Ahead of the New Orleans Baby Cakes’ (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) 2020 move, three Senior VPs have been appointed by Wichita Baseball, including Jared Forma, Annie Life, and Augusto “Cookie” Rojas. The Baby Cakes are set to move to Wichita, KS in 2020, coinciding with the opening of a new ballpark.
Forma has served as the general manager of the Charlotte Stone Crabs (High A; Florida State League) since 2013, leading the front office staff while overseeing all club operations as well as Tampa Bay Rays spring training operations. A native of East Brunswick, New Jersey, Forma has overseen top-five finishes in the Florida State League in attendance in each of his six seasons at the helm, ranking in the top third of the league overall by welcoming more than 600,000 fans to the ballpark, including a single-game franchise- record crowd of 7,515 during the 2017 season, when the Stone Crabs were named Charlotte County Business of the Year. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Charlotte County, is a board member of the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce, and also graduated from the Leadership Program of Charlotte County in 2015.
Forma joined the Stone Crabs after spending 15 years with the Wilmington Blue Rocks (High A; Carolina League), where he rose from a ticket intern to Director of Ticket Sales and Sponsorships, overseeing all revenue operations. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1998.
Life began her baseball career with the Pawtucket Red Sox (Class AAA; International League) in 1979, and more recently joined the CBI-LP baseball group serving in several capacities including the Charlotte Stone Crabs and spring training operations at Port Charlotte Sports Park in Florida, and the nationally-recognized rebranding of the Triple-A New Orleans franchise from Zephyrs to Baby Cakes. She was instrumental in the launch of the Caribbean Educational & Baseball Foundation. A driving force in the creation of several baseball goodwill initiatives, Life has traveled to Jamaica and Cuba, assisting in youth clinics while delivering baseball equipment to youth in the Caribbean basin.
Prior to returning to baseball, Life enjoyed a distinguished 25-year career in the healthcare industry having developed and managed occupational health services for more than 300 companies. Additionally, she developed and managed a nationwide phlebotomy network providing services to more than 15,000 patients. She studied at Penn State University and earned her RN degree from Valencia College. A Certified SCUBA Divemaster, Life has volunteered her time with youth programs, clinics, and day care facilities in both the United States and Honduras, and is an active fundraiser for ALS.
2019 marks the fourth season for Rojas as the Senior VP and General Manager of the New Orleans Baby Cakes, though he has an extensive background in Minor League Baseball, having spent eight years as the General Sales Manager for the Pawtucket Red Sox, where his sales staff achieved record highs in tickets sold and revenue generated. During his tenure in New Orleans, Rojas oversaw the rebranding of the franchise from Zephyrs to Baby Cakes, which resulted in the team winning Baseball America’s “Logomania” contest, a Golden Bobblehead award for Best Community Promotion, and recognition as one of the top 20 franchises in merchandise sales nationwide. He was also instrumental in turning the “Shrine on Airline” into a multi-purpose venue as 16,289 music fans, the largest crowd in stadium history, witnessed a Mumford & Sons concert. High school football attracted over 80,000 fans, and charitable endeavors with Louisiana State University baseball raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Wally Pontiff Scholarship fund, while LSU stars like the NFL’s Tyrann Mathieu, Olympian Lolo Jones, and Head Football Coach Ed Orgeron participate in an annual charitable event at The Shrine.
A veteran of the Persian Gulf War, Rojas served in the United States Marine Corps for six years, including with the 6th Motor Transport Battalion during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Rojas received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island in 1993, and earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School, Evening Program in 1998 while working at the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
“We are thrilled to build a world-class front office team in Wichita,” said Managing General Partner Lou Schwechheimer. “With the additions of Jared, Annie and Cookie, we bring an extraordinarily talented senior leadership team together with Jay Miller that will strive each and every day to create a Baseball Entertainment Village and bring the riverfront to life 200-plus days per year, while making baseball fun, entertaining, and the best family value in all of Kansas.”
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