The Rugby ATL Foundation Board

The Rugby ATL Foundation strives to positively impact our community, empower our youth, and provide cultural and athletic education using the game of rugby and its core values.

Chris Hall

Vice President

Chris Hall’s story originates here in Atlanta. His first job as a teenager was at Pizza Hut on Collier Road, this first job behind an over inspired a passion for food which took Hall to kitchens across America. Over the years Hall practiced his craft under the angry French head chef at Lec Bec Fin in Philadelphia before moving back to Atlanta and landing himself in the kitchen at Canoe.

Hall received his best formative years of cooking while at Canoe. Following his passion for cooking, Hall knew he always wanted to own his own place and cook what he wanted to cook. After meeting Muss & Turner and becoming a partner, Local Three Kitchen & Bar was launched to critical and guest acclaim. Chris is partner in the Unsukay Restaurant group, which concists of four restaurant concepts. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now you can find Hall mentoring cooks and doing what he likes most: working on the creative aspects of Local Three, Warhorse Investments, and Unsukay. His true passion these days is to help people in much the same way people helped him in his career. He loves to coach and mentor and is still entranced by the machinations of the restaurant business.

Steve Brett

Treasurer

Steve has been involved in professional rugby for over 20 years, he has vast experience in all aspects of the game, Steve was born in New Zealand and was destined to play rugby with both his mother and step father both playing rugby for the New Zealand All Blacks.

Steve has been Coaching with Rugby ATL  for the past 2 years and he envisions growth of Rugby in Atlanta. Setting up this foundation is an excellent oppurtunity to facilitate the growth of rugby in the state of Georgia

For Rugby ATL, Bradford is the Assistant Head Coach, and coaches the forwards and defense. He provides the structure and framework for the set-piece which produced one of the league’s best forward packs in the 2020 through 2022 seasons. Outside of rugby, Bradford is a father of 3, devoted husband, teacher, doctor, academic advisor, and mentor in every facet of his life. He is a true example of Rugby ATL’s commitment to developing people and he will continue to create positive change through his compassionate nature and dedication to this community.

Strong with her background in high-paced international environments both domestic and internationally, she joined the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) three years ago in her role as Trade and Investment Manager (TIM) for the Southeast region.  DIT is the commercial arm of the British Government.  DIT secures UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade.  Laurie’s role as a TIM is multifaceted role that gains her exposure to multiple cross-functional disciplines, ranging from:  project management, operations and team management, global brand strategy, and most importantly account management. 

Mark Carney

Chief Executive Officer

Mark was born and raised in England where he attended Sedbergh School, one of England’s top school boy rugby programs. At 16 years old, Mark moved to Arizona where he played for Tempe Old Devils and Westview High School as well as participating in the USA Rugby U19 Player Pathway before injury cut his playing career short.

During his sports career, Mark has worked for the Miami Dolphins as a Game Day Events Coordinator, the Florida Panthers in Partnerships and Activations, the Atlantic Coast Conference coordinating the Basketball Championships, USA Rugby South as Collegiate Director, Rugby NorCal as Executive Director, USA Water Polo as Director of Sport Growth, the City of Sierra Vista as Aquatics Director, and now with Rugby ATL as Director of Rugby Operations and the Rugby ATL Foundation as CEO.