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Cam Adair is an international speaker and entrepreneur who is widely hailed as a leading expert on video game addiction. He is best known as the founder of Game Quitters, a support community for gamers from 95 countries. In April 2020 Cam co-founded Intenta with a mission to equip mental health professionals with resources on digital disorders by closing the clinical skill gap. His work has been published in Psychiatry Research, reported in government hearings, and been featured in New York Times Magazine, Forbes, BBC, NPR, CNN and more. In 2017, he was named one of Canada’s Leaders in Mental Health.
Sandra Adell, PhD is a literature professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of “Confessions of a Slot Machine Queen: A Memoir.” She is a nationally recognized spokesperson on the negative effects of casino gambling on the Black community and currently is working on a book titled “Black Women Speak Out About Casino Gambling.”
Cassandra Belton is an educational professional, who once struggled with compulsive gambling since her mid-twenties. Currently, she is in recovery for compulsive gambling. She has recently started a weekly online fellowship group for Black women who also struggle with compulsive gambling. She is also a survivor of domestic violence. Additionally, it was through her recovery in gambling that she was able to get to her safety planning.
Rebecca Bishop has 15 years of experience in the human and social service field administering grants, improving policy, and developing and implementing evidence-based interventions and programming. She has worked in public health prevention for 13 years engaging marginalized and nontraditional populations in change efforts focused on equitable community level outcomes. Her roles have included leading a violence prevention program in a large hospital system, managing substance misuse prevention services for an urban municipality, and currently directing the Massachusetts Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling Prevention, the first technical assistance center focused on problem gambling prevention. In this role she oversees the provision of high-quality training and technical assistance services to communities and organizations integrating or building capacity to prevent problem gambling. The Center of Excellence values that align with engaging communities most impacted by problem gambling, using an equity lens, and addressing the economic and social conditions that influence the health of people and communities, known as the social determinants of health. Rebecca is a skilled public speaker and facilitator with the ability to develop lasting relationships that build community, she received her BA from Post University and her MSW from Boston College.
Malcolm Bruce is the Founder of Gambling Integrity, was the first CEO of the charity in the UK which commissions problem gambling treatment services, education, and research. He established Gambling Integrity in 2013 and has worked with regulators, charities, and industry all over the world. He has been involved with harm detection systems and processes since their first inception. He has conducted training and advice for scores of companies in Europe on how staff should communicate with customers who are at risk. Malcolm assisted the NCPG with the inception of the iCAP certification program.
Jaime Costello joined the National Council on Problem Gambling in April 2022 as the Director of Programs. In this position, she will oversee the planning, development and evaluation of NCPG programs, support strategic planning efforts through consistent monitoring, and serve as a spokesperson for national problem gambling efforts. Jaime is an experienced addiction and public health professional with nearly fifteen years of experience working in the problem gambling field. In her last position as Bureau Director of Prevention and Training at the New York Council on Problem Gambling, she played an integral role in the development and growth of the Problem Gambling Resource Centers ensuring that professionals, individuals, families and communities have access to prevention and support services throughout the state. She has also spearheaded professional training efforts, prevention programs and coalition development for a variety of causes. Jaime is passionate about engaging the community in change efforts and emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary work among fields to address behavioral and physical health concerns. Jaime received her Master of Public Health from the University of New England, and lives with her family in the Adirondack Park.
Brianne Doura Schawohl is the founder and CEO of Doura-Schawohl Consulting LLC. She most recently served as Vice President of US Policy and Strategic Development for EPIC Risk Management, a global harm prevention consultancy, conducting work in over 24 countries. Prior to her role at EPIC, Brianne served as Legislative Director for the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG). Her experience includes a decade of leadership in advocacy, public policy, government affairs, and communications. Her practice spans a wide range of work with executive and legislative branch officials and private sector stakeholders at the international, federal, state, and local levels of government. She works with Congress and numerous state legislatures and regulators to provide expert advice on gambling policy. Additionally, she continued to be featured in numerous local, state, national, and international media, including CNBC, ESPN, and CBC.
