DECEMBER 20, 2023… Global Gaming Business Magazine (GGB) today announced its annual 25 People to Watch list (PTW) for 2024. It’s the 22nd edition of this popular feature published every year in the January issue. Honorees are recognized for their past accomplishments and their upcoming potential actions that will have a big impact on gaming in 2024 and beyond.
“We have chosen a great group of people for our 2024 Class,” says GGB Publisher Roger Gros. “They have all already made an impact in the gaming world, and our focus on them in this annual feature shows the industry just how important these individuals are.”
Once an individual is named a member of the prestigious People to Watch class, he or she cannot be considered again. Just some of the PTW alumni are Peter Carlino, Linda Chen, Gavin Isaacs, Valerie Spicer, Pansy Ho, Dick Haddrill, Mark Macarro, Bobby Baldwin, Bill Paulos, Ron Allen, Bobby Soper, Larry Woolf, Tony Marnell, Jim Allen, Keith Smith, Kazuo Okada, John Acres, Andrew Pascal, John Connelly, Francis Lui, Andrew MacDonald, Stanley Crooks, Tim Wilmott, Ramesh Srinivasan, Anthony Sanfilippo, Cath Burns, Jason Giles, Stephen Crosby, Rob Goldstein, Anna Sainsbury, Matt Davey, Ray Pineault, Paul Steelman, Ed Tracy, Marco Sala, David Lopez, Cody Martinez, Jay Snowden, Simon Thomas, Russell Sanna, Mark Birtha, Jeff Hamilton, Joe Pappano, Kristian Nylen, Jan Jones Blackhurst, Earle Hall, Joe Lupo, Amy Howe, Siobhan Lane and many, many more.
The selections are made by the GGB Editorial Advisory Board, a collection of some of the most knowledgeable and connected people in the gaming industry. Nominees came from all aspects of the gaming business—land-based and online operators and suppliers, regulators, attorneys, tribal government officials, public officials, academics and more.
“The gaming industry is going through a sea change as the land-based and iGaming worlds come together,” says Gros. “Many of the people honored by their inclusion in the 2024 list are prime participants in that merger. Their vision will shape gaming for many years to come.”
GGB’S 25 PEOPLE TO WATCH 2024
Noah Acres, Principal, Acres Manufacturing
Maureen Adams, Executive Vice President Gaming Operations, Churchill Downs Inc.
Kelcey Allison, Global COO, Aruze
Brett Abarbanel, Executive Director, UNLV IGI
Brian Blake, Vice President, Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, IGT
Julia Boguslawski, Chief Marketing Officer, AGS
Mike Brennan, Chief Product Officer, Bluberi
Dona Cassese, Vice President of Marketing, Everi
Robbie Cooke, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Star Entertainment
Ed Evans, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Cordish Gaming Group
Shawn Fluharty, President, National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS)
Katie Gehrke, Marketing and Communications Manager, JCM Global
Jeannie Hovland, Vice Chair, NIGC
Christopher Justice, President & CEO, Pavilion Payments
Danielle Kristensen, Vice President of Technology, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures / Grand Casinos
Kim Barker Lee, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Bally’s Corporation
Kara Matthew, COO, BMM Innovation Group
Eileen O’Brien, Member, Massachusetts Gaming Commission
Tom O’Brien, President, Americas and EMEA, Aristocrat Technologies
Niklas Rytterstrom, President, Borgata Hotel Casino
Greg Sarris, Tribal Chairman, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
James Silva, Vice Chairman. Morongo Band of Mission Indians; Chairman, California Nations Indian Gaming Association
Jeffrey Soffer, CEO and Chairman, Fontainebleau Development
Max Tappeiner, Executive Vice President, Operations, Wynn Resorts
Mor Weizer, CEO, Playtech PLC
About GGB: Global Gaming Business magazine, a division of Casino Connection International, is the leading monthly gaming trade publication focusing on the international casino industry and the only U.S.-based gaming trade publication covering commercial, tribal and online gaming. GGB is the only gaming trade magazine in the world that publishes a physical magazine every month to go along with its superior online content, which includes the weekly e-newsmagazine GGB News. Casino Connection International also publishes the annual publications: Tribal Government Gaming, Casino Style and Progressive Products Preview (P3) ahead of the industry’s largest trade show, G2E. Distributed to 14,000 of the industry’s most important executives around the world, as well as public officials, regulators, attorneys and Native American governments, GGB magazine is the casino industry’s complete source for gaming business information. For more information, contact info@GGBMagazine.com.
