Blue Wahoos Celebrate Majority Women Impacting Organization Success 

A recent photo gathering of women working in the Blue Wahoos front office created a poignant moment.

With this month highlighting the 39^th celebration of National Girls and Women In Sports Day, officially recognized February 5, the Blue Wahoos have become a leader in the sports business world for women in a variety of organizational positions.

There are 14 women within the ballclub’s front office, including an all-female finance team. Five hold supervisory positions. There are 10 men, led by team president Jonathan Griffin and general manager Steve Brice. It is the largest number of women in front office roles in team history.

“Wow, I did not realize that,” said Wren Deputy, the assistant creative services manager who worked her way from a gameday employee five years ago into a co-leader of the Blue Wahoos' production experience.

“We’re overwhelming,” she said, smiling. “We’re taking it over. It’s pretty cool.”

Under direction from team owners Quint and Rishy Studer, the Blue Wahoos have sought to recruit and advance women into leadership positions. The 2024 season reflected the impact the women have made with record merchandise sales, group sales and year-round events.

“We just do things here differently and special,” said Shannon Hannah, the Blue Wahoos events manager now in her eighth year and the longest-tenure female member of the front office staff.

“I think having an office that embraces and celebrates women like this is just another element that makes this so special,” Hannah said. “These women are organized, professional and excited to work in sports.

“In many cases, it is a childhood dream for these women to work in sports and the Blue Wahoos have embraced that and celebrated it.”

When Deputy was earning her degree at the University of West Florida, she remembers being an outlier as a female in pursuit of a sports business career. The same feeling occurred in her first job working at ESPN-Pensacola.

“We work go to events like the Senior Bowl and UWF football games and rarely were there other females in the press box,” she said. when I started with the Blue Wahoos in 2021, there were two females working in production.

“I was the only girl doing the cameras, Every year it becomes more or more women working. And even in the applications we now get, it becomes more and more women. So that is very cool.”

Four of the combined six corporate and group sales positions for the Blue Wahoos are held by women. Merchandise manager Hannah Gardner completed her first full year in this role by exceeding the record sales posted the previous year.

All of it part of why the Blue Wahoos have attained “a special culture,” said Shannon Hannah.

“The women is this office are strong and confident,” she said. “This organization is so wonderful about promoting from within and harnessing the talent that’s here and the talent coming through the intern level, the training levels and work their way up.

“Many of these women were interns and trainees and have since been offered full-time jobs because they are strong and qualified and ambitious and ready to do the job.”

In addition, the Blue Wahoos food and beverage team, which is part of the Ryan Sports and Entertainment Company (RS3) contracted by the Blue Wahoos, has Annah Lewis in role of food and beverage manager.

Two other women, Izzy Sanchez, a UWF graduate and former Argos volleyball player, along with Hannah Moret, a recent Florida State University graduate, are working this year as trainees in operations and group sales.

Here are the 14 women with full time roles in the Blue Wahoos organization.

Kathy Cadwell – Chief financial officer

Wren Deputy – Assistant creative services manager

Rebecca Dobar – Administrative assistant to the president.

Hannah Gardner – Merchandise manager.

Shannon Hannah – Events manager.

Marissa Kinne – Accounting assistant

Paige Lamkin – Accounts payable

Emily Mann – Group sales and community relations manager

Andie Masten – Corporate sales executive

Kaitlyn Sanderson – Senior accountant

Kayli Talbot – Accounting coordinator

Jessica Voigt – Group sales executive

Pamela Ward – Administrative assistant

Jada Washington – Group sales executive