Staff

Front Office

Jeff Croop

Ignite Sports and Entertainment COO, Governor and General Manager

Richard Bates

Ignite Sports and Entertainment Vice President, Alternate Governor

Kirtley Adams

Assistant General Manager

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Kirtley is from Indianapolis and graduated from American Military University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Project Management. When not working, Kirtley enjoys knitting, volunteering, spending time with her family, and enjoying an ice cold Mountain Dew and a Reece's.

Kristen Buley

Chief Financial Officer

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Although she was born and raised in Louisiana, Kristen spent most of her adult life calling Georgia and Alaska home. With a Bachelor's degree from Louisiana College, and a Master's from University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kristen has held a variety of positions that have prepared her for her roles with Ignite Sports and BKI Accounting.

She's a bit competitive, having played sports all of her life. From playing high school through college athletics and intramurals, to coaching her kids' sports teams, to competitive archery and kickball; she's at home on the field of play and often leans into those experiences while making career decisions.

She's a self-professed lifelong student, often picking up courses to have the ability to better her clients' business. When she's not in the office she's usually looking for something new to experience, or curled up with a book and her dogs.

Ally Cadenhead

Director of Operations

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Ally Cadenhead joined the Columbus River Dragons in January 2025 as the Director of Operations. She previously served as the Sports Information Director at Columbus State University in Columbus, Ga.

At CSU, Cadenhead oversaw the Sports Information Department and was the primary communications contact for the Department of Athletics and the 13 varsity sports teams. She was responsible for the content creation and maintenance of csucougars.com and all of it's social media platforms. Cadenhead was also in charge of game day operations, staffing employees, statistics entries, and the marketing material for the Girls In The Game committee.

Cadenhead was also a graduate assistant in the department for two years. During that time, she created and managed the Student-Athlete Spotlight video series in 2021 and helped coordinate the social media timeline and content for the 2022 Girls In The Game luncheon with Jennie Finch, and the first annual Day of Giving for athletics. To conclude her graduate assistantship, the Peach Belt Conference named CSU's SID office the 2021-22 Sports Information Department of the Year.

After graduate school, Cadenhead worked as a Communication Specialist in CSU's Office of Strategic Communication + Marketing, where she served as the university's social media manager and news reporter for seven months before returning to the Department of Athletics.

She attended Millersville University in Pennsylvania from 2016-20 where she was extremely involved in intercollegiate athletics. During her time at Millersville, she competed on the softball team and was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In her down time, Cadenhead worked as a student in the Athletic Communications Department.

Cadenhead also gained knowledge about e-commerce and SEO research working as a Social Media Editor at an e-commerce company during college. She managed, created, and strategized social media plans for Shopify stores on Facebook and Instagram.

A native of Glenville, Pa., Cadenhead received a Bachelor of Science in Speech Communication with an emphasis in public relations and a minor in journalism at Millersville in May 2020. She then earned a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in leader development at Columbus State in May 2022.

She resides in Smiths Station, Ala. with her husband, son (born Sept. 2024), and black lab.

Tom Callahan

Director of Broadcasting and Communications

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2022-23 FPHL Broadcaster of the Year

Tom Callahan brings over 1,300 games called in professional hockey, including five years in the NHL with the Nashville Predators. He has also served as a playoff correspondent for NHL Network, been an on-air host for ESPN Radio Nashville, and has called numerous sports in addition to hockey like baseball, football, basketball, golf and lacrosse.

A native of Lackawanna, NY, Tom is an avid Buffalo Bills and Toronto Blue Jays fan. He also enjoys playing, writing and listening to music, playing all kinds of games and is likely to quote 80s comedies verbatim. He has indeed heard your Tommy Boy jokes.

Olivia Crew

Social Media and Communications Manager

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Olivia started her career in sports as a Marketing Intern for Auburn University Athletics. She then worked for the Savannah Bananas as the Entertainment and Promotions Intern and the Rocket City Trash Pandas as the Social Media Associate. She is now the Communications Manager for Ignite Sports and Entertainment.

