MUSKEGON — Andrea Rose’s second-floor office at Terrace Point overlooks Muskegon Lake’s expansive body of water. Although the workspace is temporary for the Muskegon Lumberjacks’ president of business operations and her front-office team, the backdrop is both staggering and serene.

Construction is underway at the Lumberjacks’ Trinity Health Arena home in downtown Muskegon. The Lumberjacks are in the midst of significant changes on and off the ice, and Rose is the chief architect in helping to build the organization into one of the finer franchises in the United States Hockey League. 

With the Lumberjacks since 2018 and in her current role since 2021, Rose has shined brightly. Accordingly, she was recently recognized as the Dave Tyler USHL Executive of the Year for the 2023-24 season. 

On a comfortable July morning, as the sun illuminated the north and west shorelines of Muskegon Lake, Rose beamed with pride as she praised her business operations team. 

“Proud and grateful are the two words that really sum it up. I’m proud, but I’m also very fully aware that I wouldn’t have been able to get here without the support of the people around me,” a reflective Rose, 36, said. “It’s not just my team. I’ve been lucky to be able to work with really wonderful people who are supportive. Steve Lowe is our president of hockey operations. He stands up for me when I need him to. We’ve got the best owners. Peter Herms is wonderful. Dan Israel was wonderful. They both believed in me in a way that it’s almost like the way a father believes in his daughter—they want what’s best.”

Andrea and Jeff Rose wed in August 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Brady Bunch fashion, they both brought children into the relationship. They’re raising three sons (Preston, 17; Parker, 16; and Cohen, 12) and one daughter (Monroe, 11).

Andrea Rose’s parents, Roy Sponaas and Laura Mattson, raised her to be strong-willed, to not give up, and to fight for what’s right. The 2006 Fruitport High School alumna has always been competitive, and thrived as a three-sport athlete for the Trojans.

Those characteristics have served Rose well and, by extension, the Lumberjacks. She guided the organization through an ownership change and restructuring of leadership, she’s leading the charge with the three-million-dollar arena renovation, and she directed another successful Jacks’ campaign in the most recent season.

In 2023-24, the Lumberjacks set single-game ticket sales records twice. Per Rose, the Lumberjacks have seen 20 percent growth year-over-year.

According to a USHL release, Rose helped create one of the best game-day atmospheres—not only in the league, but in all of hockey. She has worked with the sponsorship sales team to maximize revenue and continue growing the Lumberjacks’ brand in the community.

“This honor is a testament to the hard work and dedication Andrea puts into the Lumberjacks organization,” Herms, who purchased the Muskegon franchise in December 2022, said in the USHL release. “Between the sale last year and the renovations going on right now, she has led us—year-after-year, to be the best we can be.

“From the staff and players to fans and families surrounding the team, everyone loves Andrea and knows how incredibly hard she works to make Lumberjacks hockey a success. Make no mistake about it: The success we find both on and off the ice is greatly impacted by what she does both in front and behind the scenes. We are incredibly proud to have Andrea as a member of the Jacks’ family and are excited to see all of her continued success.”

The USHL’s Executive of the Year award is named in honor of Dave Tyler, who played a big role with his leadership and dedication to the development of the league and growth of junior hockey in the U.S. The award is presented annually to an executive from a USHL member club, recognizing the efforts and contributions to his or her organization. It’s voted on by USHL member clubs.

Alex Franczek, the Lumberjacks’ director of ticket sales, said Rose is an “excellent leader and better person.”

“She always holds us to the standard of ‘do what’s right’ no matter the scenario. That is the expectation and you treat others in the organization and the public in the same way you want to be treated,” he said. “She will never micro-manage, but her door is always open for assistance as needed. She is big on the development of her staff and wants us to learn, grow, and develop through our experiences. Finally, she leads from the front. There isn’t a situation where she isn’t available or involved. She always shows up when she is needed most.”

Ezra Gennello, the organization’s director of communications and broadcasting, is another big believer in Rose. One big reason is that she reciprocates belief in her staff, and then some, through servant leadership.

