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.

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Currently Vacant

President

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.

Hall participates actively in a number of charities and is Vice Chairman of The Giving Kitchen. In 2015, Chris, Ryan, and Todd were named Cornerstone Humanitarians by the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation for their role in kickstarting The Giving Kitchen. In 2019, the Giving Kitchen was named Humanitarians of the Year by the James Beard Foundation.

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

Blake Bradford

Secretary

Blake Bradford has been rooted in the 404 rugby community for over 10 years and has helped set the foundation for the sport here in Atlanta. He first began playing as a graduate student for the men’s club team under the direction of former head coach, Scott Lawrence.

Bradford took his first coaching job in the United States at Michigan State University prior to returning to Atlanta in 2015. Upon his return, he accepted a dual coaching position for his alma mater, Life University. As the Men’s D1A Collegiate Forwards Coach, he helped take the team to 5 straight National Title games, winning 3 including back-to-back titles in 2018 & 2019. As the Head Coach for the Men’s Senior Team, Bradford increased the Attitude, Hustle & Aggression of the club which produced 7 Championships in 8 years. His experience and success led him to selection from the USA National Team to coach the USA Selects Forwards in the 2018 Americas Pacific Challenge in Montevideo, Uruguay. He also served as the Men’s Collegiate All-Americans Forwards Coach and helped develop the Nation’s best student-athletes in 2018 and 2019.

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.

Tami McQueen

Board Member

With 15+ years of experience in driving results for hyper-growth organizations through process-driven, scalable and repeatable marketing models, Tami’s expertise centers on go-to-market strategies, brand development, engagement, and immediate growth.

As the Vice President of Marketing for Panoramic Ventures, a venture capital firm with $1.1B AUM. Tami leads all brand and marketing initiatives for the firm and supports their portfolio companies across Seed through Series B investments. Previously, Tami co-founded 31south, a creative marketing agency. Prior to her leap into entrepreneurship, Tami joined one of the fastest-growing B2B SaaS startups in the U.S. as the first marketing hire at Salesloft. She has also led Global Social Strategy for Women Who Code, the largest and most active community of engineers dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. Over the course of a decade, she has worked with some of the world’s most innovative brands, including ActionIQ, Agility Recovery, Boeing, Cognism, Digital Hands, ilos, Keyfactor, Major League Rugby, SaaStr, Sendoso, SXSW, Tricentis, and Women Who Code.

Tami has a B.S. and an M.S. from Murray State University where she was a four-year NCAA D1 tennis athlete and scholarship recipient. Tami is an advisor for the Atlanta Tech Village, a mentor for Techstars, the co-host of two podcasts, and a speaker and emcee for live events.

Dr Scott Barbour

Board Member

Scott Barbour MD is the founder and owner of Barbour Orthopaedics & Spine, a full service Orthopaedic practice with 6 locations and a surgery center in the Atlanta area.

Dr. Barbour graduated manga cum lauded from St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1996 and has been in private practice since 2002. Dr. Barbour is fellowship-trained in sports medicine. He was a 1988 collegiate All-American rugby Player and co-captain of the 1988 National Champion UC Berkeley rugby team. He was a former player with the Old Blues Rugby Club out of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dr. Barbour has worked with professional sports teams including the Oakland Raiders, San Jose Sharks, USA Rugby Teams and treats many professional athletes today. Dr. Barbour has lectured on orthopaedic surgery and healthcare reform and has appeared in radio and television to discuss these subjects. He has published articles and book chapters on Orthopaedic surgery and has been an editor for American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Laurie Prickett

Board Member

Originally from Northampton England, Laurie was raised in Marietta Georgia USA where she attended Georgia State University and obtained her BA in Political Science concentration in International Affairs. Shortly after graduating Laurie knew her academic career was not over and she returned to the UK and studied European Politics and Society and is currently holding an MA in Contemporary European Studies from the University of Bath and Charles University Prague Czech Republic. She started her career as a country based staff at the British Embassy Washington DC in the specialty of Consular Services. A consular officer’s primary focus is to assist British Nationals in distress abroad-focusing on the most vulnerable. In a crisis, consular officers are usually in high visibility vests, at a foreign airport for example, advising Brits what to do in the aftermath of a natural disaster or horrific incident. Laurie’s expertise in crisis led to her joining the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Rapid Deployment team where she was deployed both locally and abroad. (Haiti, Japan)

Working for DIT is the highlight and most rewarding career path thus far. When Laurie is not cheering on her beloved Liverpool FC or Northampton Saints, she can be found in a karate studio cheering on her 8 year old son Logan. Laurie is a strong advocate for sports diplomacy and its benefits to the youth and local communities.

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.

Mohammed Sanu

Board Member

Originally from Sayreville, New Jersey, Sanu also lived in native Sierra Leone as a child. He eventually returned to the United States and lived in Dayton, New Jersey, where he starred at South Brunswick High School as a triple-option quarterback before graduating six months early and enrolling at Rutgers University in 2009. At Rutgers, he was a multi-sport athlete, excelling in both football and track & field.

Sanu was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the third round (83 rd overall) of the 2012 NFL draft. Throughout his 10-year career with the Bengals (2012-15), Atlanta Falcons (2016-19), New England Patriots (2019), Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers (2020, 2021), he appeared in 136 games and registered 436 receptions for 4,871 yards and 27 touchdowns. He also recorded 42 carries for 226 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and completed seven of eight passing attempts for 233 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Sanu also appeared in nine postseason games (eight starts) and added 26 receptions for 318 yards and two touchdowns.

Mohamed has dedicated countless hours and financial support for at-risk youth in Atlanta and New Jersey, as well as his native country Sierra Leone Africa. He holds a free youth camp each year in Atlanta and New Jersey to provide at-risk youth the opportunity to learn football and life skills from some of the most experienced coaches and professional athletes in the country.

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.

Mark attended Salem State University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with his Bachelor of Science in Sport Management. Upon completion, Mark accepted an internship with USA Rugby where he wrote and presented the High Performance Plan to the United States Olympic Committee, which resulted in the USA Rugby 7s squads for both Men and Women being accepted as an official Olympic Sport. Mark then attended Florida Atlantic University where he earned Cum Laude honors with his Master in Business Administration in Sport Management.

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.

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