Gaming’s Executive Development Program moves to a virtual platform for 2020

September 22, 2020 11:00 AM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports
September 22, 2020 11:00 AM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports

The beauty of the gaming industry’s long-standing Executive Development Program – run by UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and considered an educational “boot camp” for rising leaders in the casino and the gaming equipment manufacturing sector – is its intimate setting at Harveys Lake Tahoe.

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A handful of up-and-coming executives are provided mentoring opportunities from current CEOs and top gaming c-suite occupants in both one-on-one meetings and in group settings.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has forced the producers behind this year’s program to change their approach to what would be the 30th anniversary installment of the program started by the late gaming educator and researcher Dr. Bill Eadington.

The 2020 EDP will take place on a virtual platform with a week-long leadership course that focuses on helping the gaming executives answer questions and find solutions to the once “unthinkable challenges” the industry is now facing.

In some ways, said IGI executive director and EDP moderator Bo Bernhard, the format will allow the program to reach a larger audience.

“By opening it up online, we can have a broader range of attendees and a broader range of c-suite-level faculty,” Bernhard said of the conference, which will be held November 15-21.

UNLV IGI, in partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno’s College of Business and Extended Studies, will present “EDP Presents: All the Crises, All the Time.”

Bernhard said producers hope to expand the audience by offering the program at a significantly reduced price point open to both EDP alumni and newcomers.

“The way this year’s program is scheduled, you could have people online in the U.S., Asia, and Africa, all at the same time, sharing experiences and messages,” Bernhard said.

Eadington, who taught economics at UNR, was considered the founding figure in the academic study of gambling. He developed two programs dedicated to the topic: The International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking and the Executive Development Program. UNR and UNLV’s IGI jointly administer the program.

Bernhard succeeded Eadington as the Philip G. Satre Chair for Gaming Studies, which is also overseen by both UNR and UNLV. He said COVID-19, which caused the two-month-to-three-month closure of nearly 1,000 commercial and tribal casinos nationwide, was a crisis “nobody could have expected.” Around 10% of the casino in the U.S. remain closed, while the pandemic forced blanket casino closures in Macau, Singapore, and throughout Europe.

“In reality, it is our job as leaders to prepare for the unexpected,” Bernhard said. “We can promise that attendees will graduate from EDP prepared for all crises imaginable, and some they would never have imagined.”

EDP is taught by industry experts. In the past 30 years, the program has graduated more than 1,500 executives and senior managers from gaming companies and regulatory agencies worldwide.

Former Seneca Gaming CEO Holly Gagnon, who recently became a distinguished fellow at the UNLV IGI, along with fellow IGI distinguished fellow Alan Feldman, are working with Bernhard to put together the program.

Bernhard said that, in addition to the pandemic, the program will cover global casino shutdowns, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and other crisis management issues. Presenters, he said, will conduct 10-to-12-minute TED Talk-style presentations that will allow for audience participation.

“How to lead in a crisis is the information we plan to share,” Bernard said. “Bill handed me the keys to where the next generation of CEOs can (get) information. It’s a program that helps us build bridges.”

Gagnon, who left the New York-based tribal gaming company at the end of May and now operates a hospitality and gaming consulting business, was an instructor at last year’s EDP. As an executive with Harrah’s Entertainment in 2005, she helped the company manage through the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast.

“The industry has been through some significant events and, at times, the situation can seem daunting,” Gagnon said.

Gagnon, who was part of last year’s EDP presenters, said she “jumped at the chance to share my experiences leading gaming organizations and help contribute to the unique culture it has created, and the culture it infuses in its attendees, who go on to lead the world of gaming.”

Visit https://gaming.unr.edu/edp/EDP-Presents.html for more information on the program.

Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.