Knights Bolster Front Office.
January 5, 2015Corvallis Reintroduces Holly Jones; Hometown Team Adds Seasoned Senior VP of Operations
The Corvallis Knights have significantly bolstered their front office with the addition of former West Coast League Executive of the Year and minor-league management veteran Holly Jones.
A former Knights' staffer from 2005-07 as a University of Oregon undergraduate, Jones will serve as the Knights' new Senior Vice-President of Operations, responsible for event operations, marketing, ticketing, analytics and food and beverage service.
"I'm ecstatic to be back with the Knights' baseball family and to be back in the great Willamette Valley," said Jones, who earned the WCL's top executive honors in 2013 as the general manager of the Victoria HarbourCats in their inaugural season.
"I'm so proud of how much this organization has grown. I'm honored to be part of the next growth phase of this very special team."
Jones originally worked with the Knights in 2005-06 at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham as an intern. She returned in 2007 and helped facilitate the team's relocation to Corvallis as an assistant to President Dan Segel.
After graduation, Jones worked in Global Marketing Partnerships with the National Basketball Association in New York City. She then joined JetBlue in NYC in that airline's Loyalty Marketing program, working with the airline's key relationship with American Express.
Segel said Jones will be a key component of the team's larger rebranding strategy for the 2015 season, its ninth in Corvallis since the franchise moved south in the WCL's third season.
"Holly will be responsible for transforming the guest experience at Goss Stadium and further connecting our partners and fans with the hometown team," Segel said.
"We're thrilled to team her with [general manager] Bre Miller to move forward with arguably the most impactful female leadership tandem in Northwest sports.
"I'm eager to see what is possible with the addition of Holly. I think the community and our fans will benefit greatly from this key hire."
Jones has been successful at every venue since returning to baseball from private business.
* She was the first woman to earn the WCL's Executive of the Year honors in 2013.
* The HarbourCats set WCL records for opening-day (3,026) and All-Star Game (4,210) attendance, and finished second in average attendance (1,437) for league games.
* She helped set the table for the team's subsequent box-office success. Victoria led the WCL in attendance in 2014 by averaging 1,576 fans in league games.
* She was the assistant GM for the 2014 Charlotte Stone Crabs, the Florida State League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, owned by Ripken Baseball and home to the Rays during spring training.
Miller, the WCL's first female GM, said Jones will be an "energizing" addition to the Knights' management team.
"She brings great experience and product knowledge to the organization," Miller said. "She's going to make us better.
"Holly is well-versed in the baseball business and is in tune with our vision and culture. There will be no ramping-up for her. We're going to hit the ground running and do our best to deliver even better experiences for our fans, partners and players in 2015."
The Knights, who fell 2-1 to Bellingham in the 2014 WCL Championship Series, will announce their 2015 schedule shortly. A roster is currently posted at www.corvallisknights.com.
The hometown team has captured three WCL Championships, seven divisional playoff titles and eight consecutive regular-season division titles since moving to Corvallis.
