Staff

Heather Mills

Chief Financial Officer

Phone815-651-2040

The 2020 season will be Heather’s 12th year in professional baseball and eighth with the Joliet Slammers. She joined the Slammers in 2013 as Box Office Manager, in 2015 was promoted to Assistant General Manager, and in 2016 was named the General Manager. Heather previously worked for the Kane County Cougars and the Memphis Redbirds, where she won a PCL Championship.

In the few spare moments Heather isn’t at DuPage Medical Group Field, she enjoys reading, baking, taking photographs, visiting Chicago’s museums, and catching Cubs games at Wrigley Field. Despite not being the Heather Mills that was married to Paul McCartney, she is also a Beatles fan. Heather enjoys sharing random useless trivia and farm facts with the office. Her goal in life is to appear on Jeopardy!

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John Wilson

Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations/Chief Revenue Officer

Phone815-651-2032

Emailjwilson@jolietslammers.com

John comes to the Slammers with significant, high-level experience in sports. Wilson is a graduate of Indiana State University and has worked in sports since 2004. He has spent time with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA, Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, Sacramento River Cats and Pawtucket Red Sox both Triple A affiliated baseball teams, and most recently served as General Manager of the Frontier League’s Southern Illinois Miners.

Lauren Rhodes

Assistant General Manager

Phone815-651-2041

Emaillrhodes@jolietslammers.com

Lauren is a Blackburn College graduate with a degree in Sport Management. While at Blackburn, she played three years of softball and assisted with coaching one year due to injury. This will be Lauren's fifth season with the Slammers. Prior to being hired by the Slammers, Lauren interned with the Chicago Bandits Professional Softball Team.

In her spare time you will find her obsessing over Harry Potter, the Packers, and her dog Stella.

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Ken Miller

Director of Community Relations

Phone815-651- 2036

EmailEmail:kmiller@jolietslammers.com

Ken is a lifelong Coal City resident and has been a part of the Slammers team for 10 years. Ken is no stranger to the sports world – having coached high school sports for 47 years.

In 2016, Ken was inducted into the Illinois Football Coaches Associations Hall of Fame. Congratulations Ken! In addition, Ken has worked in the education field for 34 years. He currently serves as an Officer and Board member of the Pitch and Hit Club of Chicago, Chicago’s Professional Baseball Organization. He has been a member for the past 20 years. Outside of work, Ken enjoys charity work and visiting with his five grandchildren.

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Doug Clements

Director of Food & Beverage

Emaildclements@jolietslammers.com

Doug brings over 25 years of foodservice experience to the team. He has spent 14 years in the Sports and Entertainment sector and has worked some of the world’s most prestigious events including multiple Super Bowls, Kentucky Derby’s, Breeders Cup and NBA and MLB All Star games. Doug has directed food production facilities for the past 8 years including Gate Gourmet and the fresh RTE startups Farmer’s Fridge and Snap Kitchen. He recently oversaw multiple B&I units and Production facilities in the Midwest for Taher, Inc.

Highlights:

30 years of experience in the hospitality/manufacturing industry.
Responsible for all aspects of RTE meals including purchasing, warehousing, food production, packaging, safety and sanitation and assembling and distribution. Directed 500 employees and a management staff of 12 in a 24/7, 3 shifts per day business with annual revenues of $40 million. Practiced and trained in Lean manufacturing techniques and conducted many Kaizen events to continuously improve our productivity. Improved productivity and decreased weekly man hours by 200.
Directed the Chicago operations for Snap Kitchen which had a central production unit that serviced RTE meals for nine stores.

Chicago operations closed after 15 months.

Operations Director for Farmer's Fridge, directing all operations for this start up from purchasing through distribution. Farmer's Fridge merged with a Private Equity firm who brought in a different management team.
Midwest Director of Operations for Taher, Inc which included a production unit that served 15 schools, 4 Senior Dining accounts and RTE meals for 225 vending machines and 50 convenient stores. The operation shut down due to Covid 19 in March of this year.
Hospitality degree from the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio.

ServSafe and Allergen Certified.

Experience working in USDA and FDA facilities which utilize Good Manufacturing Practices

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Lauren Baca

Marketing and Corporate Services Manager

Phone815-531-0514

Emaillbaca@jolietslammers.com

Lauren is a graduate of Carthage College with a degree in Public Relations and Communications. She began her career at an integrated PR and Marketing firm before chasing her dream of working within the sports industry. Since then, she has been a publicist for a three-time World Series Champion, interned with The New York Mets, and worked for the collegiate-level Kenosha Kingfish.

Wes Anderson

Pitching Coach

Anderson currently serves as the Minooka High School baseball team pitching coach. He also works as the Pitching Coordinator for Mission360 and in 2020 served as the roving pitching coach for the Joliet Slammers Collegiate League.

Anderson played for Minooka High School before pitching for Joliet Junior College, advancing to the NJCAA DIII College World Series in 2000. He is Driveline Foundations of Pitching and Basics of Pitch Design certified, as well as being Rapsodo Baseball Pitching certified.

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