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 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

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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. She is currently working towards her Masters in Parks, Recreation and Sports Management from NC State. 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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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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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.

Melissa Taylor

Vice President of Concessions

Phone336-774-8873

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Melissa is in her first year with the Thunderbirds after serving the last three years as the facilities liaison for the city of Winston-Salem.

She is from King, N.C. and graduated from North Forsyth High School. Melissa has two associates degrees in criminal justice.

In her free time, she enjoys attending races at Bowman Gray Stadium and watching her kids race. Her son, Justin, was the 2019 Bowman Gray Stadium sportsman series season champion. She and her husband, Jason, are also parents to another son, Austin and a daughter Anna.

Melissa is a proud grandmother of two grandbabies, Jaxson and Haven.

In addition to being a Thunderbirds fan, Melissa is a die-hard Alabama Crimson Tide fan.

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