EXECUTIVE BOARD
Atlanta Youth Rugby is led by a committed team of volunteers and paid professionals. Led by CEO Erik Saxon, the club has grown from 35 players to over 2200 since 2014.
As rugby grows even more in Atlanta with our new Community and Competitive programs, we are partnering with community leaders and our new pro rugby team to create lasting positive change for Atlanta's girls and boys.
Bio
Erik is a husband to Kim Saxon who is the News Director at WANF/ Atlanta News First.
He is father of four adult children - the youngest of whom is a rugby student—athlete at Life University and also a member of the USA Rugby Junior Pathway Teams.
Erik is a military veteran and lived for multiple years in Korea, Germany & Japan as well as being on assignment in more than a dozen other countries during his service.
Erik was one of the cofounders of the Charlotte Junior Rugby Association in 2009 and would soon after become the President and Managing Director of the organization. CJRA quickly became one of the largest youth rugby clubs in the USA. The Charlotte Tigers high school boys, Charlotte Tigress high school girls & Charlotte Tiger Cubs middle school boys at one time were all ranked number 1 in the US. The first and only time one club has had the top ranked teams in all three of these age & gender groups. Erik was head coach of the Tigers and managed the other two teams.
In addition to his role with CJRA, Erik also is an Eagle Impact Rugby Academy coach & scout and an Atlantis 7s coach & scout - standing up their very first U14 team in Summer 2019.
Erik was also the commissioner & organizer of Carolina Ruggerfest for 11 years of its 20 year history - guiding it to becoming the largest youth 15s tournament in the US.
Moving to the Atlanta area in 2022 as his wife took a promotion within her company necessitating a move from Charlotte, Erik took over as President & Head Coach of Alpharetta Phoenix Rugby Club. During the 2022/ 2023 season he helped forge a partnership with both AYR and with the City of Alpharetta making the club an official & sponsored partner sport there.
Erik is a past Competition Chair, Disciplinary Chair, Secretary, Vice President & President of the North Carolina Youth Rugby Union (the official USA Rugby governing body for NC).
Erik lives near Peachtree City in the southwest Atlanta Metro. He hopes to begin youth rugby programs in this area as he continues his duties with Alpharetta Phoenix and AYR overall.
Erik’s player legacy includes hundreds who went on to become college players, more than a dozen USA junior players & a few soon-to-be Eagles. His coaching tree (assistants who moved on) include several current college and high school coaches all over the US, and a handful in the UK.
Erik is a current USA Rugby Certified Coach (L200 legacy)
His hobbies are eating, hiking, road trips & being a huge Star Wars nerd.
Erik Saxon
President/CEO
Bio
Jill Mitchell currently serves as the
Program Manager for The Ascent
Project, Inc. (TAP) a nonprofit which
ensures that underserved communities
receive critical support to ensure
long-term stability and strength of their
families and communities.
Jill has been instrumental in helping to
developing the TAPs programs and
partnership to ensure underserved
children have the ability and access to
21st Century careers, as well as other
opportunities.
Outside of her professional world Jill
also works with the National Association
of Mental Illness (Auburn Avenue) to
bring education and awareness to
communities.
Jill Mitchell
Community Programs
Bio
Jan Sharrow is the owner of The
Design Lab, a design and advertising studio in Atlanta, Georgia. The Design Lab specializes in building brand
identities and unique brand
experiences for a wide variety of local and national clients. Jan became active with rugby when her daughter discovered a love for the sport in middle school, and since then Jan has jumped in to learning everything she can about the sport. She became a certified USA Rugby Level II coach and is active in recruiting players. Look for her on tournament sidelines snapping away shots as she strives to perfect her sports photography skills.
Jan Sharrow
Marketing
Bio
Chris Hoemeke is an industry 4.0 and IoT executive with international experience in 50 countries across several verticals including manufacturing, oil and gas, aerospace and smart spaces and agriculture; as well as rolling out Private 4G and Private 5G Network solutions.
Chris has been involved in rugby for over 30 years from playing to coaching to organizing, playing his first game in 1983 and my last game in 2016. He feels lucky to have played all over the country and attend games around the world, making lifelong friends along the way. Chris’ favorite memory was attending a Six Nations at Murrayfield with 45 players from a team in Glasgow. “I was welcomed as if I was on the team even though I was the only one not wearing a kilt!"
Chris Hoemeke
Outreach & Fundraising
Bio
Steve Anderson is a business lawyer whose primary focus is on resolving
business disputes. A former lacrosse
player, he was captain of his college
team and was honored as a member of
USILA and conference All-Star teams.
He continues to be active in youth
sports. He is married and has two sons.
