Staff

Gary Tufford

Commissioner

Gary Tufford, long time sports management and broadcast veteran has taken on the role of NISL Commissioner. His vast amount of experience spans four decades with positions in many different leagues and clubs around North America. During his playing days he was a wide receiver for the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League during its heyday years when Warren Moon, Johnny Rodgers and Anthony Davis were all part of the league.

As a pro football executive, coach and even player, Tufford has seen stops in the NFL, CFL, AFL and most of the Indoor Football Leagues in on-field or front office capacities. He has also been the President of several sports consortium's including Greensboro Professional Sports, which owned and operated Arena Football League and East Coast Hockey League franchises.

His broadcasting experience rivals his team experience with many network and independent productions in various sports, commercials and live-event television to his credit as a producer and director. He currently is the executive producer for Sportsflix TV, an independent production company specializing in live sports production.

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Mary Ellen Rogers

President

Mary Ellen Rogers joined A-League Sports, LLC as the company’s president in August 2022, As the owner/operator of four National Indoor Soccer League teams, Rogers will oversee operations and lead the front office teams and day-to-day work of the five clubs that A- League manages in NISL. The Memphis Americans, Columbus Rapids and Fayetteville Fury competed in the NISL’s inaugural season in 2022, with the Tampa Bay Strikers and Central Florida Crusaders joining for the 2023 campaign.

Rogers comes to A-League Sports from her most recent position as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Girl Scouts Heart of the South, a role she held for four of her nine years of service there. In addition, Rogers has led staff and volunteer teams for the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and three YMCAs in multiple states. The teams, under Rogers’ guidance, experienced rapid and consistent results in the areas of innovation, fiscal management, community involvement, programming, professional development, and customer engagement.

The Memphis, Tennessee native has held many roles in the sports world, primarily in Memphis and the Mid-South, working collegiate and professional events. Among the sports entities she has worked with include University of Memphis, University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), Rhodes College, University of Central Florida (UCF), American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA (C-USA), NCAA and local and international tournaments for Triple Crown Sports and Basketball Travelers. Her work in professional sports includes four years with the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA, their NBA G-League Team, the Memphis Hustle, and working for The Basketball Tournament (TBT).

Rogers earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Memphis, where she studied Sport and Leisure Management. She also holds two postgraduate degrees–a Master of Business Administration and Master of Sport Business Management from the University of Central Florida’s DeVos Program.

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Donald Bunney

Creative Director

Donald’s love for design started at 9 years old, designing uniforms and shoes for NBA teams. In high school, that progressed to doodling logos for pro wrestlers, bands, athletic teams, and the like. Cut to several years later, he pursued a degree in education and became a teacher.

Admittedly, he still got to play with colors and shapes, but he realized he needed to change course. In pursuit of his true passion, Donald went back to school to study design and started freelancing. That path quickly led to diving head-first into starting his own shop and becoming a full-service branding agency. He is now the Owner & Design Director of Egghead Creative.

Family is at the heart of everything he does and has helped him become the man he is today. By his side are his three amazing children and incredible wife. He’s kind of a nerd. And his head is also kind of shaped like an egg.

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Andrew Haines

Executive Board of Directors

Andrew Haines, a Sports Executive, Entrepreneur and marketing guru is currently president of HSE, a sports & entertainment marketing, and consulting company. For the past several years, HSE has worked with professional sports teams in soccer, arena football, baseball, as well as properties within the sports & entertainment industry. Andrew was also the VP of sales for the Fredericksburg Nationals baseball team until August 2020.

Andrew has served as General Manager, CEO, and Owner in the Major Arena Soccer League since 2012 until 2020. Most recently, Andrew was General Manager of the Orlando SeaWolves in the MASL. From 2015-2018, he owned and operated Central Florida Sports Ventures which owned Florida Tropics SC (indoor soccer), and Lakeland Tropics (outdoor soccer).

During 2012-2015, Andrew led STL Sports Ventures which owned and operated both the St. Louis Ambush (indoor soccer) and St. Louis Attack (arena football). Prior to 2012, Andrew has owned and operated several minor league sports teams, and leagues since 2001.

Outside of sport, Andrew has his Florida 2-20 Insurance License, along with Florida 2-14 Life Insurance License. In addition to insurance, Andrew is a licensed Real Estate Agent in Florida.

Andrew has always been committed to the community, having volunteers with dozens of non-profit organizations and at community events. He has also served on the board of Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement, Urban League, and the City-County Library Foundation.

With over 17 years of sales, marketing, and management experience within professional sports, Andrew had led some of the best front office staffs.

Awarded Top 50 in Business (St. Louis, MO), Best of the Best award from Street Scape Magazine in 2014.

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Michael Taylor

Executive Board of Directors

Michael Taylor's longevity in professional sports is matched only by his success. Most recently Michael was the owner of the Florida Tarpons arena football team from 2012-2020. For the last eight years, his Florida Tarpons have played in five league championship games, winning two, including titles in 2013 – and in 2015.

His history goes back all the way to the early 2000s, with the San Angelo Texas, an expansion team in 2004 in the Intense Football League which earned a playoff berth in their inaugural season. The year following, as President of the Richmond Bandits in the Atlantic Indoor Football League, the Bandits won that league's championship, going 11-1, in their expansion season.

Specializing in development of expansion franchises Taylor was VP of the Fairbanks Grizzlies in Alaska in 2008.

Born and currently living in the greater Tampa area, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Sports Coaching Degree from the United States Sports Academy, and graduated high school from Hollow Rock Bruceton Central High School in Tennessee.

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