Shelly Nicholls, Executive Director
Shelley Nicholls, an entrepreneurial leader known for optimizing and inspiring teams to achieve critical objectives, was named the new Executive Director of The Carnegie Initiative on June 26, 2023.
Nicholls started her career in the automotive industry as an engineer and went on to lead $100M+ projects.
For the past six years, she has worked in the social profit sector and currently also serves as a consultant for EPIC Leadership in Toronto.
She has served as the Executive Director for several organizations since 2017 that include the Herbert H. Carnegie Future ACES Foundation, Sistering, and the Girls Inc. of Halton (Ontario).
Shelley completed a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Ottawa, earned the Project Management Professional designation and graduated from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business MBA program.
Born and raised in Montreal, Shelley is the daughter of immigrants who moved to Canada from the Caribbean. She and her husband reside in the Greater Toronto Area and are the proud parents of four children (ages 10-17) that include three active hockey players. She also serves on the Board for Black Girl Hockey Club Canada.
Ken Gelman, Chief Commercial Officer
For more than 25 years, Ken Gelman has provided leadership and direction for several premier sports and entertainment properties and emerging brands.
Currently, Ken is the Chief Commercial Officer of The Carnegie Initiative (“The CI”), named in honor of legendary hockey player and social justice pioneer Herb Carnegie, a non-profit organization created to ensure opportunity and access to hockey everywhere.
Prior to The CI, Ken was most recently the Chief Operating Officer of live-event fight sports entity KASAI Elite Grappling based in New York City. Ken also founded G-Funk Sports & Entertainment in 2006. G-Funk focused on business and content development, distribution drives, digital marketing solutions and partnership marketing for sports and entertainment brands. Client partners included NFL Media, NFL On Location, ESPN, The Big East, Bellator MMA, Rogers Sports & Media, Arena Football League, Ring of Honor, GLORY Kickboxing, NFL Network and more.
Prior to launching G-Funk, Ken held executive positions with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the National Hockey League (NHL), leading marketing, media ventures and program development initiatives including broadcast network, affiliate, and media partner relations. Ken is well-known as one of the initial creators of NHL Center Ice and has been instrumental in launching a broad array of pioneering sports video subscription products and highly adoptive end-user offerings.
Ken is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and lives in Connecticut, USA.
Pete Fierle, Head of Communications
Pete Fierle is the President & Founder of Fierle Strategic Communications in Chicago. His consultancy fills a gap for many organizations that do not dedicate significant full-time resources to its communications processes. Pete provides access to a C-Level executive as he helps clients by providing an array of services but specializes in guiding leaders of organizations on how to define and enhance foundational messaging as a key to growth.
Prior to founding Fierle Strategic Communications, the Buffalo, N.Y. native rose to the position of Chief of Staff & Senior Vice President of Communications during a distinguished 31-year career at the world-renowned Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Eric Hammerstrom, Communications Advisor
A native of Marquette, Michigan, he was a teammate of The CI’s Co-Founder Bryant McBride at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, before going on to coach high school and college hockey.
Eric Hammerstrom has been a writer, journalist, teacher and hockey coach for more than three decades. He taught Language Arts, Video Production and Broadcasting at Marquette Senior High School for 25 years before retiring from teaching to join The CI.
Eric is currently an assistant coach of UP Sled Hockey in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Sam Hill, Intern
Sam Hill is an Honours English undergraduate student in his Senior year at the University of Carleton in Ottawa, Ontario. He assists with Carleton’s social media platforms and helps create content covering the school’s various sports teams.
Sam was born and raised in Toronto and writes for a hockey blog covering the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sam grew up playing hockey in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and is devoted to pursuing a career based around hockey.