Kate Whitman Annis (born ) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

executive, currently serving as executive director of the Devils Youth Foundation, the youth outreach arm of the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

. She previously served as executive of operations for W Hockey Partners, the organization that oversees the league-owned teams in the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

(PHF).

Career in ice hockey

Whitman Annis was a

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

until age 12, at which point her father convinced her to give ice hockey a try. She attended

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...

, a boarding school in

Deerfield, Massachusetts Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Settled near the Connecticut River in the 17th century during the colonial era, the population was 5,090 as of the 2020 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massachus ...

, for

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and played on the school's ice hockey team. From 1995 to 1999, she played as a

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

for the

Wesleyan Cardinals Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a men's college under the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown. ...

women's ice hockey program. Across 94

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

games, she scored 42

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

. While living abroad in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

from 2012 to 2015, she played ice hockey with the Jayhawks Leuven, a Flemish recreational team in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, Belgium. She has served as head coach of the girls' varsity ice hockey team at

Pingry School The Pingry School is a coeducational, independent, college preparatory country day school in New Jersey, with a Lower School (K–5) campus in the Short Hills neighborhood of Millburn, a Middle (6–8) and Upper School (9–12) campus in ...

since 2015.

Premier Hockey Federation

During the

2018–19 NWHL season The 2018–19 NWHL season is the fourth season of the National Women's Hockey League. All four teams from the previous three seasons returned: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, and the Metropolitan Riveters while the Minnesota ...

, Whitman Annis served as an assistant coach for the Metropolitan Riveters in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). In April 2019, she was named Riveters general manager, the fifth female general manager in PHF history and the first woman to be named to the position after the league spent two years without any team having official general manager. After the team improved its position to third in the league in the 2019–20 season, she received praise for her role in the team's rebuild. As the PHF did not hold a draft in 2019, the 2020 Draft was Whitman Annis' first at the helm of the Riveters. With the fourth overall pick, she selected defenceman

Saroya Tinker Saroya Tinker (born February 17, 1998) is a Canadian retired ice hockey Defenceman, defenseman. She last played for the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), with whom she won the 2023 Isobel Cup championship. Playing career Tinker ...

. Other players selected by Whitman Annis at the draft included Delaney Belinskas at tenth, Tera Hofmann at sixteenth, and Bridgette Prentiss at twenty-first. In 2021, she was named the replacement for league founder

Dani Rylan Dani Rylan Kearney (born August 5, 1987) is an American entrepreneur and former ice hockey player. She is the founder and former commissioner of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the first professional women's hockey league in the United ...

as the director of operations for W Hockey Partners, the organization that oversees the league-owned teams in the PHF: the

Buffalo Beauts The Buffalo Beauts were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, at the Northtown Center. The Beauts were established in 2015 as one of the four founding f ...

, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and

Minnesota Whitecaps The Minnesota Whitecaps were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, at the Richfield Ice Arena. Established in 2004, the ...

. Anya Packer was named as her replacement as general manager of the Riveters.

Personal life

Whitman Annis is the daughter of former

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush ...

. She was raised in

Far Hills, New Jersey Far Hills is a borough in the Somerset Hills of northern Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 924, an increase of 5 (+0.5%) from the 2010 census count of 919, whic ...

, and later relocated with her family to the Oldwick community of Tewksbury Township. Whitman Annis holds a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in political science from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (abbreviated as SBS-EM and also known as simply Solvay) is a school of economics and management, and a Faculty of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking private rese ...

of the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

. In 2008, she unsuccessfully ran as a Republican for Mike Ferguson's vacated seat in the

US House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. She ran for one of the two seats on the Peapack-Gladstone borough council in 2009, but finished with 30% of the vote in the three-way race, losing by 55 and 59 votes respectively. Whitman married Craig Annis, a lobbyist, at a 2003 ceremony in

Bedminster, New Jersey Bedminster is a Township (New Jersey), township in Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 8,272, an increase of 107 (+1.3%) from the 201 ...

. They have four sons, twins born in 2005 and two younger boys, all of whom play ice hockey.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitman Annis, Kate 1977 births Living people American women's ice hockey defensemen Deerfield Academy alumni Ice hockey coaches from New Jersey Ice hockey players from New Jersey Ice hockey people from New Jersey Metropolitan Riveters People from Far Hills, New Jersey People from Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey People from Tewksbury Township, New Jersey Université libre de Bruxelles alumni Wesleyan Cardinals athletes Wesleyan University alumni Women ice hockey executives 21st-century American women