Wind Surge Announce 2025 Front Office, Including Promotions and New Additions

WICHITA, Kan.—The Wichita Wind Surge is delighted to announce its front office staff less than a month before the start of the 2025 season. The Wind Surge return several key staff members from previous seasons and welcome some new faces.

“We are excited about the front office staff we have put together as we approach the new season,” said Matt Hamilton, General Manager of the Wind Surge. “Each Minor League Baseball season brings a few new faces to every organization across the country. The talent and passion this group has will help us continue to grow as an organization, expand our reach in the community, and increase our focus on the ballpark experience and customer service.”

FAMILIAR FACES

Matt Hamilton enters his second season as the General Manager of the Wichita Wind Surge after joining the club in 2024. As he assumes the sole leadership role for the organization, Hamilton brings a wealth of experience, having worked for two other Minor League teams — the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A New York Yankees), where he spearheaded record business growth as both an Assistant GM and Corporate Partnerships VP, and the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A Arizona Diamondbacks).

April Houle continues as the Business Operations Director with the Wichita Wind Surge. She has worked across finance and operations for almost two decades and resides in Wichita.

Neleigh Higgins serves as the Museum Operations Director with the Wichita Wind Surge, overseeing the Wichita Baseball Museum out near right-center at Equity Bank Park. An alum of Emporia State University, Higgins also assists as the front desk habitant for the front office near the Emprise Bank Pavilion.

Billy Houle will be in his second season as the Sales Director with the Wichita Wind Surge in 2025. A lifelong Wichita resident, Houle worked in sales for over three decades within the ICT in the beverage industry, including nearly 25 years at Standard Beverage.

Adam Mettler stays as the Ticket Sales Director of the Wichita Wind Surge entering the 2025 season. Mettler has worked in Minor League Baseball for over a decade and previously worked with the Sugar Land Skeeters (current Sugar Land Space Cowboys, Triple-A Houston Astros), Mobile BayBears, and Fort Wayne TinCaps (current High-A San Diego Padres). Following time as a Ticket Sales Director with Major League Rugby’s Houston SaberCats, Mettler’s current stint is his second on the Wind Surge staff after working as a Ticket Operations Director between 2019 and 2021.

Tim Grubbs is the Director of Corporate Sponsorships & Public Relations of the Wichita Wind Surge, having been with the team since they broke ground in the ICT. Grubbs will be in his 30th season of working in pro baseball in 2025 and serves as the lead broadcaster for the Wind Surge’s games on ESPN Wichita 92.3 FM. His prior Minor League Baseball stops as a broadcaster include the New Orleans Baby Cakes/Zephyrs, Knoxville Smokies, Winston-Salem Warthogs, and the Hickory Crawdads.

J.T. Barnes joined as a Ticket Sales Account Executive with the Wichita Wind Surge a little over a month into the 2024 season. Barnes pitched collegiately with McMurry War Hawks and Hardin-Simmons Cowboys, graduating from Hardin-Simmons University in 2020. Before joining the Wind Surge, Barnes also served as a Clubhouse Assistant with the Round Rock Express (Triple-A Texas Rangers).

Madison Johnson started as the Director of Marketing of the Wichita Wind Surge, beginning in June 2024. Johnson began her career in sports with Wichita State's baseball team then transitioning as the Marketing Intern for WSU's Athletic Department post the Men's Basketball Team's iconic Final Four run. After graduating from WSU with a B.S. in Marketing, she was hired in Promotions for the Kansas City Royals following their 2015 World Series win. Before joining the Wind Surge staff, she was a Marketing Consultant with Cox Media, where she earned National Brand Ambassador honors for Cox Enterprises and served on various national committees.

Hannah Jasinski remains as the Manager of Community Relations for the Wichita Wind Surge. A Wichita State alum, Jasinski joined the Wind Surge as a marketing assistant ahead of the team’s inaugural season next to the Arkansas River. Rising to her current role since then, she remains one of five staff members who have worked in the front office for the entirety of the team’s existence.

Juleah Scarlett started as the Digital Content Manager with the Wichita Wind Surge last May. A 2024 graduate from Spring Hill College, Scarlett interned with the Sports Information and Creative Departments within the Badgers Athletics Department while also being a student-athlete on the school’s Women's Tennis team, where she was a captain for two seasons and an active member of the Student Athletic Advisory Council.

Chance Fernandez will be in his fifth season as the Video Operations and Production Coordinator with the Wichita Wind Surge. Fernandez’s previous pro baseball stop was with the Charlotte Stone Crabs (former Class A-Advanced Tampa Bay Rays) from 2018 through 2020. His passion for working in sports production began when he was a student attending Florida Gulf Coast University, where he graduated from in 2017 and served as an Assistant Coordinator of Video Operations starting in the spring of his senior year.

Megan Overmann continues as the Ticket Operations Manager for the Wichita Wind Surge. While earning her degree at Defiance College, Overmann was a volleyball student athlete. At this time, Overmann was an Usher with the Cleveland Guardians, the team formerly known as the Indians. She spent the 2019 season as a Client Services Intern with the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball’s York Revolution. Before joining the Wind Surge as a Ticket Services Coordinator in the summer of 2021, Overmann was a Box Office Assistant with the Toledo Mud Hens (Triple-A Detroit Tigers) and the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.

