Season: 2019

Rino Armeni is CEO of Armeni Enterprises. He is Founder & Chairman of the Board of Las Vegas Business Academy, which provides financial aide for graduate students and personal mentoring from Board Members who are casino industry leaders.

Armeni has worked for 28 years in the hotel and casino business, including for such prestigious brands as Hilton, Intercontinantal Hotels, Holiday Inn of Canada, Marriott, Disney and Caesars Palace.

Armeni worked for 12 years for Southern Wine Spirits, the largest wholesaler of beverage in the U.S., and as a consultant for MGM MIRAGE and various international companies.

Among his many accomplishments, Armeni was owner of an Italian restaurant voted top 5 in 2009 in Las Vegas, Founder Food & Beverage Director Association 1991, Founder Epicurean Charitable Foundation 2000 and Executive Search Recruiter for the last two years.

Peter Arceo is General Manager of San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. As General Manager, Arceo is responsible for directing all activity—enhancing the overall experience for team members and guests of San Manuel Casino, one of Southern California’s top entertainment destinations.

Arceo joined San Manuel Casino as Chief Marketing Officer in August 2015 and was elevated to Chief Operating Officer in August 2018. During his tenure, he helped establish the vision and foundation of the Casino’s expansion project, launched its player development program, and made providing a best-in-class experience for Casino guests and employees a top priority. As Chief Marketing Officer, Arceo established a database marketing department and propelled the ‘All Thrill’ advertising campaign to success.

Annette Aguirre is currently the National Director of the Gaming Segment for Design Collective by Cintas. She spent 20+ years in the gaming industry as a Human Resources Executive in both commercial and tribal gaming companies across the country.

Annette began her career in Las Vegas at Bally’s and was among the opening team for Paris Las Vegas. She has held various executive roles at Boyd Gaming, Penn Gaming and most recently at Morongo Casino Resort as the Chief HR Officer.

After a successful career in HR, she decided to pursue a career in Sales & Operations, but couldn’t get far from the industry she loved… Gaming. Annette now works with her National team to ensure casino employees are outfitted in apparel that fits, is functional and of course fashionable!

Nehme E. Abouzeid is the founder and president of LaunchVegas. As a turnkey business consultancy, the firm helps brands launch and scale in tourism-centered destination markets.

Created in 2017, LaunchVegas is informed by Abouzeid’s nearly two decades of experience launching billion-dollar integrated resorts, media enterprises, and pro sports teams. It provides key business services all under one roof—removing the need for separate consultants or in-house personnel covering marketing & advertising, PR, digital, analytics, content marketing, partnership development, and project management.

Most recently, Abouzeid was the first-ever chief marketing officer for the NHL’s landmark 31st franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights. In this post, he led the critical rollout of the brand, live events, fan and community development, retail, analytics, digital strategy, content marketing, and advertising, among other duties. He was also a main spokesperson for the team on business matters, having been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, Sports Business Journal, and on various TV and radio outlets.

He spent the previous 13 years in global gaming as it grew into a $180 billion industry with the expansion of Las Vegas-style casino resorts worldwide. During tenures with two of the industry’s leading Fortune 500 companies, Abouzeid played integral roles in launching some of the world’s largest casino resorts and orchestrating innovative cross-industry partnerships.

From 2013 – 2016, he was the executive director of brand marketing for Wynn Las Vegas (NASDAQ: WYNN), the city’s most profitable casino resort and the industry’s most awarded brand. In this role, he oversaw brand marketing, advertising, content marketing, entertainment marketing, sponsorships and partnerships, and the brand’s official magazine.

Prior to his post at Wynn, Abouzeid spent nine years with Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) in a number of operational, business development, and strategic roles as it grew from a $500 million company with one resort to the world’s largest casino resort operator with over $11 billion in annual revenues and 8 global mega-resorts in its portfolio. Sands properties include the world’s largest luxury resort, The Venetian Las Vegas, and the largest in Asia, The Venetian Macao.

While at Sands, he was the first executive to graduate from the company’s international management program, receiving intensive training in all seven facets of the modern integrated resort industry: gaming, hotel, retail, entertainment, nightlife, food & beverage, and meetings (collectively known as MICE: meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions).

A creative marketer and versatile executive who excels at maximizing revenue across the integrated hospitality enterprise, he has been named to the “40 Under 40” lists of Global Gaming Business Magazine and Vegas Inc., the city’s top business journal.

Abouzeid began his career in editorial media. He spent five years as a print journalist and radio producer in Boston, Los Angeles, and post-war Beirut.

He holds a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) in journalism from the George Washington University and an MBA (magna cum laude) from Babson College. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Active in the local Las Vegas business and non-profit communities, he has served on advisory boards for the casino gaming conference G2E, Nevada Public Radio, and youth charity After-School All-Stars.

A native of Weymouth, Massachusetts, he lives in Henderson, Nevada with his wife Dr. Nina Mirzayan and their two children.