Gennello, a New Jersey native, said that when he started his job in Muskegon, Rose told him, “You’re not going to be here forever. We’ll be lucky if we get three, four years out of you. I want you to come to me when there’s a job that opens up at the next level and say, ‘Hey, this job’s open. Can you help me get it?’”

In Gennello’s mind, that speaks to Rose’s mission as president of business operations.

“The line I used in the letter of recommendation when they asked why she should win this award, ‘I’m in Muskegon because of Andrea and I’m where I’m at because of her. She took a chance,’” Gennello said. 

“She brought in a kid — I was living in Edinboro, Massachusetts, at the time, working in a lower league, 22 years old, just graduated from college the year before, and she gave me this opportunity. 

“Halfway across the country — I have my dog and that’s it. And she’s made living in Muskegon and working for the Lumberjacks so awesome. I mean, we have a great staff and I get to hang out with them all the time. She will come out and sit in the bullpen with us and talk and be a part of the crew. I’m not here without her. My career starts and ends with Andrea Rose.”

It’s been a long road for Rose, who earned a sport administration and management degree from Grand Valley State University in 2010. She worked for the Lumberjacks fresh out of college but left after a year. After leaving the Jacks, she held down various positions, including as a general manager for Craig’s Cruisers, where she loved “being actively involved with making memories for people and contributing to their fun.”

Rose returned to the Lumberjacks in 2018 as director of ticket sales. From there, she worked her way into the vice president of corporate partnerships role. In January 2021, she became interim president of business operations. By May 2021, the interim tag was removed. 

Rose said she went through a very extensive interview process for her current position. She believes that the Lumberjacks’ brass liked that she was young and from the area.

As a woman in sport management, Rose is very proud of her impact, but knows there’s still much progress to be made.

“It’s incredibly important. Listen, the discrimination is real and it still exists,” she said. “I mean, I walk into a boardroom… The first time in Nashville—we have a wonderful executive vice president, who is a female, of the USHL—I’m the first woman director. I’m sitting around this table with 16 teams. They all have three people representing them. Every single one of them is a man. I walk in and the first thing that’s asked of me isn’t, ‘What team are you with?’ It’s ‘Are you here helping the league do marketing?’ The assumption is that this woman can’t be here to actually talk about the business of the league.

“It’s important because I didn’t have anybody that I could look at (as a role model for this type of position). Still, women are in the minority for these types of positions in sport, at least.”

Franczek can’t say enough good things about Rose when it comes to her personality traits, calling her outgoing, caring, helpful, compassionate, understanding, energetic, and fun.

He also marvels at her ability to juggle a number of responsibilities at once while putting others before herself. Rose wears many hats, including serving as president of the Junior Lumberjacks.

“Andrea pushes this organization forward every day,” Franczek said. “There are a bunch of stats I could provide about the growth she has created in corporate partnerships, ticket sales revenue, or in-game experience, but I think her best asset is finding the correct people for the tasks at hand. Andrea has a tremendous amount of character herself and is an amazing judge of character in others. Any company would be lucky to have Andrea representing them in any setting.”

Rose is not sure what her long-term future holds professionally, but she knows she wants to continue making a difference.

She also knows none of this success would be possible without her No. 1 teammate: Her husband.

“He’s supportive and puts up with the long hours that I put in and random pop-up, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to go to New Jersey for a prospect camp. Do you want to tag along?’ Or ‘Hey, now we’re going to go to Vegas for the NHL Draft and I’m going to sit in meetings and it’s your birthday and you’re going to sit in the hotel room by yourself,’” she said. “The support that he’s shown me is wonderful.

“I’m blessed with the opportunity in Muskegon to have a supportive owner to help try to grow girls’ hockey in the area. You can’t really work for a USHL team and have kids and not have them skate—the peer pressure is real,” she said with a smile. 

“My kids started to learn to skate and have fallen in love with hockey. I watch my daughter have kind of the same opportunity to break ceilings and I think that she’s going to. The growth of the game and the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League), I think all of it’s just really important and I think that it starts at the youth level. I think it starts by getting them on skates and getting them on the ice and providing an opportunity and letting them know that ‘This game is for you, too.’ And not just women, it’s for minorities, too. This game is for everybody. It’s about community and it’s special.”