Jake Cassidy continues as the Retail Merchandise Manager with the Wichita Wind Surge, having been with the team since its inaugural season in 2021. Cassidy worked in Minor League Baseball as a Merchandise Assistant with the Indianapolis Indians (Triple-A Pittsburgh Pirates) in 2020 and at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium (Single-A Miami Marlins & St. Louis Cardinals) in 2019.

Ben Hartman begins his fifth season as the Director of Field Operations for the Wichita Wind Surge, maintaining a top-notch diamond within the Texas League at Equity Bank Park. Starting his groundskeeping journey on golf courses, Hartman worked as a Groundskeeper Intern for the American Association of Professional Baseball’s Kansas City T-Bones (current Kansas City Monarchs) in 2017. That fall, following the end of the AAPB season, Hartman interned with the Ground Crew for the Houston Astros on the way to their first World Series Championship and stayed on as a crew member in 2018. His last stop before finding his way to the ICT, Hartman was an Assistant Groundskeeper for the Round Rock Express (Triple-A Texas Rangers).

Jake Cooley will be in his third season as the Field Operations Assistant with the Wichita Wind Surge this year. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Cooley built his groundskeeping background by spending 8 years on the Houston Astros grounds crew. Cooley, like Hartman, are both graced with World Series Championship rings.

Wayne Loeblein joined as the Director of Stadium Operations of the Wichita Wind Surge this past May. Loeblein’s history in Stadium Operations spans across six professional baseball teams, including within the Texas League for both the Frisco RoughRiders (Double-A Texas Rangers) in 2017 and the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A Arizona Diamondbacks) between 2018 and 2020.

INTERNAL PROMOTIONS

Colin Parks became a Corporate Sales Account Executive with the Wichita Wind Surge this February. Beginning with Wichita as a Merchandise Intern for the 2022 season, Parks served on staff as a Sales Account Executive throughout the 2022 offseason and each of the past two seasons. Parks played college baseball for both the McPherson Bulldogs and the Southwestern Moundbuilders, later graduating from Southwestern University in 2023.

Tyler Godfrey joined as a Ticket Sales Account Executive with the Wichita Wind Surge in January. Godfrey, a current student athlete, is part of Friends University's baseball team while pursing his graduate degree. Last season, Godfrey interned as a supervisor in the Wind Surge Food and Beverage department. Other stops on his baseball journey have included time as a Ballpark Operations Intern with the San Diego Padres in the summer of 2023 and as a Groundskeeper with the current Athletics (then Oakland Athletics) in late 2018.

Madison White advanced to the Food & Beverage Assistant General Manager role with the Wichita Wind Surge in January. White has worked in the Hospitality department with the Wind Surge since 2022, most recently serving as the Hospitality Manager in the past two seasons. She is an alumna of Fort Hays State University, graduating in 2019 with a degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management, where her passion for events grew. Madison loves the rush of executing an event and seeing the guest enjoy her hard work and mentoring her staff.

OFFSEASON ADDITIONS

Sydney Gilbert became the Special Events Manager of the Wichita Wind Surge in January 2025. A Wichita native and Wichita State alum, Gilbert most recently worked for Topgolf as an Event Sales Admin and Sales Account Manager before joining the Wind Surge. This upcoming season will serve as Gilbert’s first working in professional baseball.

Angie Smith hopped on as the new Game Day Promotions & Programming Manager of the Wichita Wind Surge in February 2025. No stranger to the ICT’s professional sports landscape, Smith spent three and a half years as the Director of Operations, Social Media, and Fulfillment with the Wichita Thunder. Before coming to the Midwest, Smith worked in the Event Operations department with the New York Jets.

Lucas Rospond re-joined the staff to a full-time role as a Ticket Sales Account Executive of the Wichita Wind Surge in November 2024. Rospond previously served as a Communications Intern for the team during the 2023 season. Since that time, Rospond graduated from Tarleton State University and was named the Texans’ Sports Information Director Intern of the Year in 2023.

Trevor Huddleston began as a Ticket Sales Account Executive with the Wichita Wind Surge in March 2025. Huddleston has worked in professional baseball on the sales side in the past for the Altoona Curve (Double-A Pittsburgh Pirates) in 2022 and the Southern Illinois Miners in the Frontier League in 2021. Before moving to Wichita, Huddleston worked in Ticket Sales for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ryne Davis started as the Stadium Operations Coordinator of the Wichita Wind Surge in February 2025. A Tennessee native, Davis worked as a gameday staffer with the Johnson City Cardinals in 2017 and as an Operations Intern with the Arkansas Travelers (then Double-A Los Angeles Dodgers, current Double-A Seattle Mariners) and the Lake County Captains (then Class-A Advanced, current High-A Cleveland Guardians). Not straying too far from a baseball diamond, Davis also umpired youth baseball games for six years.

The Wichita Wind Surge's first home game of the season, Opening Night, is on April 8 versus the Midland RockHounds at 6:35 PM at Equity Bank Park. You can view Wichita’s packed 2025 schedule and check out single-game tickets at windsurge.com