John Acres is the inventor of the first player tracking system, as well as progressives and bonusing games that pretty much define today’s gaming experience. At Acres 4.0, he’s the founder and visionary—sort of the disruptor in chief. It’s his job to challenge the common assumptions of team members and clients alike, which results in shared vision, shared progress, and—most importantly—shared success.
Dr. Stowe Shoemaker (Ph.D., Cornell University) is the Dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality and a Lincy Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with extensive background in pricing, revenue management, consumer behavior, and customer loyalty programs. He has worked with British Airways on their pricing strategy and trained all their revenue managers. He also worked with Accor, Hilton, Landry’s, and Hyatt on their loyalty programs.
During his career, Dr. Shoemaker has helped game developers test market new casino games (both slot machines and table games), developed programs to measure customer satisfaction, modeled the success and failure of marketing promotions, and developed segmentation strategies based on motivations for gambling.
Dr. Shoemaker’s research has won numerous awards, and he has published two marketing textbooks: Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism: Strategies and Tactics for a Competitive Advantage and Marketing Essentials in Hospitality and Tourism: Foundations and Practices.
Since 1996 Dr. Shoemaker has been on the executive education faculty of Cornell University where he has taught courses in strategic pricing, revenue management, strategic marketing for hotels and restaurants, and customer loyalty.
Dr. Shoemaker has incorporated his knowledge of hospitality to help healthcare professionals work on patient satisfaction. He held a joint appointment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and is currently working with them on other research. Locally, he is working with UNLV Medical School.
Tom Soukup is responsible for the development of all components of the comprehensive SYNKROS casino management system. He oversees Konami’s systems product vision to provide accurate, robust, real-time casino enterprise management to properties of all specialties and sizes. Soukup joined Konami Gaming, Inc. in 2001 with more than 20 years’ experience in the field of computer science including a position as a senior systems engineer in advanced technology. He is also the author of the book Visual Data Mining: Tools and Techniques for Data Visualization and Mining. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science and holds a master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.
Victor Salerno is a 38-year veteran of the race and sports book industry in the state of Nevada. Salerno was the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of American Wagering, Inc., until the company was sold to William Hill in July 2012. American Wagering, Inc. operated over 90 sports book operations in Nevada, in addition to Computerized Bookmaking Systems, which provided a computerized wagering and accounting systems to most of the casinos in Nevada. Upon the sale of American Wagering, Salerno became chairman of the board of William Hill US until February 2016.
Salerno currently serves as president of USBookmaking and USFantasySports. Launched in June of 2016, USFantasy Sports is a provider of state regulated Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests in Nevada and Colorado. USFantasy Sports is a skill-based daily fantasy wagering platform that combines elements of the traditional regulated pari-mutuel system with traditional DFS contests, which creates a fair, easy and transparent environment for all contestants. Just like in DFS, players score points based on their performance in a live game and participants can enter contests for athletes to Win, Place or Show among other multi-selection contests. USBookmaking is a sports book operator with an agreement in New Mexico to operate a sports book for the Santa Ana Pueblo.
Salerno is a legend in the race and sports book industry and is credited with initiating projects that grew Nevada sports wagering to its current success and popularity, including: first computerized book making systems (CBS), first sports bookmaking network hub operation in Nevada (Leroy’s), and recently expanded the sports wagering business with the launch of the very successful Leroy’s mobile sports wagering app. He also pioneered the development and use of self-service race & sports kiosks. On behalf of Nevada gaming industry trade associations, Salerno served as president of the Nevada Association of Race and Sports Operators, and as a member of the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association’s Rates Committee. Mr. Salerno was inducted in 2015 into the American Gaming Association’s exclusive “Gaming Hall of Fame.”
Robert Rippee is the Director of the newly formed Hospitality Lab at the International Gaming Institute.
Rippee is a technology and hospitality consultant with Elysian LLC. He is the former senior vice president of marketing for Las Vegas Sands Corporation. He brings more than 25 years of innovation experience in hospitality along with a powerful network of advisors and mentors across venture capital, big tech, big hospitality, and gaming. He serves as a board advisor and consultant to several early stage technology startup companies. Rippee has provided CXO consulting and mentoring to both startups and growth stage enterprises as well as consulting services on innovative thinking and product development to mature brands.
