LAS VEGAS, April 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Louisiana based i-10 Hospitality, LLC, a restaurant, hotel and gaming management company founded by former Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. and Caesars Entertainment, Inc. executive, Geno M. Iafrate, which most recently signed an Area Development Agreement with Quaker Steak & Lube® restaurants, launches a consulting and management division, i-10 Business Solutions, LLC.
"Prolific competition, economic challenges, ever-changing consumer demands, new technologies, and more put exponential pressures on hospitality and gaming operators to think of innovative ways to stay ahead with diminishing resources. To help fill this void, i-10 Business Solutions is a diverse collection of talent that brings nearly 100 collective years of experience to the table," said Iafrate. The principals of i-10 Business Solutions include Geno Iafrate, an accomplished executive with more than 20 years of hospitality and gaming experience; David Eisendrath, a diverse executive with more than 10 years in senior finance, marketing, and operations roles who most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer for Recyclebank; Robert Allen, a tenured gaming executive with more than 30 years of casino operations experience; Ethan Linder, a hotel yield and database marketing leader with nearly 10 years of experience; and Christine Rury, a skilled human resources professional and executive recruiter with 25 years of hospitality and union experience. In addition to the principals, our team has other members with marketing, operations, lean six sigma, information technology, design, construction, finance, and analytics expertise. "i-10 brings passion, talent, experience, and proven success to your business without limits." Iafrate added.
Geno Iafrate – Managing Member
[email protected]
An accomplished executive who has served in a variety of gaming and hospitality management positions across several regional and major gaming markets for more than 20 years. Prior to founding i-10 Hospitality, LLC, Geno held senior executive positions at Pinnacle Entertainment. In May 2010 Geno joined Pinnacle as Senior Vice President and General Manager of L'Auberge Lake Charles, later that year he assumed responsibility for Pinnacle's Louisiana Boomtown properties. During this period, L'Auberge Lake Charles achieved record financial and market share results driven by all-time highs in customer satisfaction and team member engagement. In August 2011, oversight of the $400 million L'Auberge Baton Rouge development was added to his responsibilities. Following the September 2012 grand opening, the L'Auberge Baton Rouge team was able to grow the market by more than 50%.
Prior to joining Pinnacle, Geno served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Caesars Entertainment's Northwest Louisiana operations, including the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel and Louisiana Downs, both located in Bossier City, Louisiana. Previous positions include Vice President and Assistant General Manager at Caesars Entertainment's Flamingo Las Vegas and Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Geno is actively involved in the local and regional community as a board member and volunteer for multiple organizations and causes.
He is a Certified Internal Auditor, a licensed private pilot, and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from West Virginia University.
David Eisendrath – Member
[email protected]
David has nearly 10 years of experience in the gaming industry in a variety of roles and numerous markets across the country. He joined Caesars Entertainment in its Corporate Slot Revenue Management department, where he focused on pricing, placement, and game selection for the Caesars 60,000+ slot machines. David was responsible for optimizing nearly $8 billion in company-wide slot revenue.
From there, David worked as Executive Associate (Chief of Staff) to the President of the Caesars Central Division. In that capacity, he was responsible for planning & analysis, capital and operating budgeting and forecasting, contract negotiations and a number of other miscellaneous activities for nine properties across Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi. David next moved on to be the Vice President of Finance for both Horseshoe Bossier City and Harrah's Louisiana Downs. During his time in Northwest Louisiana, the properties increased revenue/FTE in 29 out of 30 months in a flat-to-declining and highly competitive revenue environment. In his last role at Caesars, David served as Corporate Vice President of Marketing, where he had direct oversight of the Company's corporate marketing budget as well as company-wide consumer insights. In addition, David worked with properties across the organization to develop and implement best practices.
David left Caesars in 2010, to join Recyclebank, the Wall Street Journal's #1 Clean-tech Company in 2011, and #37 in Fast Company's World's 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2012. The Company is a for-profit venture-backed organization that partners with municipalities and waste haulers to reward individuals at the home for increasing recycling. David was hired to build out the Company's analytics and loyalty capabilities, and gained increasing responsibility during his tenure. In his last role as Chief Operating Officer, David was responsible for approximately 70% of the employee base and the following functional areas: account management & sales, analytics, consumer insights, data management, product and technology. During his time at Recyclebank, the Company's client base and revenue more than doubled, while EBITDA improved by north of 80%.
Earlier in his career, David worked as an investment banker at JP Morgan, in both its Mergers & Acquisitions and Financial Institutions groups. Eisendrath earned his B.B.A. in finance and accounting from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and received his M.S. in hotel administration from the University of Nevada - Las Vegas.
Robert Allen – Member
[email protected]
Robert has over 30 years of experience in slot operations management – in corporate and Native American gaming environments. He has a consistently successful track-record in managing, overseeing and guiding large scale and multi-property slot operations in highly competitive and mature gaming markets. Proven ability to drive sustained superior slot financial performance through effective analysis, management, and aggressive optimization of gaming machine mix.
Most recently, Robert was the Vice President of Casino Operations for Pinnacle Entertainment where he had responsibility for casino operations for the corporation, which owns and operate seven gaming properties in the US – L'Auberge Casino Resort, Lake Charles Louisiana; L'Auberge Casino Resort, Baton Rouge Louisiana; Boomtown Bossier City, Bossier City Louisiana; Boomtown New Orleans, New Orleans Louisiana; Lumiere Place Casino, St. Louis Missouri; River City Casino, St. Louis Missouri; Belterra Casino, Florence Indiana.
