Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Connecting with Women in the Tribal Gaming Sector

By Keli Elkins, Vice President of Industry Relations, American Gaming Association (AGA)


Are you a woman working in the Indian Gaming segment? Have you heard about Global Gaming Women? 

Over the last several months, the American Gaming Association's (AGA) Global Gaming Women (GGW) initiative has made a concerted effort to expand its outreach to the industry's tribal market. This effort began last year during G2E with the filming of several Indian Gaming leaders for the Coffee Break video series, which was discussed by Holly Wetzel in her post last week. 

Many of these leaders have gone on to serve as the chairs of GGW’s new tribal committee. The committee's first priority was to organize an event at Indian Gaming 2013. It was our second GGW event in as many years at that show thanks to the hard work of Kate Spilde and the support of our annual event sponsor, the Sycuan Institute of Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University. 

The committee brought together an amazing group of women to lead the breakfast discussion about building successful mentorships, including Libby Francisco, COO of Desert Diamond Casinos, Valerie Diaz, sales manager of international and specialty markets at Casino Del Sol, President Diane Enos of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and Valerie Spicer, executive director of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association. 

More than 60 attendees were inspired by the panel’s discussion on mentorship, especially by their encouraging words about approaching female leaders in this segment. As one panelist put it, “We’re here. We’re approachable. We want to be mentors. If we were too busy we wouldn’t make time for events like these.” 

The committee hopes to build on the momentum of this successful event with additional GGW gatherings at regional Indian Gaming shows throughout 2013. They also intend to work with GGW to identify additional female leaders from this sector for the Coffee Break series. Finally, as we approach the launch of GGW’s Global Gaming Network for online mentorship, the tribal committee will help identify mentors and market the tool to rising female leaders. 

If you are interested in learning more about this committee or its activities, please visit www.globlagamingwomen.org for more information. If you’re a female leader working in the Indian Gaming sector and interested in becoming more involved in any of the aforementioned projects, please contact me directly to begin a conversation. We look forward to seeing you at GGW events throughout 2013!

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