Belleville Senators hire new staff

The current logo for the Belleville Senators as the organization designs a new one for the team.

By David Mallory

BELLEVILLE – The Belleville Senators have announced five new members of their management team.

The Senators have hired Darren Murphy as their director of operations. In a news release, the Sens say Murphy was the director of the recent PanAm Games in Toronto and also worked in a business management role at the Olympic Games in London and Vancouver.

The team has hired the other four others to be in charge of managing several parts of the American Hockey League franchise.

The new managers are Tom Zapletal, Erin Roberts, Chris Van Dusen and Matthew Heidstra. Zapletal has spent the last several years with the Ottawa Senators working to get sponsorships for the team. Also coming from the parent team of the Belleville Senators is Roberts, who has worked in the Sens’ ticket operations department for the past five years.

Dusen comes from the Oshawa Generals, where he helped to build one of the highest season ticket sales bases in the Ontario Hockey League. Heidstra, a Belleville native, will being be joining the team on Apr. 24 after he finishes his masters in business administration from Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

“We are delighted to have Darren, Tom, Erin, Chris and Matthew join our franchise,” Rob Mullowney, the team’s chief operating officer says in the news release. “They all bring a wealth of experience to our team and we are pleased that they are joining our franchise as we strive to create and deliver the quality of operation our fans should expect from professional hockey in the Bay of Quinte.”