Carolina as the play-by-play voice of Gamecock hockey. He called nearly 80 games with the team, and began serving as its goaltending coach in the fall of 2019.

In the spring of 2020, Dillon was among the first group of student broadcasters to call South Carolina softball and soccer for SEC Network+. Upon joining the Thunderbirds in 2021, he became the FPHL's youngest broadcaster at 22 years old.

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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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Joe Cangelosi

Director of Corporate Outreach/Business Development

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From Princeton, NJ, Cangelosi joins the Thunderbirds front office while continuing as an active player. Joe will form and maintain relationships with businesses across the Triad, act as a liaison between players and business staff, and grow brand recognition.

He currently sits at 3rd place on the Tunderbirds all-time games played list with 125, and 5th in team assists with 62. He graduated from Rider University with a B. S. in Business Administration.

His favorite part of his new position is engaging with the community. From his arrival in Carolina in 2017, getting to know the community has been one of the biggest contributors to making Winston-Salem feel like home.

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James Jackson

Official Team Photographer

James is entering his 4th season with the Thunderbirds. He started doing photography in 2018 with the Fayetteville Marksmen of the SPHL before finding his way to Winston-Salem. James was also the Media Relations Coordinator for the High Point Rockers baseball team before returning to the Thunderbirds in 2019.