The NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction features leading clinicians, researchers, treatment providers, industry representatives, regulators and government officials as part of its comprehensive conference program. The following is a list of confirmed speakers for the event.
Conference speakers are listed alphabetically.
Marie Apke, MA, LCPC, CEAP, CCGC, PCGC, ICPGCBDA, is chief operating officer of Bensinger, Dupont & Associates (BDA) where she administers all help-line and EAP clinical and support staff and oversees all BDA associate clinicians. She oversees the effectiveness of BDA’s treatment resource network utilized for referral sources. She has developed and conducted training on problem gambling, substance abuse, drug testing, stress management, grief and loss, violence in the workplace and supervisory accountability for safe and healthful workplaces.
William Bingham, vice president of table games, Bellagio Resort and Casino
Donald W. Black, MD, is professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. His research interests include drug treatments for pathological gambling, obsessive-compulsive disorder, personality disorders and the role of family history in the development of gambling disorders. Black’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the NCRG. He has received numerous awards for teaching, research, and patient care and is listed in "Best Doctors in America."
Kathleen Carroll, Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine where she is director of psychosocial research for the Division of Substance Abuse and scientific director of the Center for Psychotherapy Development for Opioids and Cocaine. She is also the principal investigator of the New England Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network (CTN) and lead investigator of the CTN trials evaluating the effectiveness of motivational interviewing in real-world settings.
Glenn C. Christenson is the managing director of Velstand Investments, LLC, a company he formed in 2006. Until April 2007, he was the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Station Casinos, Inc. for 17 years. Christenson is the chairman of the NCRG board of directors and the Governor’s Problem Gambling Advisory Committee in Nevada.
Peter Collins, Ph.D., is professor of public policy studies at the University of Salford and director of the Centre for the Study of Gambling. Among his many publications is the book, Gambling and the Public Interest. Collins has been an adviser on gambling policy to governments in South Africa, Gibraltar, Jersey, the UK and Singapore and the expert adviser on casino matters to the Joint Scrutiny Committee to the House of Lords and the House of Commons. He also serves as executive director of the South African National Responsible Gambling Programme.
Mark Clayton is Of Counsel in Lionel Sawyer & Collins’ gaming and regulatory law department and served as a member of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board from 2005 to 2008. Clayton is a former vice president and general counsel for several commercial casino companies, including Showboat, Inc., Aladdin Gaming, LLC, and Caesars Entertainment, Inc. He currently serves as vice chairman of the gaming law section of the State Bar of Nevada and adjunct professor for gaming law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Sue Cox is a member of the NCRG board of directors. Cox has been active in the problem gambling and responsible gaming fields since the mid-1980s. A longtime political consultant and lobbyist in Texas, she was instrumental in forming the Texas Council on Problem Gambling, serving as the organization's founding executive director for 11 years.
Benoit Denizet-Lewis writes about American culture for the New York Times Magazine, for which he has authored features and cover stories about addiction, youth culture, sex and sexuality, sports, and music. He is also a contributor to The Daily Beast and a contributing writer for The Advocate. Lewis is the author of the critically acclaimed book, America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life, published in 2009.
William Eadington, Ph.D., holds the Philip G. Satre Chair in Gaming Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno where he is professor of economics and director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming. He is an internationally recognized authority on the legalization and regulation of commercial gambling, and has written extensively on issues relating to the economic and social impacts of commercial gaming.
Wes Ehrecke, president and CEO of the Iowa Gaming Association (IGA), is a 31-year veteran in the association management profession. Prior to joining the IGA, he served as executive vice president & CEO of the Minnesota Bankers Association; executive vice president and general manager of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives; and senior vice president of the Iowa Bankers Association. The IGA supports several responsible gaming programs including the statewide self-exclusion program that allows gamblers to exclude themselves from casinos and racetracks in Iowa.
Alan Feldman serves as senior vice president of public affairs for MGM MIRAGE. In this capacity, he is the company’s principal spokesperson and is responsible for overseeing all public relations efforts for the Las Vegas-based, publicly traded hotel and gaming company. Feldman is a member of the NCRG board of directors.
Jon E. Grant, J.D., M.D., M.P.H., is associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and co-director of the Impulse Control Disorders Clinic at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. He is the principal investigator of the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, supported by the NCRG. In 2004, Dr. Grant’s outstanding contributions to gambling research were recognized with the NCRG Scientific Achievement Award in the Young Investigator category.
Judith Gruber, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., C.C.E.T., launched a second career in counseling after 25 years in the banking industry. The developer of the Money and Self-Empowerment™ program, Gruber’s specialty is the integration of financial management principles into clinical practice and serving the special needs of people with addiction. In addition to her private practice, Gruber leads seminars for a wide variety of organizations including corporations and associations for health care providers.
Nanette L. Horner, J.D., was appointed the first director of the Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling at the Pennsylvania Control Board in 2006. She has been involved in the gaming industry, as an attorney, since 1996 with experience in providing advice to tribal, state and foreign governments and industry clients; evaluating casino gaming in new jurisdictions; and working with government and industry representatives in the United States and in other countries.
Dean Hestermann is the corporate director of public affairs for Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., providing strategic guidance for the company on a variety of public policy and corporate social responsibility issues, including responsible gaming. He has been with Harrah’s in various communications, government relations and issues management positions since 1992. He serves on the board of directors of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Scott Huettel, Ph.D., is associate professor of in psychology and neuroscience, co-director of the Center in Neuroeconomic Studies and associate director of the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center at Duke University. As principal investigator of the Human Neuroeconomics Laboratory, he studies the mechanisms that shape decision making from gambling to giving to bluffing, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. Huettel’s numerous publications focus on economic decision making, social decision making, and executive processing. His recent article in Neuron was featured in a Newsweek article on poor financial decision making.