Stephen Anderson
Board Chair
Bio
Tony Broughton is an Award winning sales and sales-management star – special expertise in software and technical services – with 17 years of highly successful sales experience.
Bio
Tony holds a degree in Industrial Engineering. Tony is a certified USA Wrestling Coach and longtime youth sports coach and mentor in Decatur. Tony has 3 sons his oldest played International Soccer and his 2nd son Justin played for AYR and the Bermuda National Rugby Team, his 3rd son Jason is currently a an AYR player and BDA Team talent pool for U-16.
Tony Broughton
Outreach
Bio
Mike Doyle is an entertainment software executive with a history in international project management. He has held senior roles at organizations including Twentieth Century Fox, Electronic Arts, Discovery Networks and THQ.
Mike was an avid rugby player in his youth and is currently an active practitioner of both Muay Thai and Brazlian Jiu Jitsu. Notably, Mike is excited at the prospect of elevating the core values of rugby (work ethic, discipline, integrity and courage) and giving back to the community by helping to instill those values in a new generation of players.
He lives in Atlanta with his wife and daughter.
Mike Doyle
Operations
Bio
As a parent, coach and AYR leader since 2014, ‘Anton’ and his team have grown AYR from a single neighborhood with 35 kids to over 3000 kids served in every corner of Atlanta. President of AYR and former president of Rugby Georgia, Anton is USA Rugby 200-level certified. He is also a long-time youth soccer and baseball coach and Boy Scouts of America leader.
Anton has also served as COO of TechBridge, America’s leading technology consulting firm for nonprofits, and is on the Board of National Collegiate Rugby.
Both F-R parents are former players, and their two boys have been active in AYR and USA South Panthers.
The Forbes-Roberts family loves the confidence and athleticism rugby instills.
Anthony Forbes - Roberts
Board Co-Chair
Bio
Courtney Stombock serves as associate dean of advancement and alumni engagement at Emory School of Law. She previously served as senior associate director for major gifts at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. During this time, she
also received an MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School.
Courtney began her career at her alma mater, Mississippi State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. She later held leadership roles in advancement at Florida State University College of Education, the FSU Foundation, and Southern Scholarship Foundation.
Courtney and her husband, Brad Stombock, have two sons who joined Atlanta Youth Rugby when they moved to Atlanta for the four years ago.
Courtney Stombock
Fundraising
Bio
On October 26, 2016 Life University President Dr. Rob Scott appointed Jayme Pendergast as the new Director of Athletics. During her time at Life U, the Athletic Department has seen tremendous growth, including the addition of fourteen new varsity teams, growing the department to over 600 student-athletes, the largest athletic program in metro-Atlanta. Under her leadership, Life University athletics has pursued a vision of being a leading institution in performance and meaningful student-athlete experience.
From a performance perspective, Pendergast is credited with making many pivotal coaching hires, many which have built their programs up to national prominence. In 2021-2022 alone, Life University student-athletes earned ten individual national championships, two team national championships, and 51 All-American honors. Nine teams earned a final NAIA national ranking inside the top 15, leading to Life U’s highest ever finish (13th) in the prestigious NACDA Director’s Cup – an award that captures the best athletic departments in the country based off of collective departmental success. Academically, Life University student-athletes have demonstrated their highest collective academic achievements under Pendergast’s leadership, growing department GPA and earning an increased number of student-athlete and team academic recognition awards year over year, including 92 national scholar-athlete awards in 2021-2022.
From a student-athlete experience standpoint, Life U continues to find creative ways to create a meaningful student-athlete experience. Their More Than An Athlete (MTAA) program is about student-facing areas associated with physical, mental, and nutritional health and wellness as well as campus engagement. MTAA addresses the most commonly stated needs and interests of student-athletes. One specific initiative started in 2021 is the Fuel Station, a resource to provide student-athletes not only with free, healthy food for their energy and performance needs, but also incorporates an important educational component that will serve the student-athletes after their time as an athlete.
Prior to arriving in Marietta, Pendergast spent several years at Elon University in Elon, N.C. She began her time there as an Academic Coordinator for Athletics in 2008, and was promoted to Assistant Director of Academic Support for Athletics in 2011. Pendergast began her career in college athletics as an undergraduate student at Miami University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise science and worked with the women’s basketball program for four years. Pendergast also holds a master’s degree in sport psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Pendergast is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), NAIA Athletic Directors Association, and Women Leaders in College Sports. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for National Collegiate Rugby, the largest organization supporting collegiate rugby. She is also a member of the Marietta Business Association, the Cobb Sports Alliance Steering Committee, and a member at Piedmont Church.
Pendergast and her husband Tripp reside in Marietta, Ga. with their son, Brooks, and daughter, Logan.
Jayme Pendergast
Life U/ Strategy