Springfield, Massachusetts. …The American Hockey League is honored Ben AdamsSenior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Cleveland Monsters, Ariel Padilladirector of ticket sales and marketing during the reign of Ontario, won the Alliance Award today at the 2025 AHL Team Business Conference in Indianapolis.
Adams was named the winner of the Ken McKenzie Award for the 2024-25 season, and Padilla was selected as the winner of the Frank Torres Memorial Award.
The Ken McKenzie Award recognizes the important role that team management plays in building successful franchises, and awards AHL team executives the most successful promotion of their clubs to AHL team executives every year.
During his 10 years at Monsters and Rock Entertainment Group, Adams has transformed the organization's presence with a bold vision and a top-notch execution approach. He is a creative strategist who oversees the campaign, which has led to a huge excitement of fan engagement, media attention and brand awareness, making Monster one of the most well-known teams in the AHL. Adams' responsibilities have also expanded to the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA G League's Cleveland allegations that he led the Monster's retail merchandise team, in addition to their multi-faceted content and marketing efforts, helped the club reach new heights in attendance, revenue and status in the community.
AHL's Ken McKenzie Award, first presented in 1978, Honors Ken Mackenziefounder and long-time publisher of Hockey News, and the Hockey Hall of Fame’s 1997 Media Honors Award, is the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award winner. McKenzie is also the NHL's first publicity director and the creator of its first media guide.
The Frank Torres Memorial Award is presented to individuals to recognize outstanding leadership in business development or sales, while embodying creativity, support and integrity.
Padilla began serving as an internal sales representative for Ontario in 2017 and is now overseeing the organization’s ticket sales and marketing department. Padilla, taking role models and trustworthy mentors as examples, is crucial to the success and achievement of domination, developing a strong culture of creativity, trust and support within her department.
The Frank Torres Memorial Award was founded last season Frank TorresVice President of Commercial Business for San Jose Barracuda, died in January 2024.
Since 1936, the AHL has been the top development league for all 32 national hockey league teams. Nearly 90% of today’s NHL players are graduates of the American Hockey League, and more than 100 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame have spent some time in their careers.