As Founder and CEO of Sun Gaming & Hospitality, Bobby Soper brings two decades of experience overseeing the development of numerous projects from the ground-up while also leading the operations of casino resort properties in very competitive regional and destination markets.

Serving in various executive roles, Mr. Soper grew an organization from a single property to a multi-property international company consistently improving the financial condition of the company in every role he served.

Among various positions, Mr. Soper has served as President & CEO of Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and President & CEO of Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. As President & CEO of Mohegan Sun Pocono, Mr. Soper was responsible for overseeing the successful launch of the first casino in the Commonwealth of PA. In this role, he developed and implemented a strategic plan that not only resulted in consistent revenue growth and captured substantially higher market share relative to competition, but exceeded all revenue forecasts of the organization and the Commonwealth.

As President & CEO of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, one of the world’s largest and most successful integrated resort destinations, Mr. Soper took the helm at a time of declining revenues and EBITDA. Mr. Soper initiated and implemented new metric systems, processes and policies focused on team member empowerment, accountability and profitability, and as a result, the property saw significant improvement in guest service scores, productivity, margins and EBITDA. In addition, Mohegan Sun was only one of two gaming companies to received “Forbes Best Places to Work” under his leadership.

More recently Mr. Soper served as President & CEO of the Mohegan parent company, Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA) where he oversaw all business development efforts and day-to-day operations of MTGA. Among his accomplishments, Mr. Soper successfully led the effort to procure an Integrated Resort License in Korea among a global field of 34 applicants, for the purposes of developing a $5 billion resort at Incheon Airport. He was responsible for a number of other business development initiatives, including procurement and structuring of a consulting/management agreement with a Louisiana casino resort operation. He was also responsible for overseeing development of a hotel expansion at Mohegan Sun, as well the design and construction of the Ilani Resort in Washington owned by the Cowlitz Tribe pursuant to a Development and Management Agreement he brokered and structured previously.

Mr. Soper graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics from the University of Georgia, and graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia Law with honors, also serving on the Editorial Board of the Georgia Law Review.

Experienced public affairs specialist,  Sarah Slane founded her own Advisory Agency in 2019.

Prior to that, Slane served as Senior Vice President for the American Gaming Association (AGA), leading the charge to establish a regulated sports betting industry the U.S., among other important  projects.

Prior to joining the AGA, Slane served as Vice President, Regional Government Affairs for MGM Resorts International for 7 years.

She is a graduate of Ohio State University.

 

Growing up in a family of six, Mark took on the role of chef at a young age. To assist his working mother, he prepared family meals using what was available in their pantry, seeing this challenge as an opportunity to create new, unique meals. His innovative mindset and natural ability have led him through a successful career as a globally-trained chef and ultimately to his current role as executive chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago at Bellagio Resort & Casino.

Andelbradt got his initial training at The Culinary School at Kendall College. During an internship program abroad at The Regent, Hong Kong, Mark cultivated a better understanding of the front-of-house duties and high-level service standards set by a luxury resort. Following graduation, Andelbradt spent a year in Turin, Italy earning an Italian Cuisine Certificate at The Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners.

In 1996, Andelbradt moved back to the United States and began establishing an impressive resume. He shared the kitchen with Rick Tramonto as chef de cuisine at Brasserie T and later opened Tramonto’s two Michelin-starred restaurant, TRU, as executive sous chef. He continued to earn his stripes working with chef Daniel Boulud at DANIEL New York, and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto at two of his restaurants in Philadelphia and New York.

In 2007 Andelbradt moved to Las Vegas to work as executive chef at Tao Asian Bistro. Following a two-year stint overseeing all back of house operations as well as menu development for Tao Beach, he returned to the east coast and became a personal chef for Academy Award-nominated director M. Night Shyamalan.

Three years later, Mark made his way back to the desert to serve as corporate chef at Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. His experience brought a great understanding of all aspects of menu development, food and labor costs, and exceptional management skills to the Grouplagio Resort & Casino. Andelbradt executed daily activity for the groups local outlets, including menu development and training for the restaurant openings in Las Vegas, Shanghai Xintaindi and at the Disney Resort.

Andelbradt joined the MGM Resorts family in 2018 as executive chef of Spago at Bellagio Resort & Casino. In his current role, he manages the daily culinary operations and collaborates with Chef Puck to create the globally influenced fare for which the legendary flagship restaurant is best known.

Lindsay Slader is the VP, Regulatory Affairs at GeoComply, a global leader in geolocation technology. GeoComply currently supports regulated online casino, poker, sports betting, lottery, ADW, and DFS operators in 44 US states to ensure compliance with state and federal regulations.

Lindsay has provided expert testimony on geolocation technologies and regulatory compliance at several state and federal hearings, and is frequently a public speaker on these topics.

Prior to GeoComply, she spent five years in business development and marketing at the leading compliance testing companies, GLI and TST, servicing both the iGaming and landbased markets. During that time she worked with some of the largest operators and vendors in North America as well as regulators across Europe and North America.

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.