AGA elects new chairman

Bally Technologies chief executive officer and director Richard Haddrill has been appointed to a two-year term as chairman of the U.S. commercial casino trade body, the American Gaming Association (AGA).

Hadrill has served in the position of vice chairman at the AGA for the past two years and follows outgoing chairman Keith Smith, who is president and chief executive officer of Boyd Gaming Corporation.

James J. Murren, chairman and chief executive officer of MGM Resorts International, replaces Haddrill as the AGA’s new vice chairman.

“Keith’s leadership during the past two years has been a true asset to the AGA, and we are grateful for the effort he has put into moving the entire industry forward,” said Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., president and chief executive officer of the AGA.  “I am extremely confident that Dick and Jim will provide the AGA with the guidance and insight to best serve all of our members and help our industry take advantage of the new opportunities that will avail themselves in the coming year.”

In related news, a host of board movements were instituted at the association’s annual general meeting.

Adam Rosenberg, managing director and global head of the gaming group for Goldman Sachs & Co. has joined as a new director at the association.  He succeeds Robert Heller, managing director and head of gaming and leisure for the Americas at UBS Investment Bank, whose term as an at-large director had expired.

Richard Byrne, chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., was designated by the AGA board as a director-elect for the coming year.

The association’s annual general meeting saw the re-election of Murren and Smith to the AGA board of directors for three-year terms, as were Patti S. Hart, chief executive officer of International Game Technology (IGT), and Gavin Isaacs, chief executive officer of Shuffle Master, Inc.

Larry Ruvo, senior managing director of Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada, was re-elected to a one-year term as an at-large director.

Other current members of the AGA board include Brian R. Gamache, chairman and chief executive officer of WMS Gaming Inc.; Gordon R. Kanofsky, chief executive officer and director of Ameristar Casinos, Inc.; Nick Khin, president of the Americas for Aristocrat Technologies, Inc.; Michael Leven, president and COO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.; Gary Loveman, president, chief executive officer and chairman of Caesars Entertainment Corporation; Virginia McDowell, president and chief executive officer of Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc.; Anthony Sanfilippo, president and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.; and Timothy J. Wilmott, president and COO of Penn National Gaming, Inc.

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