MUSKEGON – Andrea Rose was ready to become a top executive for a sports organization.

That had always been her goal, since her high school days of playing basketball, soccer and volleyball.

The only question was when and where she would get that opportunity.

The Fruitport High School graduate had cut her teeth during two stints in the Muskegon Lumberjacks’ front office, and had worked her way up to the position of Vice President of Sales.

Last season, while working for the Lumberjacks, she became a candidate to become a corporate partnership sales manager for the Detroit Red Wings, a job that would have taken her and her family away from the town that she loves.

But before the Red Wings could make a decision, former Lumberjacks President Mike McCall suddenly resigned in the middle of the 2020-21 season.

After several weeks of discussions and interviews, the Jacks named Rose interim team president, and she withdrew from consideration for the Red Wings position.

After the season was over, the Jacks named Rose the permanent President, and she’s the first woman to hold such a high post in the long history of Muskegon hockey.

Now the 33-year old high-energy team executive is eager to lead the organization into the future, and make it even more of an integral part of the community.

“When I was hired as interim president, I mentioned to Dan (team co-owner Dan Israel) that as far as I knew, I was the only female team president in the league,” Rose said. “He said that hadn’t even occurred to him, and that I was just the right person for the job.

“I love this job. I still can’t believe I get to come to the rink every single day and do the job I love. I love this place.”

Going full circle

It took some time for Rose to land her dream job.

In 2010 Rose (at the time Andrea Sponaas), a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University, went to work for the Lumberjacks as an account executive, with the task of selling season tickets to fans.

That was the first year that the Lumberjacks operated as a junior hockey organization in the United States Hockey League, after decades of hosting professional minor league teams.

Many longtime fans were skeptical about paying to watch teenage players – not understanding that they were some of the top professional prospects in the world – so selling season tickets was difficult.

“I had people hanging up on me, telling me they weren’t going to pay to watch high school hockey,” Rose said.

“I’ve always been a really motivated person who was not used to failing. I didn’t handle it well – I was 23 and immature at the time – and I walked away.”

Over the next eight years Rose bounced around the professional world, filling a number of different roles for different companies.

She was a waitress for a time while her oldest son was an infant, then worked for Gerber Life Insurance, Menards, Cumulus Media, as well as a payroll processing company and a credit card processing company.

Every job had its pluses and minuses, and every one of them reminded Rose that she wasn’t where she wanted to be long-term.

“The job (at Menards) was fun, and the people there were all nice and cared about you, but after I stood at the front door with a customer screaming at me about not getting a rebate, I just thought I had more in store for my world.”

Rose was making good money with the credit card processing company – her last job before returning to her roots – but she wasn’t doing what she wanted to do.

So she looked around to see what sort of jobs were available in the community, and ended up accepting the very same job with the Lumberjacks that she had left eight years before.

The second time around worked out much better, for Rose and the team.

Within a short period Rose was promoted from Account Executive to Director of Ticket Sales, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships, and finally Vice President of Sales.

A season of transition

In her growing role Rose worked closely with McCall, a veteran of the hockey world who was hired to help the Jacks improve their operations.

The Lumberjacks organization was in a much better position than it had been eight years earlier.

The community had come to understand and embrace the Jacks and the USHL for what they are – an elite training ground for many of the top young prospects in the hockey world – and ticket sales were much stronger.

The Jacks, under the leadership of new owner Dan Israel and McCall, spearheaded the multi-million dollar renovation of L.C. Walker Arena (now Mercy Health Arena), which gave the old venue a fresh look and a new lease on life.

The Lumberjacks had also hired current coach Mike Hamilton, and the team started having more success on the ice.

Rose continued to work for and learn from McCall for two seasons, then things started to change when the COVID-delayed 2020-21 season came along.

The USHL got started late last season, in early November, and fans weren’t allowed, which was obviously a complicating factor for the teams, which are largely dependent on ticket sales.

Rose said she and McCall crunched the numbers and recommended to Israel and co-owner Bob Kaiser that the team take a year off to avoid massive financial losses.

But the owners wouldn’t hear of it.

“We told (Dan Israel), this does not make sense, and the right choice would be to go dark and start again next year,” Rose said. “But he was absolutely not going to do that.

“Dan and Bob held the line. They said this was the right thing to do for the community, for our team, for the players, and they said they would fund the loss.”

So the Lumberjacks played in front of a lot of empty arenas, and the situation became even more complicated in January when McCall suddenly resigned as team president.

“I had met Dan (Israel) several times, but he didn’t know me as anything more than a role player,” Rose said. “I told him immediately that I was the person for the job, and I think it took him by surprise that this 33-year-old kid said she was ready to run the front office of a sports team.

“He said he understood that I had been there the longest, but he said he had to do his research, and there was a formal interview process, about two weeks’ worth. At the same time I was interviewing with the Red Wings for the corporate sales job.

“When they named me Interim President, I removed myself from consideration with the Red Wings. Muskegon is my home. I love this community, and I love the revitalization that’s happening here. I have the utmost respect for the city’s leadership and their support for our organization. It’s very difficult to find that in the junior hockey world.”

Now Rose has her dream job as the permanent President of the Lumberjacks, and her dream life with her husband Jeff Rose and their children, Preston, 14; Parker, 13; Cohen, 9; and Monroe, 8.

The Lumberjacks’ office is buzzing with activity in preparation for the home schedule, which begins the weekend of Oct. 15-16 with a pair of games against the Chicago Steel.

Fans are welcome back this season, and Rose very much wants to sell more tickets, fill more seats, and make a night out at the hockey game even more enjoyable for Muskegon fans.

She and her staff are working on a host of special game promotions and themes this season, beginning with Flannel Fest on the first home weekend, Oct. 15-16.

A section of Western Avenue will be blocked off from Friday afternoon through Saturday night, and there will be live music, a Cornhole tournament, hay rides, pumpkin carving and decorating, axe throwing and other activities.

On Oct. 30 there will be trick-or-treat stations throughout the concourse at Mercy Health Arena for kids to grab some candy and get in the Halloween spirit.

The Nov. 5 game will feature the return of the ZOOperstars, huge inflatable characters based on sports heroes and animals, who perform and interact with the crowd.

Dec. 4 will be Margaritaville Night, with the band “Two Dudes in Flip Flops” providing entertainment during the game.

Other special promotional themes are still in the works, according to Rose.

“I want everyone to know that we’re elevating,” she said.  “It’s going to be fun, better than it ever was. We’re really trying to bring entertainment front and center. It helps that we have a great hockey team, too, but that doesn’t have to be the only reason for coming to the game.”