Season: 2019

Kathleen McLaughlin is the vice president of marketing and product management for NOVOMATIC Americas, a subsidiary of one of the largest and most profitable gaming technology companies in the world. McLaughlin has held key positions in slot manufacturing and technology development with WMS Gaming Inc. She owns McLaughlin Gaming, LLC; a gaming consulting firm and has also held key positions in numerous Class III slot operations, route management operations, marketing, product development, and strategic sourcing at Caesar’s Entertainment and the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. McLaughlin has served on the International Gaming and Wagering Business (IGWB), Casino Journal and Casino Enterprise magazine technology advisory boards, is the recipient of awards from Casino Enterprise Magazine, Global Gaming Business, Nevada Gaming magazine, and is one of the original recipients of the “Great Women of Gaming” award. She currently serves on the AGA Industry Initiatives Committee.

With an extensive background as a senior leader for both critical vendor suppliers working with all aspects of the gaming industry in North America, Europe, and Asia, and a leader in world-class global casino operations and marketing, McLaughlin is an avid student of electronic gaming. With over 28 years in the business, McLaughlin understands games, players and marketing. She has maximized revenue per square foot as an operator, directed 200 to 4,000 unit property openings from Asia to Iowa, created vanguard technology to drive player marketing, negotiated industry-first licensing opportunities, and designed graphics and digital content for mobile games and land-based casino products like Reel em In, Filthy Rich, Life of Luxury and Monopoly. McLaughlin is known for creating and marketing unique player entertainment brands and experiences. From the successful inaugural launch of the first Monopoly product line and numerous other high-profile slot titles into the casino gaming market, opening and expansion of 20+ properties globally and creating unique merchandising innovation Mclaughlin is no stranger to significant risk, high rewards. She can always be found teaching, mentoring and learning from executives in the industry and is one of the electronic slot gaming industry’s pioneers, which has made her a catalyst for praise, criticism and always interesting conversation.

As the Vice President of Table Operations, Michael May oversees a variety of 155+ table games throughout the casino including a state-of-the-art, 43-table Poker Room and off-track betting. Michael joined the executive team at Pechanga over 9 years ago following a distinguished, 29-year career at Bally’s Atlantic City working his way up the ranks to management positions and concluding his tenure there as the Vice President of Table Games. He received a B.A. degree in Communications from Pennsylvania State University, prior to beginning his gaming career.

Michael Massari, also known as Mike, serves as senior vice president of meeting sales and operations of Caesars Entertainment. Massari oversees the meetings business for Caesars 40 U.S. properties. He is a founding partner at Connexus Equity Management Partners, LLC. He has over 25 years of experience in hospitality, management, sales, marketing, and operations. Massari has been in the role at Caesars since he reorganized Caesars meetings businesses in 2011.

Massari has been a member of the Advisory Board at Conference Direct LLC since September 22, 2015. He has been director at Meeting Professionals International Inc since January 1, 2016. He has featured in meetings publication and has appeared in national publications including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Forbes.com. Massari has twice been named one of the 100 most influential people in the tradeshow business, and was named one of the 25 most influential people in the meetings industry. His achievements at Caesars earned him the Chairman’s award for Leadership and the Caesars Excellence in Leadership awards.

Massari holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine Paul Merage School of Business and a B.S. in Business from Cabrini College.

As a business minded HR leader, Jennifer Martinez takes a highly consultative approach when working with her clients to achieve bottom line results within the profit, non-profit and public sector.

Jennifer is adept at working in fast paced and complex start-up operations with solid experience in mergers and acquisitions, strategic HR business planning and change-management programs aligned to company long-term objectives for highly reputable, publicly traded and privately held global technology and entertainment organizations.

Jennifer is known for developing high performing cultures committed to organizational training and development, talent management and succession planning, total rewards strategy and implementation of short and long-term incentive planning. She also has extensive health and welfare program development and risk management experience including safety planning and prevention. Other areas of management include performance management, policy development, labor and employee relations, internal communications and employment branding.

She started Consult HR Partners in February 2018 to become an entrepreneur and is the President and CEO. Prior to that, she worked 25+ years in a variety of HR roles in the gaming and hospitality industry. She joined the Scientific Games Corporation in 2015 to lead their Corporate HR, Global Gaming HR and Talent Management functions. Prior to Scientific Games, she worked at Konami Gaming, Inc. from 2006-2015 to support the organization through organic and strategic growth as a senior level HR executive. Jennifer held other HR leadership roles for Aristocrat Technologies from 2000-2006 and Caesars Entertainment from 1990-1999. Throughout her tenure at Caesars, Jennifer worked in all of their major divisions including land based, riverboat and Native American gaming properties responsible for operational and strategic HR. Her earlier years including roles in hotel operations.

An experienced recruiter and HR specialist, Marwa Mitchell has made it her mission to understand the needs and motivations of candidates and clients to find the best match. She is currently connecting professionals in Digital and Gaming at Pentasia, the global leader in digital and gaming recruitment, as Vice President Recruitment—North America.