Prior to joining Pinnacle, Robert spent 10 years as the Vice President of Slot Operations for The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians. He was responsible for guiding and overseeing slot operations for the Tribe's two gaming properties in central Minnesota – Grand Casino Hinckley and Grand Casino Mille Lacs. Robert was also the Executive Director of Slot Operations for Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City from 1986 until 2000
Throughout Robert has served in an advisory capacity with the senior executive management teams of Aristocrat Technologies, Bally Technologies, IGT, Konami Gaming, MultiMedia Games, and WMS Gaming. He has served for over 5 years as a member of the IGT Customer Advisory Board. Additionally, he has served as a member of the WMS Chairman's Circle – a group of 5 gaming executives from within the US and Canada that functioned in an advisory role to the Chairman of the Board of WMS and other senior executives within that company. He has served in an advisory capacity for slot game development executives and game designers for WMS Gaming, Aristocrat Technologies, IGT, Bally Technologies, Konami Gaming, and MultiMedia Games.
For the past six years, Mr. Allen has served as a judge for Casino Enterprise Management Magazine's Slot Floor Technology Awards. He has contributed numerous articles on Slot Operations for Casino Enterprise Management Magazine and Indian Gaming Magazine.
Ethan Linder – Member
[email protected]
Ethan is a skilled marketing and hospitality executive who has held management positions in multiple regional and national markets for nearly 10 years. Most recently he served as Director of Marketing for Green Valley Ranch in Las Vegas (Station Casinos). He was responsible for all aspects of property marketing operations including advertising, promotions and events, entertainment and direct mail. He assisted in the revitalization of Green Valley Ranch as the property looks to rebuild the Las Vegas locals market after the recession.
Prior to joining Station Casinos, Ethan served as Regional Director of Database Marketing for Pinnacle Entertainment. He was responsible for building and managing Pinnacle's southern marketing division which consisted of direct mail and database strategy, creative design, website management and email. The department provided support for the four Louisiana properties as well as Retama Park in San Antonio. As regional director Ethan served an integral role in opening Louisiana's newest casino resort, L'Auberge Baton Rouge.
Ethan was also the Director of Marketing at Pinnacle's largest property L'Auberge Lake Charles where he was responsible for direct mail, promotions, events and the loyalty program. L'Auberge produced over $300M annually in gaming revenue and is the market leader in all metrics.
He also spent much of his career in hotel operations. Responsible for developing, implementing and managing Pinnacle's first revenue management system. He was directly responsible for aligning marketing and hotel/sales efforts to increase ADR, RevPar and ultimately worth per room. After much success, he assisted in the rollout of the program throughout the company. He is also skilled in hotel operations, including front desk, bell, valet, housekeeping and retail.
Early on in his career, Ethan also held positions as promotions and events manager, special events coordinator and direct mail coordinator.
Ethan has a bachelor's degree from Ball State University.
Christine Rury – Member
[email protected]
Christine joins I–10 Business Solutions with more than 25 years casino and hospitality management expertise in human resources and food and beverage. Christine has been a key leader in union contract negotiations as well as organizing campaigns. She has held key executive roles in multiple represented locations. Most recently she provided human resource consulting for Native American gaming and casino/hotel properties.
Before consulting, Christine was Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Pinnacle Entertainment where her role was creating and directing human resources programs that included employment, training, leadership, and employee/labor relations for each market where Pinnacle operated. She also oversaw executive development, compensation and benefits, as well as problem resolution while ensuring compliance with State and Federal employment and labor laws.
Previously Christine served as the Vice President of Human Resources for Hollywood Casino & Hotel in Lawrenceburg, Indiana; a property of Penn National Gaming. Christine also spent more than 17 years with Harrah's Entertainment; as Corporate Vice President of Leadership responsible for employee engagement, succession planning and leadership development for more than 90,000 employees worldwide. Other Harrah's positions included Vice President of Human Resources at the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel and Harrah's Louisiana Downs Casino & Racetrack; at Harrah's Atlantic City Casino & Hotel and Showboat Casino & Hotel; and as Director of Employee services for Harrah's St. Louis Riverport Casino & Hotel.
Christine was also chosen for a Harrah's Due Diligence Task Force overseeing the acquisition of Caesar's, during which time she advised senior executives with regard to best practices and organizational structuring.
Christine has a proven track record of establishing best practices for human resources, addressing challenging labor issues, increasing employee satisfaction scores and reducing turnover. She is skilled in dealing with health care and benefits programs, innovative employee recognition efforts and effective succession planning.
Christine holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Sciences from Western Illinois University where she graduated Cum Laude. In 2003, she earned the Harrah's Entertainment Corporate Excellence Award.
About
i-10 Business Solutions, LLC
i-10 Business Solutions, a subsidiary of i-10 Hospitality, LLC, is unique collection of passion, talent, experience, and proven success. Founded in 2014, i-10 focuses on hospitality management and consulting for casinos, hotels and restaurants. With nearly 100 collective years of hospitality experience, i-10's team is a one-stop source for business without limits
For more information about i-10 Business Solutions, please visit www.i-10Hospitality.com, or email us at [email protected].
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SOURCE i-10 Hospitality
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