Ownership/Management
William D. Johnston, president, director and chairman of Greenleaf Companies, a hospitality group that owns and operates the Stadium Management Company, owns the team. His enterprise includes the Wings Stadium Complex, which is comprised of three facilities, including Wings West, and five sheets of ice, as well as the Kalamazoo Wings’ minor-professional hockey team that plays in the ECHL.
Paul L. Pickard, the ECHL team’s president and governor, will also serve as the Jr. K-Wings’ president. He is also president of Wings Stadium, home of the ECHL team, and Wings West.
The original owner, general manager and head coach of the original Jr. K-Wings team that played in the NAHL from 1988-94, Pickard was an All-CCHA defenseman at Ferris State University before playing two seasons of professional hockey, including time in Kalamazoo with the International Hockey League’s (IHL) Wings from 1981-83.
Pickard boasts an extensive coaching and executive resume at both the junior and professional levels, having worked for teams in various capacities in the American Hockey League, ECHL, IHL United Hockey League and United States Hockey League, in addition to the NAHL.
He also served as president, commissioner and chief operating officer of the IHL from 2007-09.
