The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders today announced the addition of local partners to its ownership group.
The current owners, Rob and Nikki Zerjav, have expanded the team’s ownership group with the addition of current Dock Spiders General Manager Jim Misudek and inaugural Dock Spiders General Manager Ryan Moede.
Prior to the spring of 2025, the Dock Spiders shared an ownership group with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the High-A Affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. In April 2025, the Timber Rattlers were purchased by a group that currently owns 48 Minor League Baseball teams across the country. The Dock Spiders were not part of that sale and Rob Zerjav, a member of the previous Timber Rattlers/Dock Spiders ownership group and the Timber Rattlers current president, along with his wife Nikki Zerjav, purchased and took full control of the Dock Spiders organization at that time.
Rob Zerjav will continue in his day-to-day role of running the Timber Rattlers organization as well as his role as president/principal owner of the Dock Spiders while Jim Misudek will continue in his role of running the day-to-day operations of the Dock Spiders.
Misudek will mark his 20th season in baseball in 2026, including his fifth as general manager of the Dock Spiders. A Fond du Lac native and graduate of Fond du Lac High School, he graduated from UW-Fond du Lac and UW-La Crosse before beginning his baseball career as an intern with the Timber Rattlers. Misudek then spent 14 years with Major League Baseball organizations, most recently, as the senior manager, baseball communications with the Baltimore Orioles for six seasons. Prior to joining the Orioles front office, Misudek spent five seasons in a similar role with the Atlanta Braves as media relations coordinator, one year as an intern with the Cincinnati Reds media relations department, and two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. In 2007, he served as an intern in the Brewers media relations department and 2008 was spent as a sales representative while assisting with media relations duties. He also assisted Major League Baseball and the Brewers media relations department with their 2008 postseason appearance. Misudek was selected to provide media relations support for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019, the 2013 World Baseball Classic, the National League Championship Series in 2012, 2013, and 2014, the American League Championship Series in 2015 and 2018, and the American League Division Series in 2019.
Misudek is a member of Fond du Lac Noon Rotary, serves on the Board of Directors for Destination Lake Winnebago Region, is an ambassador for Envision Greater Fond du Lac, serves on the Advisory Park Board for the city of Fond du Lac, and was named a 2023 Future 5 recipient by Envision Greater Fond du Lac.
Moede will enter his 18th season in baseball in 2026, including his seventh season with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers as Vice President of Business Operations. He served as general manager of the Dock Spiders for the club’s first three seasons from 2017-19 including being named the Northwoods League Executive of the Year in 2018. Since rejoining the Timber Rattlers staff in 2020, Moede has continued to provide guidance and support for the Dock Spiders. Prior to his time in Fond du Lac, he had worked as the director of tickets with the Timber Rattlers from 2010-16. Before joining the Timber Rattlers, Moede worked for the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics as a ticket sales representative. He previously interned with the Milwaukee Brewers in their corporate marketing department. Moede is a native of Algoma and graduated from UW-Parkside with a degree in sport management.
A native of Green Bay, Zerjav received a marketing degree from UW-Whitewater and began his career with the Timber Rattlers as an unpaid intern. He spent two years in ticket sales and three years in baseball operations for the Timber Rattlers before being promoted to Team President and General Manager in the fall of 2002. Zerjav is a five-time baseball Executive of the Year as he was named the Midwest League Executive of the Year in 2007, 2012, and 2018, was named the 2023 Baseball America Minor League Baseball Executive of the Year and was, most recently, named the 2025 Minor League Baseball High-A Executive of the Year. Under Zerjav’s leadership, the Timber Rattlers organization has also been recognized numerous times including being named the 2012 Fox Valley Small Business of the Year, the 2012 Minor League Baseball team of the year, the Midwest League team of the year in 2005, 2012, 2018 and 2019 and Baseball America’s Single A team of the year in 2022.
Zerjav was instrumental in bringing a Northwoods League baseball team to Fond du Lac and has served as the Dock Spiders Team President since 2017. The team was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the Marian
University Business and Industry Awards in 2017 and captured their first league title the next season in 2018 while repeating as league champion in 2020.
Nikki Zerjav, a native of Hortonville, Wisconsin, had a 10-year career with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers from 1999 to 2009. She began as Retail Manager and rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Communications. In 2004, she was named the Midwest League Female Executive of the Year and earned the Seattle Mariners’ “John Ellis Award” for outstanding community service three years in a row (2005, 2006, 2007). Widely known in the community as “Promo Nikki,” she served as the in-game host for Timber Rattlers games and was voted the “Fans Choice Bobblehead” in 2006. Most recently, she was named director of marketing for the Dock Spiders.
