AHL honors Bakersfield and San Jose executives for business excellence
Ryan Holt and Mason Wilks were honored in Grand Rapids for work that shapes ticket sales, fan growth and franchise stability across the AHL.
The AHL used its annual business meetings in Grand Rapids to put two of its most visible front-office honors on people whose work reaches fans long before puck drop. Ryan Holt of the Bakersfield Condors won the 2025-26 Ken McKenzie Award, while Mason Wilks of the San Jose Barracuda received the Frank Torres Memorial Award as the league spotlighted the business side of building a durable hockey market.
The honors were presented at the 2026 AHL Team Business Meetings presented by Victory Live at DeVos Place Convention Center, where the league said more than 250 representatives from its clubs and offices gathered. That setting mattered. The AHL’s business awards are not ceremonial afterthoughts, but a recognition that attendance, sponsorship, and the feel of a game night are built by the people selling the product, promoting the brand, and keeping local partnerships intact.
Holt, the Condors’ vice president of marketing and communications, earned the McKenzie Award for the person who most successfully promotes his or her club. In practical terms, that means the kind of work that keeps Bakersfield visible, sharpens the club’s identity, and helps turn casual interest into repeat tickets and stronger reach in the market. For an AHL team, that can be the difference between a building that fills steadily and one that has to chase every sale.
Wilks’ award carries a similar fan-facing edge. The Frank Torres Memorial Award goes to an individual recognized for outstanding leadership in business development or sales while exemplifying creativity, support and integrity. For San Jose, that points to the steady, year-over-year work that keeps an affiliate stable: season-ticket retention, group growth, corporate partnerships, and the service that shapes whether fans come back after one good night or stay all season.
The league’s recognition of Holt and Wilks also fits the history behind the awards themselves. The Ken McKenzie Award dates to 1978 and is named for Ken McKenzie, the founder and longtime publisher of The Hockey News and the NHL’s first publicity director, who died in 2003. The Frank Torres Memorial Award was established in the 2023-24 season to honor Frank Torres, the Barracudas’ vice president of business operations, who died in January 2024 at age 38 after a brief illness.
For AHL fans, the point is simple: strong business execution is part of what keeps the league healthy. It shapes the crowd, the atmosphere, and the stability that lets hockey survive and grow in markets like Bakersfield and San Jose.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
