As a graduate of UNLV’s College of Hotel Administration (now William F. Harrah Hospitality College), with over 50 years in the gaming industry, Max Rubin has worked in nearly all phases of the gaming arena—including playing with the world’s finest blackjack professionals decades ago.
A member of the ultra-exclusive “Blackjack Hall of Fame,” Rubin is a highly sought-after speaker, television host, expert gaming analyst, author and gaming humorist. He has also served as a consultant to over a dozen of America’s multi-property gaming corporations and sole operations as well.
Rubin is the author of the best-selling book, Comp City: A Guide to Free Casino Vacations.
He has worked exclusively with the Barona Resort and Casino near San Diego as a trainer and game consultant for nearly two decades.
Victor Rocha is the inspiration and co-founder of Victor-Strategies. He has been involved in the politics of Indian gaming and has been a respected voice for 18 years.
The conferences he has produced have received high praise for their quality of content and for bringing political and gaming leaders together with the latest cutting edge trends and technology focused on Indian Country. Victor is the Conference Chair for the National Indian Gaming Association’s 2016 conferences.
Victor is the owner and editor of Pechanga.net, the premier source for information on Indian gaming and news for Indian Country. Victor has earned numerous awards for his work, including the NIGA’s Outstanding Contribution to Indian Country, VCAT’s Catalyst Award, Global Gaming Business Magazine’s “40 Under 40,” Raving’s Casino Marketing Lifetime Achievement Award & AGA’s Lifetime Achievement for Gaming Marketing.
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.
Kim Marie Rebeiro is the dynamic Executive Coach, International Trainer, and Keynote Speaker who has inspired countless leaders, professionals, and organizations into becoming their very best. She is also the author of ReCalibrating to Your Next; Effectively Navigating to Your Next Professional Position. Kim Marie is passionate about helping others reach their maximum professional potential by providing them the skills and the tools to do so. Her 30+ year career of designing and delivering executive leadership, presentation, and development programs to global workforces has earned Kim Marie national acclaim.
Karla Perez-Larragoite is Vice President of Gaming at Houston-based Sysco Corporation. Perez-Larragoite has over 16 years of experience in both commercial and tribal gaming, and is responsible for the further development of the gaming segment at Sysco.
Perez-Larragoite is an award-winning professional with a proven history of success, and has been active in the Global Gaming Women organization and the National Indian Gaming Association.
Prior to joining Sysco, Perez-Larragoite served as National Director of Gaming for Cintas. She was also a Territory Manager for Specified Technologies, Inc.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing & International Business from the Oklahoma State University.
Marcus Prater, with nearly 40 years of professional communications experience, serves as executive director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), a non-profit trade organization comprised of the world top gaming industry suppliers whose mission is to further the interests of its members throughout the world. Under his leadership starting in 2008, membership in AGEM has grown from 32 companies to a high of 172 over the past 11 years. Prater previously served as senior vice president of marketing for Bally Technologies, Inc., where he spent a total of nine years at the Las Vegas-based slot machine and systems provider and directed Bally’s global advertising, trade show, machine and systems sales support, media relations and special event functions. Prior to joining Bally in 1999, Prater served as director of marketing for Las Vegas-based slot supplier Sigma Game, Inc. Prater, a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Journalism, also previously served as marketing communications manager for Las Vegas-based casino operator Ameristar Casinos, Inc.
AGEM, a non-profit association, leads by following our mission statement:
“The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers is an international trade association representing manufacturers of electronic gaming devices, systems, and components for the gaming industry. The Association, as a good corporate citizen, identifies and acts upon issues relating to education, trade show representation, regulation, manufacturing and licensing standards, and promotes the expansion of responsible gaming for the benefit of its members and the industry.”
Bob Potts is the Research Director for the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, bringing to the position more than 20 years of experience in data research and analysis. Specializing in data collection and dissemination, economic impact analysis, statistical modeling and survey research, Mr. Potts is considered a leading expert in the business and economic environment for the state of Nevada. In his position, Mr. Potts oversees the collection, analysis and reporting of business, socioeconomic and performance information to aid the GOED in the development and diversification of Nevada’s growing economy.
Before joining the GOED, Mr. Potts served as the Assistant Director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While there, he assisted as the university representative and consultant to the business and government communities on local, state, national and international economic trends and business climate. During his tenure as Assistant Director, Mr. Potts designed and maintained the Center’s data warehouse, survey systems and Web sites. In addition, he made regular presentations on the economy and was a resource for media organizations. His work has been published in Las Vegas Perspective, Nevada Business Magazine, Economic Outlook, Southern Nevada Business Directory, Southern Nevada Factbook, Southern Nevada Business Confidence Index and Southern Nevada Index of Leading Economic Indicators.
Mr. Potts earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Montana State University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As a graduate assistant at UNLV, Mr. Potts co-authored four professional journal publications and developed six regularly released socioeconomic, statistical and business publications.
Glenn Pollack is Vice President of Design and Development for MGM Resorts. He has over 25 years of planning, design and construction experience in Hospitality, Entertainment, Gaming Integrated Resort Developments.
Before joining MGM in 2013 Pollack served as Director of Program Management, Corporate Development for Las Vegas Sands Corp.
He was the Project Executive for Project City Center; was Vice President of Design and Construction at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas; and served as Project Director, Corporate Development for Caesars Entertainment Corporation.
Pollack holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management, School of Architecture and Environmental Design from the California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.
Brent Pirosch is the director of gaming consulting for CBRE’s Global Gaming Group in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since 2004, Pirosch has led the team’s efforts on the financial aspects of information memoranda, underwriting and marketing proposals, and provided analytical and due diligence support for over $3 billion of casino transactions.
Dedicated to maintaining the Global Gaming Group’s market-leading consulting practice, he has also completed gaming and retail consulting assignments in a variety of jurisdictions around the world. Besides conducting studies in major U.S. markets like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the Gulf Coast, Pirosch has conducted studies in most regional markets as well. His international projects include studies in Macau, Singapore, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, and Belize.
Pirosch has also co-authored five widely read and respected forecasts for the Las Vegas Strip. Designed for both seasoned investors and those new to the market, the reports analyze the historical trends, current operations and economic factors that drive Strip revenues and profits. Praised for their prescience and depth, the forecast reports correctly identify the relevant key trends that will impact the Strip in coming years.
Pirosch has been working in gaming and hospitality for 20 years and is a graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. During his time in the industry, he has had management experience in finance, marketing, sales, casino operations, human resources, and hotel operations.
Roberta Perry has been a driving force in the development and growth of the themed entertainment and leisure entertainment industries for more than 20 years. She is a business development and strategies consultant working for dozens of clients worldwide.
In addition, over the past 15 years, she has conducted communication workshops and seminars for such corporations and associations as IBM, InfoPeople, UCLA Anderson School of Business, Xerox, Aerospace, Mattel, City of Hiroshima, Association of Japanese Businessmen, California Chiropractive Association, American Cancer Society, Pioneer Women/NA’Amat, Los Angeles Women in Music, Reflexology of California, Fox Studios Mentoring Program and the Philippine American Society of Certified Public Accountants.Roberta’s offices are located in Los Angeles, California.
