GLENN HEFFERAN
President & Commissioner

Named the 11th President & Commissioner of the USHL in 2023, Glenn Hefferan has an extensive background as a volunteer, board and committee member with USA Hockey as well as running/directing youth and junior hockey clubs and leagues. He served as President of the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association, the USA Hockey Affiliate for New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware, having been re-elected three times since his initial election in 2015.
 
Hefferan was elected to the USA Hockey Executive Committee in June of 2021 where he served on the Finance and Investment Committee, Governance Committee and Strategic Planning Committee.
 
The owner and operator of High-Performance Group, LLC which was created in 2012 as a branding, image, business development and sales services organization with a core focus on ice arenas, amateur hockey Leagues, and clubs, Hefferan's involvement in amateur hockey dates back to his youth hockey-playing days in Jersey City, N.J.
 
Hefferan began officiating and coaching hockey as a teenager before forming a college development junior team in his early '20s. Named President of the Atlantic Metropolitan Hockey League (AMHL) in 1993, a position he held until 2012, Hefferan has held several volunteer and elected positions in the junior hockey ranks and with USA Hockey including being named Chairman of Junior National Championships in 1994, serving as Director At-Large, a position he held from 1997 through 2006 and then was named District Director in 2015. He has served on the USA Hockey Governance and Strategic Planning Committees, the Marketing and Junior Councils, Super Site Committee and Super League Task Force, along with Developing programs for membership growth and new marketing inventory.
 
In 2012 Hefferan was named by the New Jersey Devils as the recipient of the Dr. John J. McMullen Award for service to New Jersey Amateur Hockey. 


STEPHANIE MORGAN
Executive Vice President 

Morgan joined the league office prior to the 2016-17 season, and served as Staff Accountant for more than a year before being promoted to Director of Finance and Accounting in November 2017, becoming the first female league director since 2008. In September of 2023 she was named USHL Executive Vice President.

Morgan oversees all accounting and financial functions of the league office, including, but not limited to: financial report analysis, event budgeting and finance, officiating financial administration, and business handlings with league sponsors and licensees.

Morgan joined the USHL prior to the 2016-17 season after more than three years of Finance Specialist experience at a private bank. Her sports career began as a Staff Intern with the Windy City Thunderbolts in the Frontier League. She holds a Masters degree in Accounting from DePaul University and a bachelor's degree in Finance from Eastern Illinois University. 


IAN GENTILE
Vice President, Hockey Operations

Ian Gentile, who joined the USHL in 2023, is responsible for the league's hockey operations and business development. His oversight includes the USHL's central registry and drafts, game operations, event planning, player safety and supplemental discipline, and managing a league-wide licensing and product partnership program. In addition, he serves as the league's liaison, and works closely with a variety of key groups and stakeholders, including team hockey operations and medical staffs, the league's Competition Committee, the league's Referee-in-Chief, Bauer, HockeyTech, USA Hockey, and the National Hockey League. 
 
Following a thirteen-year career with the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks, Gentile spent 15 months with USA Football where he served as Director, High Performance and National Teams.

Born and raised in Chicago, Gentile was a part of three Stanley Cup Championship seasons during his time with the Blackhawks where he served seven years at the forefront of the player development field, where he helped establish the NHL's first multidisciplinary player development department. In the summer of 2021, he created the league's first multi-person Performance Psychology department. 
 
In his role with USA Football, in advance of potential Olympic inclusion, he helped the organization build its first High Performance Plan, a multi-year strategic plan focused on a national governing body's (NGB) approach to athlete development, talent identification and national team preparation. Additionally, he oversaw the organization's national team coaching staffs, its scouting operations and the design and provision of Team USA Support Services.
 
Gentile holds a Master of Science in Sport Management from West Virginia University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He resides in Chicago, Ill., with his wife (a former varsity hockey athlete at the University of Guelph) and their two young children.


SHAUN MORGAN
Director of Hockey Operations and Administration

Morgan joined the USHL in October 2017 as Manager of Hockey Operations. Morgan oversees the League's central registry and all roster movement, player and team compliance, official scoring reports, supports player safety initiatives and supplemental discipline, enforces USA Hockey rules and regulations and helps with organization and planning of league events. Morgan also manages the USHL Draft, working with League partner RinkNet, to oversee the Draft board and ensure all Member Clubs are up-to-date on transactions and selections.

Morgan came to the USHL after a six-year career as an official that spanned the American Hockey League (AHL), ECHL and Central Hockey League (CHL). His career highlights include working four ECHL Kelly Cup Championship series and one CHL championship series. In addition to his career as a linesman, Morgan worked IIHF, USHL and NAHL games through the USA Hockey Officiating Development Program. Morgan was a linesman in the USHL from 2007-2012.

Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Morgan studied at Saint Louis University and graduated with a degree in Business Management in 2011.


FRANK BUTLER
Director of Player Personnel

Butler is responsible for assisting with the supervision and execution of USHL combines and USHL Development Series Youth Tournaments. Additionally, Butler communicates with potential players, parents and advisors on behalf of the league.