Before joining Pentasia in 2012, Mitchell served as Recruiting Director for Modis and was a technical recruiter for Emex Systems and Eastridge InfoTech.

Chairman Robert Martin of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians is a recognized and respected leader across Indian Country, the U.S. and California. He has served more than 25 years in Morongo’s tribal government. He was first elected tribal chairman at the age of 32 and has served several terms as chairman since.

A champion of self‐reliance, Chairman Martin led Morongo in its landmark 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that confirmed the sovereignty of Indian tribes and their right to establish gaming operations.

Chairman Martin has worked closely with city, county, state and federal lawmakers on issues related to economic development, land use, water, energy resources, education, the environment, transportation and tribal gaming.

Chairman Martin oversaw the development of the original Casino Morongo and, years later, the $250 million Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa. During Chairman Martin’s tenure on the council, Morongo has diversified its business portfolio with new ventures in finance, health care and agriculture, and expanded its holdings to include the premier Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon.

Today, Morongo’s business enterprises generate nearly $3 billion in annual economic activity and provide more than 3,000 jobs.

A passionate defender of Morongo’s rich culture and tribal traditions, Chairman Martin is equally committed to developing the next generation of tribal leaders and helped establish a new tuition‐free preparatory academy at the Morongo Reservation – the first of its kind in the nation.

Martin’s has served on the boards of numerous organizations including the California Indian Manpower Consortium, the California Indian Child Welfare Consortium, Riverside/San Bernardino County Indian Health, Inc., and the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association.

Cassandra Mahtesian has over seven years of real estate finance and capital market expertise spanning a range of asset classes with a central focus on hospitality and retail development. She is well informed in the areas of real estate finance, commercial underwriting, collateral valuation, capital markets research, and real estate development. Before her position with The Hartmann Group, Cassandra was employed at UC Funds as a Senior Financial Analyst. In this role, she provided flexible capital solutions and leveraged equity to a real estate portfolio of $1B. Cassandra’s approach to real estate is also supported by her prior experiences in traditional financing as a former member of TD Bank Group’s CRE Division and her work in real estate development and acquisitions with Tishman Speyer of New York.

Cassandra is a graduate of The Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University, where she obtained her Master’s in Business with a concentration in finance in 2016. Cassandra is also a graduate of Emmanuel College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science in 2012.

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.

Matt Krystofiak is Senior Vice President of Human Resources for the Las Vegas region of Caesars Entertainment. Matt is responsible for working with approximately 30,000 team members and overseeing 69 union contracts at 10 Caesars-owned properties in the company’s largest and highest-profile market.

Matt began his career as an HR intern at Caesars Tahoe, while pursuing his degree at the University of Nevada, Reno. (He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Human Resources Management.) He has stayed with Caesars ever since. In 20 years, Matt has filled a variety of roles in Human Resources and Continuous Improvement, filling positions in Northern and Southern Nevada and Indiana.

In northern Nevada, Matt helped navigate properties through challenging financial times and declining markets, innovating to keep the business viable.

Matt led his team through Caesars Entertainment’s first and only Voluntary Retirement program. The program was extremely successful and produced zero administrative or legal challenges. Matt also inspired the northern Nevada properties to achieve their highest engagement index ever. During this time, the properties earned three back-to-back “Best Place to Work” Awards, with all three properties inducted into the “Best Place to Work Hall of Fame” in northern Nevada.

Now, Matt is promoting Caesars Entertainment’s Code of Commitment and Caring Culture throughout the Las Vegas region. As the Executive Sponsor of the ECI Council, he is spearheading the strategic alignment of community partners with the company’s philanthropic priorities. The goal is to engage team members in corporate citizenship and build deeper, more impactful relationships that help make the city a better place to live and work.

Under Matt’s leadership, Las Vegas regional properties have achieved record-breaking engagement scores, while significantly decreasing grievances and administrative charges. According to a recent McKinsey analysis, the Caesars Entertainment Las Vegas Human Resources team is 64 percent more efficient than its next comparative Human Resources team within the enterprise.

As a culture champion, Matt has inspired a performance-driven culture that positions Caesars as best in class in the Hospitality/Gaming Industry. A passionate leader who develops and supports talent, Matt earned a Caesars Entertainment Award of Excellence for Appreciation for consistently celebrating his team’s success. Recently, Matt guided seven new leaders into director level roles or higher, and has promoted four team members into management. His philosophy is “one team,” creating well-rounded human resources professionals who consistently exceed team member expectations.

A seasoned technology executive with a passion for customer service, Rohith Kori is Senior Director at Agilysys.

Before joining Agilysys in 2017, Kori served as Director Client Services for Scientific Games. He held a similar position at Bally Technologies and TrueDemand Software. Kori was also a Senior Consultant at RFID Implementation Services.

Kori holds a Masters of Liberal Arts from Harvard University and a Masters of Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech. He also holds a Bachelor of Science from Visvesvaraya Technological University.