Odessa Dwarika has 25 years of experience as a public health professional working towards healthy and equitable communities. As Director of Programs and Services, Odessa oversees training, technical assistance, and capacity building efforts throughout the continuum of care for disordered gambling and gaming. She works to promote a trauma informed understanding of gaming and gambling problems, particularly in communities that have high exposure to racism, economic marginalization, institutionalization, and precarious immigration status. She is a graduate of Brandeis University, received her Master’s in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University in Cambridge MA. Odessa is a Certified Trauma and Resilience Practitioner.
Raymond Fluette joined GameSense with 22 years of Casino Table Games Management experience to the team and manages a team of nearly two dozen GameSense Advisors. Ray played a leading role in the implementation of LiveChat and Remote VSE.
Bubba is a professional broadcaster, host, consultant, entrepreneur, content creator, and veteran event manager. His main focus is on gaming, esports, education, and technology. He has worked in radio, television, live streaming and is the founder of the Jolumi Media firm (Joe-lou-me), where he consults for multiple esports, gaming, sports, tech, and education companies. He has been a gamer and self-proclaimed NERD ever since he was a kid when his dad managed Radio Shacks in Oklahoma. Bubba has been an adjunct professor in higher-ed since 2013 and worked in the non-profit and traditional sports industry for over 21 years with the YMCA, NCAA, NAIA, Parks and Recs, Sports Commissions, and the Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, he helped create the non-profit 501(c)3 charity the Varsity Esports Foundation (VEF), and a year later took the reigns as the Executive Director.
Maureen Greeley has lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest for 27 years had made this truly Home for me. She grew up in the Midwest — Kansas City, Missouri. Her passion for conservation led me to San Diego, CA, where she worked at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park for 12 1/2, first as Assistant Editor of ZOONOOZ; then in Conservation Events and Development/Fundraising for the Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species. The Wolf’s call led her to Washington State in 1993, where she served as Executive Director of a Wolf Sanctuary for six years. The Lottery was Maureen’s next career move and it opened her eyes to both the benefits and the potential harms of gambling. The Washington State Council on Problem Gambling was her first client when she opened her own business to assist small nonprofits with communications and fundraising. When they asked her to step in as Executive Director a little more than 3 years later, she joined a wonderful team of passionate Board Members and an organization without much funding, no office to call home, and no other staff. Today, the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling still has a passionate and talented Board, an equally passionate and talented staff, and an office (though, like so many, we are working remotely right now).
Haner Hernandez, PhD is Puerto Rican, bilingual and has worked for over 34+ years in the health and human service field developing, implementing, and evaluating culturally and linguistically intelligent youth and adult health prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery support programs. He is a master trainer and facilitator and provides individualized technical assistance and support to organizations that provide Substance Use Disorder, Mental Health, and gambling prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery supports. Also, Dr. Hernández has over 30 years of experience in delivering mental health services, addiction counseling, and clinical supervision to professionals in the field. Haner is a person in long-term recovery from addiction and is committed to eliminating health disparities by participating in processes the build equity. He has served as a consultant to several local and state health departments with a focus on disparities, building health equity, addiction treatment, and recovery supports. He also consults with and teaches several courses at the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center at Brown University and the National Latino and Hispanic Prevention, Treatment, and Mental Health Addiction Technology Transfer Centers funded by SAMHSA.
Blair Inniss, JD is the Government Relations Coordinator at the Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling. In this role, she works with the Maryland General Assembly and the Maryland Department of Health to expand and promote healthy gaming policy. Blair performs broad research to develop fact sheets, 50 state surveys, best practice guidelines, draft legislation, testimony, and other educational materials. Blair is also affiliated with the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law where she supervises students enrolled in the Clinical Law Program working on public health law projects primarily related to problem gambling and tobacco control.
Ken Litwak, ICGC-II is a Licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LCADC) with additional certifications in gambling (ICGC-II), trauma (CCTP), and psychological first aid (DRCC). Ken was the first person awarded the International Gaming Disorder Certificate (IGDC). Ken holds a Bachelor of Arts in Management from City University of Seattle, a Master of Science in Professional Counseling specializing in Addiction Counseling from Grand Canyon University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology from Northcentral University in California. Ken is a U.S. Navy Veteran who has circumnavigated the Earth twice.
