Global Gaming Awards Americas 2026 Names 25 Executive of the Year Nominees

Global Gaming Insider announced on 20 August 2026 the shortlist for Executive of the Year at the Global Gaming Awards Americas 2026, and it stands apart from everything else on the ballot. The category carries 25 nominees. Every other award has 10. The organiser says the expanded field reflects the breadth of leadership across the Americas and the calibre of executives in contention this year.

That is the surface. The more useful story sits in who made the list. It runs across commercial and Tribal gaming, iGaming, sports betting and the supplier sector, and across both North and South America. Read as a group, the 25 names are less a horse race than a picture of where leadership credibility is concentrated in Americas gaming right now.

Why the Global Gaming Awards Americas 2026 gave one category 25 nominees

The answer sits in the numbers. Every other award on the ballot has 10 nominees. This one has 25, because the organiser says the depth of leadership across the Americas over the past year could not be captured in a field of 10. Executive of the Year recognises senior leaders who have delivered outstanding leadership over the past 12 months and made a significant contribution to their company and the wider industry, and Global Gaming Insider judged that too many candidates cleared that bar to cut the list to a standard 10.

Mariya Savova, Marketing Director at Global Gaming Insider, put it directly. “Executive of the Year is always one of the most difficult Shortlists for our team to determine.” She added that the variety of achievements behind each nomination stood out, with executives leading very different businesses but each making a tangible impact over the year.

Every executive on the iGaming and casino leadership shortlist

The organiser lists the 25 nominees in no particular order, each with a reason for their nomination:

• Peter Arceo, MBA, Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation — Chief Gaming Officer directing gaming across Yaamava’ Resort & Casino and Palms Casino Resort.
• Carsten Koerl, Sportradar — Founder and CEO who led the IMG ARENA sports betting rights acquisition and accelerated AI investment.
• Mandi Hart, Sightline Payments — Head of Product who led the launch of Sightline Debit.
• Ryan Comstock, Ainsworth Game Technology — Appointed CEO in May 2026, with Dragon Legacy topping Eilers & Krejcik’s new core video games ranking.
• Dawn Clayton, Thunder Valley Casino Resort — The property’s first CEO in its 23-year history, having started as a craps dealer.
• Andrew Burke, Bluberi — CEO who led the supplier from bankruptcy to profitability and into Nevada in late 2025.
• Mackenzie Haugh, Gaming Laboratories International — Chief Delivery Officer overseeing global delivery after more than 25 years at GLI.
• Ivory Kelly, Tribal Council for Responsible Gaming — Founder and CEO, named the Indian Gaming Association’s Regulator of the Year in 2025.
• Joseph Billhimer, The Cordish Companies — COO & Development Officer for Cordish Gaming Group and a Mississippi Gaming Hall of Fame inductee.
• Adam Greenblatt, BetMGM — CEO who led BetMGM to $2.8bn net revenue in 2025, up 33%.
• David Lopez, AGS — President and CEO who guided the company through its 2025 Brightstar acquisition.
• Brooks Pierce, Inspired Entertainment — President and CEO steering a digital-focused shift.
• Dr. Alicia Lechtenberger, Passport Technology — VP of Sales and Marketing since January 2026, lifting RFP win rates from 12% to 25%.
• Jordan Levin, OpenBet — Chief who steered the company’s management buyout and its launch with TQJ in Brazil.
• Mor Weizer, Playtech — CEO who oversaw US revenue nearly doubling year-over-year.
• Lana Rivera, Graton Resort & Casino — President who helped spearhead the property’s $1bn expansion, opened May 2026.
• Elízabeth Maya Cano, Cornazar — Executive President of Colombia’s national gaming trade association.
• Arthur Niggemann, Betano Brazil (Kaizen Gaming) — Promoted in July 2025 to lead Betano’s marketing across the Americas.
• Erica M. Pinto, Jamul Indian Village — The Tribe’s first female Chairwoman, in post since 2015.
• Siobhan Lane, Light & Wonder — CEO of Gaming and President and Board Chair of Global Gaming Women.
• Eric Hession, Caesars Entertainment — President of Caesars Digital, which posted $1.41bn net revenue in 2025, up 21%.
• Nadia Popova, Euro Games Technology (EGT) — CRO and VP of Sales & Marketing, leading expansion into Brazil and Argentina.
• Joseph Hillier, iGaming Ontario — President and CEO who launched BetGuard in May 2026.
• Robin Villareal, Gila River Resorts & Casinos — The enterprise’s first Native American female CIO.
• Richard Schwartz, Rush Street Interactive — CEO who led RSI to record 2025 revenue of $1.13bn, up 23%.