She was raised in Georgia and is a proud graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications and a minor in Marketing. When not working, you can find her cheering on the Auburn Tigers or finding new adventures to go on.

Trent Davidson

Team Life Coach

Trent Davidson is the Regional Vice President of the Georgia Region for Buffalo Rock Company. He is very active in serving the communities of the territories for which he is responsible. Along with serving on many philanthropic and outreach organization boards, Trent is also the chairman of the Georgia Beverage Association. In 2016, he was selected as a Southwest Georgia 40 Under 40 recipient. The same year, he was the Chaplain for the Georgia Firebirds Arena Football Team. In 2018, Trent was chosen as one of GeorgiaTrend’s 40 Under 40 recipient for the entire state of Georgia.

Trent is frequently sought as a speaker for events encompassing business, leadership, motivation, testimony, and Christianity. Raised in Brewton, AL, Trent was a multi-sport standout at T.R. Miller High School, playing on two State Championship teams. He committed to play football at The University of Alabama, over 30+ other scholarship offers. At Alabama Trent was a letterman, named to the President’s List and graduated with a degree in Consumer Affairs in 2008.

Trent and his wife Brittany have two sons. Trent enjoys spending time with his family, hunting, fishing, and traveling. Trent describes his parents, Gerald and Sharon Davidson as two of his heroes and mentors. Along with a being a huge fan of the River Dragons, Trent loves to be a resource to the team and players for life outside of Hockey.

Gwen Herron

Special Projects

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Gwen grew up primarily in Columbus. She graduated from Jordan High School in 1972. She is married with 2 children, a son and a daughter, and 1 granddaughter and 3 grandsons. She has worked at a meat packing plant as Accounting Clerk and HR Assistant, a Computer programming company as Accounting Manager, and a Plastic Manufacturing plant as Office Manager/HR Manager/Accounting Manager. She was at the Plastic manufacturer for 23 years and through 4 acquisitions. Then Gwen went to work for an Urgent Care Physician as Office Manager/Accounting Manager/HR. She retired in 2019. Gwen then became a part of the Ignite Sports team in March of 2023.

Mac Hill

Business Development Manager

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Born and raised in Columbus, Mac enjoys bluegrass music, gardening, spending time on the farm and helping local businesses.

Cierra Maycock

Merchandise Manager

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Cierra is from Fort Collins, Colorado, and moved to Alabama in 2020. She graduated from Auburn University in 2024 with a degree in Marketing and is an avid sports fan!

Samantha Pletch

Ticket Sales Manager

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Taylor St. Jacques

Special Projects Coordinator

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Born in Edmonton and raised stateside in Glen Allen, VA, Taylor is an Auburn University Alumni with a Bachelor's in Business Administration with a focus in management.

Taylor is an International Show Jumper and formerly on the Auburn Equestrian team, winning 3 SEC titles and 2 national titles with the Tigers.

Her family is filled with hockey players, not only did she play growing up but her brother Jay plays with the River Dragons and her other brother, Jared played in college. She also has an uncle that is the current head coach of the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes.

Amelia Stalter

Community Relations and Game Operations Manager

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Amelia Stalter is the Community Relations Manager. A 2022 graduate of the Mississippi University for Women, Amelia earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting. While in college, she was the pitcher of the softball team and earned USCAA's Softball Student Athlete of the Year 2022 and was on the Athletic Director List from 2018 to 2022.

Kirk Underwood

Director of Sales

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Kirk is originally from Littleton, CO where he grew up playing hockey and baseball. He moved away from home when he was 16 to play junior hockey on the east coast for the next four years. After junior hockey, he attended college at Chatham University in Pittsburgh for two years before transferring to UNLV where he graduated in 2020 with a B.S. in Kinesiology.

Kirk has emerged as a multi-talented contributor both on and off the ice. He is the Director of Sales for the River Dragons and was named the Assistant General Manager for Ignite Sports' Baseball Properties in March of 2022.