Springfield, Massachusetts …National Hockey League Honored Ryan Holt, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Bakersfield Condors, and Mason Wilkesdirector of ticket sales and services for the San Jose Barracudas, in 2026 AHL Team Business Conference Presented by Victory Live Today in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Holt was named the league’s Ken McKenzie Award winner for the 2025-26 season, and Wilkes was selected as the Frank Torres Memorial Award winner.
In recognition of the important role team management plays in building a successful team, the Ken McKenzie Award is presented annually to the AHL team executive who most successfully promotes his or her club.
Since joining the Condors organization in 2011, Holt has been instrumental in the development of the team and its value to the Bakersfield community. As the team’s director of marketing and communications, he helped guide the organization to record gate revenue levels through advertising, community involvement and promotion of the team and players. Holt is the organization’s primary media contact, responsible for maximizing local and national media exposure for players, promotions and events, while also serving as the team’s play-by-play announcer. This season, he has promoted several successful initiatives, including Vultures Night to Fight Cancer and the Holidays to Care for Kids campaign.
The AHL Ken McKenzie Award was first awarded in 1978 to recognize Ken McKenzieis the founder and longtime publisher of The Hockey News and the 1997 recipient of the Hockey Hall of Fame Media’s Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award. McKenzie was also the NHL’s first communications director and creator of the first media guide.
The Frank Torres Memorial Award is presented to an individual in recognition of outstanding leadership in business development or sales while exemplifying creativity, support and integrity.
Wilkes was promoted to director of ticket sales and services last summer, where he led the Barracuda sales team to strong results in 2025-26, including significant growth in season ticket and group ticket sales. The team also continues to set new single-game benchmarks in multiple categories, including ticket revenue, group tickets and premium seating. Wilkes has successfully navigated a season of significant turnover in the sales department, maintaining high standards of performance and demonstrating forward-thinking leadership. Wilkes joins the Barracuda in 2023 after holding ticket sales roles with the Coachella Valley Firebirds and San Antonio Rampage. Frank Torres recruited Wilkes to all three teams.
The award was established following his sudden death in 2024 Frank Torresvice president of business operations for Barracuda San Jose.
The AHL, which has been in operation since 1936 and celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, is the top developmental league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Today, nearly 90 percent of NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honorary members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent their careers in the AHL.