Connie Jones is director of responsible gaming for International Game Technology, a global company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and sales of computerized gaming machines and systems products. A member of the board of the National Council on Problem Gambling, Jones was recognized by Casino Enterprise Management magazine as one of its Great Women in Gaming.
Punam Mathur is vice president of human resources for NV Energy. Previously she served for 13 years as senior vice president, corporate diversity and community affairs at MGM MIRAGE. Mathur currently serves as the chairperson of the board of trustees for Three Square, a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating hunger in southern Nevada. She also sits on the advisory board of Habitat for Humanity- Las Vegas. Mathur is a member of the president's advisory task force on diversity at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and co-chair of the Nevada Partnership for Inclusive Education.
Janet M. Miller, M.S., L.A.C., B.C.C.G.C., A.A.D.C., is director of clinical services for the Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling. She also serves as the program director for the Center of Recovery, a treatment center for compulsive gamblers in Shreveport. Miller has had a private practice in counseling since 1987.
Rohan Miller, Ph.D., University of Sydney
Sheila Morago is executive director of the Arizona Indian Gaming Association. She is a member of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. Previously, she served as vice president of national relations for Initial Impressions, director of public relations for the National Indian Gaming Association and director of marketing for the Gila River Casinos.
Kevin Mullally is general counsel and director of government affairs at Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), a gaming device and systems testing laboratory. He is the former executive director of the Missouri Gaming Commission where he previously served as the deputy director for legal and legislative affairs. Mullally established the first statewide self-exclusion program in the U.S. He is a member of the NCRG’s board of Director.
Lia Nower, J.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor and director of the Center for Gambling Studies at the Rutgers University. Her research focuses on the etiology and treatment of gambling disorders and co-morbid addictive disorders and gambling-related policy issues. A former criminal prosecutor, Nower serves as a forensic consultant in state and federal court cases involving gambling-related crimes.
Marc Potenza, M.D., Ph.D., is associate professor of psychiatry and child study center at Yale University School of Medicine and founding director of the Problem Gambling Clinic at Yale. He is the principal investigator of the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research, funded by the NCRG. Potenza was recognized for his outstanding contributions to research on gambling disorders with the NCRG Scientific Achievement Awards, in both the young investigator (2003) and senior investigator (2008) categories.
Christine Reilly has served as executive director of the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders, previously known as the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, since its inception in December 2000. Previously, she served as the first executive director of the NCRG and as executive director of the Missouri Humanities Council, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dianna Scina, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Jennifer Shatley has been program vice president of the Code of Commitment for Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., the largest U.S. casino operator, since 2001. Her duties include implementation and administration of the company’s responsible gaming program. Shatley is a member of the NCRG board of directors.
Kelly Skindzelewski is the public affairs manager for Potawatomi Bingo Casino, where she focuses on social responsibility initiatives, issues management and community outreach. She chairs the Casino’s responsible gaming committee, and serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling (WCPG).
Mike Smith is president and CEO of the Casino Association of Indiana. Smith’s responsibilities include regulatory affairs, public relations, education and coordination with the state council on problem gambling. In 1993, Smith was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives where he held the elected office for 10 years and served in a variety of leadership positions.
Kate Spilde, Ph.D., M.B.A., is an associate professor and chair of the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University. Previously, she served as executive director of the Center for California Native Nations, University of California at Riverside; senior research associate at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government; and director of research for the National Indian Gaming Association.
Randy Stinchfield, Ph.D., is associate director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His research interests include youth gambling and substance abuse, and treatment outcomes for addictive behaviors. Stinchfield has received funding from the NCRG for research on youth gambling in Minnesota and the GAMTOMS instrument. Stinchfield is a licensed clinical psychologist.
Tony Toneatto, Ph.D., is a senior scientist with the Addiction Section in the clinical research department at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and associate professor in the departments of psychiatry and public health sciences at the University of Toronto. His primary research interests include the psychology and treatment of pathological gambling.
Mark Vander Linden, M.S.W., is executive officer of the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program at the Iowa Department of Public Health. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in social welfare from the University of California, Berkley. Vander Linden has extensive clinical and administrative experience in working with children and families, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and gambling disorders.
Carl D. Williams, Ph.D., is senior clinical director of Harmony Healthcare, a multi-specialty outpatient mental health and addictions treatment clinic in Las Vegas, Nev., that also operates employee assistance programs for several large hotel and gaming operations in Nevada. Williams previously served as staff psychologist and coordinator of training at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and staff psychologist at the University of Notre Dame. He has published research on treatment of substance use disorders, especially among college students.
Ken Winters, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research and a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. His primary research interests are the assessment and treatment of adolescent drug abuse. Winters has published numerous research articles in this area, and has received several research grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and various foundations. Winters was recognized by the National Center for Responsible Gaming in 2005 with the NCRG Scientific Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to research on youth gambling. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders.
Harold Wynne, Ph.D. is the president of Wynne Resources, a research and consulting firm in Edmonton, Alberta. His research expertise includes gambling and social research, policy strategy & analysis, management consulting, and population surveys. Wynne serves on the scientific advisory board of the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders and chaired the Institute’s public health peer review panel in 2009.