Butler, has a wealth of hockey experience both on and off the ice. The East Haven, Conn., native served as an Eastern USA Scout with the Tri-City Storm during the 2020-21 season. Formerly a forward at Nichols College, Butler served as captain his senior season and was a three-time member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast Academic All-Conference Team. Butler's senior season included a spot on the ECAC Northeast First Team after finishing his career seventh in goals and 15th in points in Nichols College history.


SCOTT ZELKIN
USHL Referee-In-Chief

As manager of USA Hockey's junior officiating development program, Scott Zelkin guides all aspects of the USHL's officiating program, including assignment and evaluation as well as recruitment and retention.

Zelkin has an extensive on-ice background that made him one of the most highly-accomplished officials in the United States.  After three seasons as a referee in the USHL and graduating from the University of Denver with a degree in Finance, the Chicago native went on to an officiating career in higher levels of hockey, culminating as a referee in the NHL.  In addition to working in the NHL, he has over 1,000 games to his credit in the AHL and IHL, as well as having officiated in multiple IIHF World Championships and the 1990 NCAA Division 1 Men's Ice Hockey Championship.

Zelkin is also extensively involved with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) as an Officiating Coach and a member of their Officiating Committee.  He has worked with officials from around the world at multiple IIHF World Championships including the 2018 & 2021 World Junior Championships and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Zelkin also spent numerous years working as an instructor in USA Hockey's Officiating Development Program helping to train some of the best young officials in the United States.  His contributions to hockey earned him an induction to the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame.

Away from the rink, Zelkin is a competitive triathlete that has completed multiple IRONMAN races.  He qualified for and raced in the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships.

Scott resides in suburban Chicago with his wife and two sons.

 
DENNIS LARUE
Director of Player Safety

As the Director of Player Safety, LaRue serves as the Chairman of the Player Safety Committee. LaRue also administers player supplemental discipline for all games in accordance with the league's player safety initiative. The player safety initiative is a cumulative penalty system designed to track, intervene and establish standards for supplemental discipline in instances of dangerous play, particularly for repeat offenders.

LaRue, a native of Spokane, Wash., joined the USHL after serving as an NHL referee for 1,222 games, the most by any American referee and ranked eighth overall all-time as of his retirement in 2016. LaRue began his NHL career as a referee in 1991 and went on to officiate the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, becoming only the second-ever American to referee a Stanley Cup Final. He also officiated the 2012 NHL Winter Classic, 2003 NHL All-Star Game and the Olympics in 1988, 2002, 2006, and 2010. LaRue was just the third referee ever to work four separate Olympics and was later honored with the USA Hockey Distinguished Achievement Award in 2011.

JOHN GRANDT
Director of Officials

Named the USHL Director of Officials in September of 2023, Grandt served as a linesman in more than 200 games in the National Hockey League from 2012-17, officiated in the USHL for two seasons (2007-09) and also has extensive experience working in the NCAA and the American Hockey League.

Grandt's USA Hockey experience includes an assignment as Colorado's Assistant State Supervisor Advancement and Development, serving as an instructor for the Rocky Mountain District Advance Officiating Experience and has worked as the Lead Instructor - USA Hockey Level 4 Seminar. He also has served as an instructor at Jay Sharrers Officiating School.

DR. MICHAEL CZARNOTA
USHL Consulting Neuropsychologist

With the USHL, Dr. Czarnota will be part of building, managing, and overseeing the USHL Concussion Management Program, including a program that oversees the USHL's referees and linesmen. Dr. Czarnota will also serve as the primary consultant for the USHL and work with each Member Club's athletic trainer and medical staff to disseminate relevant information and manage concussion protocol, which Dr. Czarnota has helped to update.

Dr. Czarnota has an extensive background when it comes to hockey, and is currently working with the Canadian Hockey League (Official Neuropsychology Consultant), Hockey Canada, ECHL, Professional Hockey Players Association, as well as providing consultation to many high schools.

Dr. Czarnota is a founding member, and currently the Chair of the Education Committee, of the Sports Neuropsychology Society and is involved with projects and grants that aim to improve all aspects of concussion safety, including education, awareness and services. Dr. Czarnota received his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Wayne State University in 1993 and is now also part of an independent private practice in Detroit that centers on the diagnosis and evaluation on traumatic brain injury.


ANTHONY VELTRI
Business and Hockey Operations Manager

A 2019 Kent State graduate where he earned a degree in sports administration with a business administration minor, Veltri joined the USHL in September of 2023 after working with Cross Country Healthcare in Pittsburgh where he assisted in compliance and administrative support for healthcare professionals in ten markets.

In his role with the USHL Veltri performs a variety of duties including liaising with USHL organizations with business and hockey operations responsibilities.


PAUL ALLAN
Director of Communications & Media Relations

Allan is responsible for the USHL's communications efforts, including media and public relations.  Allan, who joined the USHL in December of 2022,  spent more than three decades on the intercollegiate athletics staff at Minnesota State. He also worked the 1992 and 2002 Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl LII in 2018 in Minneapolis, two NCAA Final Fours and two NCAA Division 1 Frozen Fours. 
Allan's email address: allan@ushl.com