Martin Lycka is SVP for American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling at Entain, overseeing growth of the business across both new U.S. states and into other parts of the Americas, notably LATAM and Canada. He joined the business in April 2018, as Director of Regulatory Affairs. Martin also serves on the boards of the Entain Foundation, the Entain Foundation US, the German Online Casino Association and the Advisory Boards to the National Council on Problem Gambling as well as RG247, a responsible gaming training provider. In the past, Martin has been a board member of the European Gaming and Betting Association, JDigital and the European Sports Security Association. In total, Martin has been a senior legal, regulatory and RG (Responsible Gambling) advisor to listed gambling businesses for over 12 years.
Ken Martz, PsyD, ICGC II, BACC is a licensed psychologist working in the treatment and management of mental health and addiction for the past twenty-five years. He has specialty training in a range of specialty approaches including supervision and management. As a bestselling author, Dr. Martz has written over a dozen publications, offered over 100 local, national, and international presentations. You can find earlier works are related to gambling disorders and public policy. He is best known for Manage My Emotions: What I Wish I’d Learned in School about Anger, Fear, and Love.
Victor Ortiz is a social worker with over twenty-five years of experience in the development of programs and services in addiction, youth development, child welfare, and behavioral health. He has worked extensively with a wide range of populations, especially in addressing health disparities, promoting equity and social justice. Victor has served in various professional positions aimed at improving access, and advocacy of care for individuals and families. In 2009, Victor received his BSW from Anna Maria College; He was recognized for academic excellence while serving as a mentor to many students seeking professional guidance.
Sarah Ramanauskas has worked in and with the gambling industry since 2008. A background in technology and market research brought her first to Betfair (now part of Flutter) and then William Hill, running research and insight teams looking at gambler behavior. Since 2014 she has been part of a number of initiatives looking to prevent gambling harm, both paid (consulting to the gambling industry at Gambling Integrity) and unpaid (Chair at Betknowmore, Commissioner on the UK’s Commission on Crime and Problem Gambling). She is now working with a number of other female entrepreneurs in the responsible gambling / social responsibility space to help improve the ways in which gambling operators look to protect players. She holds a Masters in English Literature from Magdalen College Oxford, one of the first couple of hundred women to study there after 500 years or so of men only.
Karen Reddick is a 63-year-old African American woman with ten years of recovery from gambling addiction. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, Karen was first exposed to gambling in her teens through bowling tournaments and pot bowling. It was during a bowling tournament trip to Las Vegas, that she saw that gambling could be a problem. Over the next few years, Karen struggled with lottery and scratch-off tickets and sought out casinos during her travels for work and vacations. Her problems intensified after casinos were built in Pennsylvania. After confiding in a co-worker, Karen sought help, admitting that “my gambling was out of control, and I was powerless over gambling and sought help to put the broken pieces of myself and my life back together, one day at a time.”
Tana Russell holds certifications as a Substance Use Disorder Professional (SUDP), Washington State Certified Gambling Counselor II (WSCGC-II), and Nationally Certified Tobacco Treatment Provider (NCTTP). She became Assistant Director at ECPG in September 2019. She has a passion for training and enjoys presenting on topics related to gambling, gaming, tobacco, addictions, treatment, and recovery. She has worked with adults and adolescents, in the criminal justice, health care, and OTP/MAT (Opioid Therapy Program/Medication Assisted Treatment) settings.
Phil Sherwood has 21 years of experience directing advocacy and communications programs across the region. Previously, he served as a director for CCAG, where he led advocacy, government relations, and communications efforts for more than a decade before directing statewide advocacy programs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Phil has provided strategic counsel and directed program efforts for senior-level non-profit, union, elected, and business officials in communications, advocacy, marketing, re-branding, public relations, community engagement, and strategic planning. In addition, he has led more than 75 electoral, legislative, or issue-based campaigns across New England.
James Syphax serves as a Community Prevention Manager at Prevention Action Alliance, the state-level behavioral health prevention provider in Ohio. In addition to providing training and technical assistance to prevention coalitions across Ohio James also manages the agency’s problem gambling prevention activities. James is a member of Ohio’s Problem Gambling Advisory Board, is part of the team managing Ohio’s Before You Bet and Change the Game campaign and serves on NCPG’s prevention committee and emerging trends subcommittee. Prior to serving at Prevention Action Alliance James was a community coalition coordinator and school-based prevention specialist.