Rippee holds an MBA in Operations Management from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and an undergraduate degree in Finance from The University of Wyoming. Throughout his business career, he has received several prestigious industry awards and he’s been tapped as a thought leader and asked to lecture at organizations as diverse at the Luxury Marketing Council in Manhattan to The Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.
He is a Veteran, serving as a Pilot in the United States Navy.
Oliver Lovat is a founder and current Managing Director of Denstone REA. By training he is Chartered Surveyor (FRICS Property Finance and Investment) with demonstrable track record in real estate investment and asset management across Europe.
Lovat is visiting faculty and lecturer on Strategic Marketing at Cass Business School, City University of London, Property Performance Measurement and Asset Management at the University College of Estate Management and The PLuS+ Centre for Executive Education at the UNLV.
He has spoken at conferences including G2E, ICE, GiGSe and has featured in publications as diverse as Gambling Insider, The Investment Property Forum Journal and Global Gaming Business.
Lovat holds a BA in politics and international relations, an MSc in real estate investment from the University of Reading and an MBA from Cass Business School in London with a focus on strategy and finance. His published academic work is on strategic competitive advantage and the behavior and attitudes of millennials.
Having spent 15 years in London, Lovat moved to Las Vegas in 2015. He is active in his community and acts as a vice president of the Economic Club of Las Vegas.
Rob Jacks joined Agilysys in 2015 as Vice President of Professional Services, and was promoted to Chief Information Officer in 2018.
As a senior IT executive, Jacks has 25+ years experience in healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, software development, retail, telecommunication, gaming, and distribution and consulting sectors. He serves as a part of casino and gambling executives organizations including, Tribal Net Board, University of Oklahoma CMISS, IBM Business Analytics Advisory Board, the International Association of Gaming Advisors and The Gaming and Leisure Board.
Jacks is the recipient of multiple awards for his contributions including: The Premier 100 Information Technology Leader 2009 – Computer World Magazine; the 2011, 2012, & 2013 IBM Business Champion – Business Analytics; and the 2011 Ventana Research Leadership Award.
He holds a BBA in Accounting from the University of Montevallo as well as an MBA from Samford University.
Bob Boughner brings 30 years of industry experience to his current roles as senior partner of Global Market Advisors (GMA), one of the world’s leading consulting firms serving the casino gaming, hospitality and airline industries. Prior to joining GMA, Boughner served as executive vice president and chief business development officer of Boyd Gaming Corporation. While at Boyd, he served in a variety of senior executive positions, including general manager of various properties, senior vice president of administration, and chief operating officer. In July 1996, he was elected to the company’s board of directors and remains on the board today.
In 1998, Boughner was appointed chief executive officer of Borgata where he directed the design, development and operations of the $1.6 billion integrated resort in Atlantic City. The Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa and The Water Club at Borgata became one of the most successful gaming destinations in North America.
Boughner led much of Boyd’s expansion into new markets and played key roles in the acquisition of several gaming properties across the United States. He has overseen the design and development of numerous gaming, dining, nightlife and entertainment venues. Boughner also has extensive experience in various administrative disciplines including information technologies, human resources, risk management and regulatory compliance.
Boughner is active in civic and industry affairs. He served two terms on the board of directors of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. He was appointed by the governor of New Jersey and served on the board of the Casino Reinvestment and Development Authority. In the private sector, Boughner served for 20 years as a director of Bank of Nevada, formerly BankWest. He currently serves on the board of Southwest Gas Corporation.
In 2007, as a part of Boughner’s philanthropic activity, he and the Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) established the Bob Boughner Career Services Center at UNLV to assist students in the pursuit of employment in the hospitality, tourism, and gaming industry.
Dr. Brian Wyman, Principal Consultant at Innovation Analytics, is an analytics and data science executive with over a decade of experience transforming data into actionable intelligence, insights, and ultimately bottom-line results. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan and specializes in advanced modeling and predictive methods, which he uses to develop creative and innovative ways to improve financial performance. Brian’s career has spanned industries ranging from hospitality to finance, most recently overseeing marketing and gaming analytics for Pinnacle Entertainment.
