The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Class AAA; International League) will see changes in front office leadership this offseason, as team president and general manager Josh Olerud has stepped down from his post.
First joining the RailRiders as their chief operating officer in the fall of 2015, Olerud had a successful tenure with the club. Along with overseeing solid attendance numbers over several seasons, he also played an instrumental role in luring some major events to the RailRiders’ PNC Field–including the 2017 Triple-A National Championship Game, and next summer’s Triple-A All-Star Game.
Olerud is now leaving the organization, as was revealed over the weekend by RailRiders co-managing owner David Abrams. The RailRiders are promoting vice president and assistant general manager Katie Beekman to the title of GM, and will launch a search for their next president. More from The Citizens’ Voice:
The RailRiders added Olerud to the staff in 2015 as chief operating officer. He was promoted to team president and general manager when Jeremy Ruby stepped down after the 2016 season. During his tenure, Olerud helped the franchise secure bids to host the 2017 Triple-A National Championship Game and the upcoming 2020 Triple-A All-Star Game, and was named International League Executive of the Year in 2017 for his efforts.
During Olerud’s first season in charge, the RailRiders drew 439,412 fans to PNC Field, their best attendance since 2008 (485,999) — the franchise’s second year as a Yankees affiliate. Over the last three years, RailRiders games have drawn more than 1.2 million fans.
“I am a huge personal fan of Josh’s,” Abrams said. “He has really put his heart and soul into the team. Over the past four years, we’ve probably had a million people come through the doors and a lot of those smiles are due to him. And I think he left the business in a better condition than it was when he took it over four years ago.”
Beekman, a West Wyoming native, has been with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre since 2010. She was promoted to vice president and assistant general manager in January 2018 after heading the marketing and corporate services department for seven years. Beekman also has 10 years with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and time with the Class-A State College Spikes on her résumé.
Before joining the RailRiders, Olerud was with the Potomac Nationals (High A; Carolina League), serving as the club’s executive vice president and general manager.