Christina Thakor-Rankin has 30 years’ experience working in the betting and gambling industry with a career spanning all aspects of gaming operations, regulatory compliance and money laundering across both land and online. Previously holding senior roles with some of world’s leading brands managing multiple teams and functions across a range of channels and products she is currently Principal Consultant at 1710 Gaming Ltd working across all aspects of customer operations with special focus on player protection and safer gambling. She is Co-Founder of the All-In Diversity Project.
Dan Trolaro is the VP of Prevention – US for EPIC Risk Management. He graduated from The College of New Jersey with a major in Finance and a concentration in Economics and spent 12 years in the world of Investment Banking. Despite a successful career, Dan had also been suffering in silence with a gambling disorder since high school. In 2013, and after a series of life events, he went on to receive his Master’s in Psychology to help educate others around the country on prevention, education, and emerging trends in the world of gambling.
Keith S. Whyte became the Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) in October 1998. NCPG is the national advocate for programs and services to assist problem gamblers and their families. NCPG was founded in 1972 and is the oldest and most objective organization on gambling issues.
Previously, Mr. Whyte served as Director of Research for the American Gaming Association where he was responsible for research and public policy issues, including problem gambling. His prior experience includes the American Bar Association’s Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities where he dealt with policy issues relating to civil rights, human rights, healthcare, and immigration law. He began his career working on healthcare policy in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Keith graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Certificate in International Relations. He also studied at Leiden University, the Netherlands.
Mr. Whyte has presented in 39 US states and Austria, Bahamas, Canada, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Macau, Malawi, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa and the United Kingdom. He has written numerous articles, studies and book chapters on gaming issues. In addition, Keith has testified four times before the United States Congress on gambling-related legislation. He regularly discusses gaming issues in national and international print, radio and broadcast media, including appearances on ABC News, ABC News Nightline, CBS News, CBS Today Show, Dateline NBC, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, ESPN, CNN, CNN International, Voice of America and the BBC. Keith is an Editorial Board member of Gaming Law Review and Analysis of Gambling Behavior. He is a member of the International Masters in Gaming Law Responsible Gaming Committee. Keith also serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Gambling Issues and the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, and sits on the Advisory Boards of the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University and the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University. A longtime resident of Arlington, Virginia with his wife Stacey and son Ian, Keith is an appointed member of the Arlington Community Services Board, precinct captain for the Arlington County Democratic Committee, delegate to the Arlington Civic Federation and longtime volunteer for the Arlington Food Assistance Center. He is an avid cyclist who rides more than 3,000 miles per year and a passionate supporter of the D.C. United soccer team.
Cole Wogoman joined NCPG in November 2021. He focuses on advocating for NCPG’s legislative agenda of problem gambling and responsible gambling policies to both the U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch. Cole also works with NCPG’s Board of Directors, state affiliates, and members on proposed state and local legislation and regulations across the country. Cole is a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia. Previously, he served as legislative counsel for D.C. Councilmember Mary M. Cheh, advising her on a wide range of issues, including sports gambling, transportation, and agency oversight. Before his time in public service, Cole worked as an associate for the law firm of Willkie Farr and Gallagher. He holds a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, and a BA in Political Science with a minor in Business Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Marvin Yates, Director of State Affairs for the National Football League (NFL), joined in 2018 to lead the efforts on sports betting and other issues at the state level. In his role, Marvin manages the league’s day-to-day state government affairs program, manages close to 30 contract lobbyists, and identifies opportunities in the states to advance the NFL’s policy agenda. His work drafting legislation, submitting written testimony, and testifying in various states has led to positive policy outcomes in over 20 states. While sports betting has been his most prominent issue, he also covers state policy issues related to taxes, stadiums, youth sports and health.
Before taking on this role, Marvin worked at CTIA, the trade association for the wireless communications industry. In his role as Senior Manager of State Legislative Affairs, he worked closely with the other members on his team to monitor issues and advocate on behalf of their members at the state level.
Prior to CTIA, he gained experience in state government affairs and policy in the Metro DC area in various roles with other trade associations and legislative tracking firms. Marvin is originally from Michigan, where he worked in the Michigan House of Representatives as a Legislative Assistant and also has an extensive history of campaign experience.
He is a graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy. Marvin has over a decade of experience in state government affairs, policy and public service. In his free time Marvin enjoys sports, traveling, community service and reading.
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