Joe Pappano is Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Worldpay Gaming. His responsibilities include corporate business development, strategic sales, process improvement, administration, long-term vision, and overall direction for Worldpay Gaming.
Joe joined Vantiv in 1992 and possesses in-depth knowledge of all facets of the payments industry from merchant acquiring and card issuing, to agent banks and mobile payments. His primary focus is on helping Casino, iGaming, Lottery, ADW, and Social Gaming operators build strategic payments programs.
Michael McNamee is president of Bay Group Consulting. McNamee has held executive marketing roles with Caesars World, Ameristar Casinos, Sun International and American Gaming. With over 34 years of experience in the gaming industry, McNamee has a reputation for repeatedly creating improved profits for underperforming properties and programs. He has built and developed great casino marketing teams through his career. McNamee’s vast experience has led to operational innovations and breakthrough programs in marketing such as the centralized, brand wide player development program at Ameristar Casinos (referenced as a new standard for measurement in the industry).
McNamee has consulted in numerous gaming jurisdictions throughout the United States as well as international ventures in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and South America. He earned his MBA from Temple University and is a Certified Professional Life Coach. McNamee is the author of the popular casino industry book, Understanding Casino Marketing, which has been endorsed both nationally and internationally by universities and marketing professionals alike.
Charles Lombardo is a former senior vice president of gaming operations at Seminole Gaming, Florida, and senior vice president of slot operations for Caesars Palace, Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas.
Lombardo is presently a gaming consultant and a special gaming advisor to Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International. Primary responsibilities for Seminole and Hard Rock may include all aspects of new property openings, expansion projects for existing casinos, game development, analytics, regulations and compliance.
As a gaming consultant, he has provided operational guidance and control on all aspects of casino and slot operations, including changes to new and present casinos, expansions, floor layouts, product selections, analytics, marketing, regulations and new opportunities. Lombardo has assisted casinos as a consultant in several gaming jurisdictions on new casino construction, expansions, remodels and renovations including the final selections of all slots and gaming products. He is knowledgeable in Class II and Class lll Gaming. He has over 40 years of experience in the casino gaming industry.
Mark Lipparelli is a former member of the Nevada State Senate and the founder and CEO of Gioco Ventures, LLC, a gaming software company established in 2007.
Lipparelli has a long history in the gaming industry, having served as Chairman and Board Member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. He served as an Executive Vice President of Planning and Strategy of Bally Technologies, Inc. He served as a senior executive for several publicly traded gaming manufacturers including Bally Technologies, Shuffle Master and Casino Data Systems.
Lipparelliis is a Member of the Board of Directors for Golden Entertainment Inc., and has served as a Board Trustee for the University of Nevada Foundation as well as Board Member and Vice Chairman for Gaming Standards Association.
Lipparelli served as Republican Senator for the state of Nevada from 2014 to 2016.
Gregory Lisa is a partner at Hogan Lovells US, LLP, a global law firm. He uses his extensive firsthand experience in anti-money laundering and consumer protection to help financial institution clients navigate the complex regulations and expectations of regulators, examination teams, and law enforcement agencies, civil and criminal. He specializes in anti-money laundering, particularly in the casino and FinTech space.
Before joining Hogan Lovells, Lisa was the Interim Director of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Treasury Department’s lead regulator for overseeing and enforcing anti-money laundering laws. Lisa also served as the Chief of the Money Services Businesses and Casinos Section within FinCEN’s Enforcement Division. During his tenure, he supervised and conducted a number of investigations, supervisory exams, and enforcement actions across FinCEN’s broad jurisdiction.
Prior to his work at FinCEN, Lisa helped to “stand up” the Office of Enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Before then, he served at the U.S. Department of Justice for 12 years, first in the Civil Division, and then for almost 10 years in the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section as a federal prosecutor investigating and prosecuting organized crime, public corruption, violent crime, and money laundering.
Lisa is an Advisory Committee Member of the Institute for Certified Gaming Industry Professionals (ICGIP). He is the author of several gaming-related publications, and a frequent speaker and panelist at casino conferences, including the Casino Essentials Annual Las Vegas Anti-Money Laundering Conference; the Global Gaming Expo (G2E); the Niagara Falls AML Seminar and Workshop; the 2018 Tribal Casino BSA/AML Working Group; the American Gaming Association’s Anti-Money Laundering Summit; and other gaming-related events, seminars, and conferences.
Based in Las Vegas, Lana Kotur is the senior director of customer success for VizExplorer, an industry leader offering Operational Intelligence solutions to the casino, sports, and entertainment industries.
Kotur leads a team of industry specialists encompassing all aspects of VizExplorer’s Customer Success program from the sales cycle through the successful completion of all engagement objectives. Prior to joining VizExplorer Kotur’s more than 17 years of progressive leadership experience in the casino industry spans all aspects of casino operations including hotel, casino marketing, and training departments, for Caesars Entertainment. It is there where she developed her interest and expertise in marketing and player development analytics. Kotur received her MSA from Lindenwood University.
Christopher Justice is a veteran leader in the world’s payment and commerce industry. He recently joined Global Payments to lead the company’s Gaming Solutions division, and his 25-plus-year career spans executive leadership roles at organizations such as CenPOS, Century Payments, Ingenico, Merchant Link and First Data.
Marilyn Janssen is the VP of marketing operations for Caesars Entertainment where she works on bringing innovative marketing technology to life. Janssen knows that data insights coupled with real time marketing is key to changing customer behavior. She was the project manager for the first real time customer relationship marketing system for Caesars which sparked her passion for technology innovation. She has gained a vast amount of knowledge across the gaming industry having worked in finance, revenue management, information technology and marketing for Caesars. Marilyn holds a degree in economics from the University of Chicago.
Nick Ippolito has 25-plus years of extensive experience in the gaming industry. He has a proven record of leading, developing and coaching casino employees. Ippolito has extensive knowledge and experience in casino player development, casino marketing, casino sales, player development, slot marketing, national casino marketing and branch office management.
From his roots in Atlantic City to the vast experience on the Las Vegas Strip, leading up to the last five years, Ippolito has spent countless hours teaching player development in diverse outer markets and local properties all over North America and internationally.
Ippolito formulates, designs and executes his uniquely branded curriculum (one-on-one training and seminars) in telemarketing casino guests and player development. The telemarketing curriculum is not only formulated and designed specifically for calling casino guests, but it’s also completely casino-host friendly.
Alex Igelman is the executive chairman and founder of Millennial Esports Corporation. He is a seasoned gaming attorney and strategist with a focus on Esports and gaming.
