Reagan Carey (Kentucky Co. Day/Mendham, N.J.), former captain of the Colby College women's ice hockey team who spent the past nine years working for the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers, has been named USA Hockey's director of women's hockey.
"We're extremely excited for Reagan to become part of our national-office staff," said Jim Johannson, USA Hockey's assistant executive director of hockey operations. "She's had a huge impact on hockey in Georgia and brings a vast amount of experience to lead our growth and development efforts on the women's side."
A 2001 graduate of Colby with a bachelor's degree in sociology, Carey played four years of collegiate hockey, serving as team captain both her junior and senior year under then head coach Jen Holsten. She simultaneously played collegiate volleyball for the Mules, captaining the team from 1999-2000 under head coach Candice Parent.
As director of women's hockey, Carey's primary focus will be on the management of the women's national program, including elite development efforts of both players and coaches.
"I am honored and excited to join the USA Hockey organization at this pivotal and energizing time within the sport," Carey said. "I am eager to team up with the best players, coaches, volunteers, and supporters of girls' and women's hockey and look forward to continuing the positive momentum that has already been set in motion."
For the past two years, Carey has held the position of director of fan development and youth marketing for Atlanta Spirit, LLC, the parent company of the Thrashers and the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks. In this role, she led a new branch of marketing that integrated a youth focus throughout all areas of the teams' sales, marketing, programming, sponsorship and promotional efforts. Carey also helped the Atlanta Thrashers become the first NHL team to adopt and promote USA Hockey's American Development Model.
Carey has worked for the Atlanta Thrashers under both Atlanta Spirit and AOL Time Warner's Turner Sports, the former parent company of the Thrashers, for the past nine years. A trainee for the Atlanta Thrashers' marketing department during the 2001-02 season, Carey joined the department full-time for the 2002-03 season as marketing and special projects assistant, before being named the marketing coordinator in September 2003.
She assumed the role of manager of hockey development for the Thrashers the following season in August 2004. By implementing several programs, she developed and expanded the local hockey community and established a portion of the Thrashers' website that has become the "information hub of Atlanta hockey." In January 2006, she was promoted to senior manager of fan development, before being promoted again in September 2007 to director of fan development. In that role, she created and produced the first-ever Junior NHL All-Star Hockey Tournament, lauded by the NHL and proven to be a huge success.
Through these positions, Carey has played a vital role in growing the sport of hockey at the grassroots level in the Thrashers' local community and the state of Georgia as a whole. Additionally, she serves on the Women's Sports Foundation's GoGirlGo! Marketing Committee.
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