Troy Vollhoffer

Troy Francis Vollhoffer (born February 9, 1966 in Regina, Saskatchewan) is a former professional ice hockey player[1] and current entrepreneur who owns Premier Global Production,[2] an internationally successful stage and lighting company. Vollhoffer is also the executive producer of Academy of Country Music Festival of the year winner for 2015, Country Thunder East in Wisconsin,[3] Country Thunder West in Arizona, Country Thunder Alberta, and the Craven Country Jamboree.[4]

Early Years

Hockey

1982-83 season: Troy is named captain of the Midget AA Pat Canadiens, the midget affiliate team for the Regina Pats. He leads his team to a provincial championship and then a national championship, the Air Canada Cup. He is also "called up" to play 2 games with the Regina Pats.

1983-84 season: Troy is traded to the Winnipeg Warriors of the WHL at the beginning of the season. In his rookie season, Troy scored 59 points while amassing 92 minutes in penalties in 66 games with the Warriors.

1984-85 season: Traded to the New Westminster Bruins, then the Saskatoon Blades.

1985-86 season: Saskatoon Blades: Playing all 72 games that season, Troy scores 55 goals and has 55 assists for 110 points. He also amassed 118 minutes in penalties.[5]

Professional hockey years

1985-87 season: After signing a contract with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins which consisted of 3 years, plus an option, Troy plays for the team’s AHL farm team, the Baltimore Skipjacks, scoring 11 goals in 67 games.

1987-88 season: Troy starts the year for the AHL’s New Haven Nighthawks, then moves on to the Muskegon Lumberjacks[6] of the IHL.

1988-89 season: Troy begins the year with Muskegon, then moves on to the IHL’s Flint Spirits, where in 63 games he gets 186 penalty minutes.

1989-90 season: Troy signs a two year contract with the Montreal Canadiens and moves on to the ECHL to play for the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds, and scores 26 goals in 46 games.

1990-91 season: Troy plays for the Thunderbirds once again, scoring 37 goals in 64 games. Troy also picks up 42 assists and 112 minutes in penalties. He is also reunited for one more year with Keith Gretzky.[7]

1991-92 season: Troy plays for the ECHL’s Nashville Knights. After six games, he decides to retire from professional hockey, to return home to Regina to run his family’s production company, a company that would one day become Premier Global Production.[8]

Premier Global Production

While other hockey players would spend their summers at the gym and golf course, Troy would return home to Canada to help his father with the family business. Created in the late 1970s, Troy Enterprises was a spotlight company, and included one truck and four spotlights. The main purpose of the company was to provide spotlights to arenas in Saskatchewan and Manitoba for rock and country concerts.

Troy shared his father’s ability to dream the big picture, but his mom who taught him to never lose sight of the details such as the value of budgets, investments in equipment and employees and long-term planning in general.

By the early 1990s, the company had grown to include lighting rigs, more spotlights and employees (some of whom remain with Premier Global today.) In the mid-1990s, with hockey behind him, Troy returned to Nashville, to further expand the business. With offices still in Regina, Troy worked the network in America's Music City with great success. Combining his father's passion for show business, his mother's business discipline, and his own competitive spirit, Troy grew the company - now dubbed Premier Global Production to illustrate its far- reaching scope - into the multimillion-dollar enterprise it is today, with clients that include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rush, Metallica, the Scorpions, Josh Groan, Tim McGraw, and others, not to mention several of North America's largest music festivals.

Music Festivals

In 2005, Troy revived the failing Rock n' the Valley music festival in Craven, Saskatchewan, Canada, calling the new country music festival the Craven Country Jamboree. In its many years, the Craven Country Jamboree has hosted acts like Keith Urban, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Big and Rich, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, and many more.

In 2007, Troy added the Country Thunder music festivals to his acquisitions. Both Country Thunder West in Florence Arizona, and Country Thunder East in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, have become great successes, attracting over 100,000 people over four days per show. In 2014, Country Thunder East was awarded the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) Festival of the Year. In 2015, Country Thunder East was awarded the Academy of Country Music Festival of the Year.

In 2015 the first Country Thunder in Canada, Country Thunder Alberta was announced, and took place in August 2016 in Calgary AB at Prairie Winds Park. The festival's inaugural year proved to be a massive success by selling out completely.[9]

References

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