Swampscott's Maggie Barden Named Navigators' VP Of Operations

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Swampscott native Maggie Barden, the youngest general manager in all of summer collegiate baseball when she was named to the position in 2022, is the new Vice President of Operations for the North Shore Navigators of the Eastern Collegiate Baseball League.

Barden's promotion was one of three the Lynn-based franchise announced on Wednesday along with Lynn native Ed Power Jr. as Assistant General Manager and Marblehead High alumnus Ben Gillis as the new position of Director of Baseball Operations this coming summer.

Barden joined the Navigators as the Director of Interns in 2020 and was named Assistant General Manager that summer. She was promoted to General Manager of Game Day Operations in 2021 and General Manager in 2022 as only the third female GM in NECBL history.

She is a Springfield College alumna and recently completed her Master's Degree in higher education with a Graduate Certificate in Sports Administration at Providence College. She was a graduate assistant in Student-Athlete Mental Health and Wellness with the Friars and is now in her first year as a Student-Athlete Academic Advisor at Bryant Univesity for women's basketball, men's lacrosse, men's and women's cross country and track and field, women's soccer and women's golf.

Barden is also a member of the five-time defending division champion Boston Renegades women's tackle football team of the Women's Football Alliance.

Power joined the Navigators as an operations intern in 2020 and became Director of Interns for the 2023 season.

A graduate of St. Mary's High School, he is a sophomore at Regis College pursuing a degree in sports management with a minor in Communications. He is also a member of the track and field team at Regis.

"It's a pleasure to announce these promotions," Navigators President Derek January said. "Maggie and Ed have been with us since the beginning and have taken the reins on a lot of the day-to-day operations during the season.

Ben joined us last year and immediately proved he is a future star in the baseball world."

Gillis joined the Navigators in 2023 as a data/analytics intern assisting the coaching staff and the NECBL. The Endicott College sophomore is a business management major with a minor in analytics and a 2022 graduate of Marblehead High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society and played varsity baseball.

"Our talent isn't just on the field. Being able to promote from within shows highlights our ability to develop talent," January said. "We have an incredible internship program where our interns are gaining massive amounts of usable experience in the sports world.

"For us, it's as fun to watch their careers blossom as much as it is to follow the players in their journey to the big leagues."

The Navigators open their season at home on June 4 for their 17th year at Lynn's Fraser Field.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)