All figures and achievements above are as stated by Global Gaming Insider in the nomination rationale.

What the organiser says makes the gaming awards credible

The people running the awards rest their credibility claim on two things: published reasons and an industry jury. Mariya Savova set out that logic plainly. “Firstly, every company and individual on the Shortlist is there for a clear and justified reason, which we publish openly.” She added that winners are determined by the industry itself, through a panel of senior executives from across the Americas representing different companies and markets.

Gary Roudette, CEO and Founder of the Global Gaming Awards, framed the event around a maturing region. “Each year, we welcome the industry to Las Vegas for the flagship Global Gaming Awards Americas, celebrating those who continue to raise the bar.” He noted that finalising the shortlist becomes harder with every edition, which tracks with a leadership category that now needs 25 slots.

How the iGaming and casino leadership vote is verified

Credibility here is checked, not just asserted. The winner is decided by the judging panel, not the organiser, and the vote is independently adjudicated by KPMG US, which has held that role since the first edition in 2014. Rick Arpin, Las Vegas Managing Partner and KPMG US Gaming Leader, described why that matters. “What remains constant is the critical importance of independently verifying the voting process.” KPMG reviews the systems and controls used to collect votes, applies safeguards that stop judges voting where a conflict of interest exists, verifies the winner and runner-up in each category, and runs random checks with selected judges.

That safeguard matters because several judges on this year’s panel, including Siobhan Lane, Brooks Pierce, Peter Arceo and Dr. Alicia Lechtenberger, also sit on the Executive of the Year shortlist. The conflict-of-interest rule, verified by KPMG, is what keeps that overlap clean.

Who sits on the Global Gaming Awards Americas 2026 judging panel

The panel reads as a cross-section of the Americas gaming industry. From suppliers and technology come Adam Azor of Sportradar, Jacob Claesson of Evolution, Hector Fernandez of IGT, Alicia Lechtenberger of Passport Technology, Ralitsa Georgieva of Octoplay, Eddie Au of LT Game, Alexis DeVincentis of Interblock, Saam Hafezi of Play’n GO, Andy Whitworth of White Hat Studios, Randy Gilbert of Table Trac, Chris Wieners of Velvix, Tracey Winslow of TransAct Technologies, David Natroshvili of SPRIBE, Robert Ziems of Gaming Arts, Derik Mooberry of Zitro USA, Gal Ehrlich of BETER, Guido Rizzo of MGR Seating Technology, Walter Bugno of Games Global, Daniel Kustelski of Chalkline, Rickard Vikström of Internet Vikings, Kevin Reid of 1X2 Network, Rob Visintainer of Eclipse Gaming, Mandi Hart of Sightline Payments and Phil Lee of TCSJOHNHUXLEY.

The operator and property side is just as deep, taking in Allie Evangelista of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, Anika Howard of Wondr Nation, Rafael Verde of PENN Entertainment, Patrick Nichols of The Venetian Las Vegas, Angela Shefveland of Treasure Island Resort & Casino, Brooke Fiumara of OPTX, Laura Penney of Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort, LuAnn Pappas of Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort, Melanie Heskett of Indigo Sky Casino, Matt Reback of Galaxy Gaming, Adam Wiesberg of El Cortez Hotel & Casino, Kari Stout-Smith of Cache Creek Casino Resort, Lana Rivera of Graton Resort & Casino, Dawn Clayton of Thunder Valley Casino Resort, Bruce Jones of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, Ricky Tromp of Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort Spa & Casino, Michael DeJong of Wynn Las Vegas, Holly Campano of Atlantis Paradise Island, Marcus Lucero of Jamul Casino, Javier De La Rosa of Spokane Tribe Casino and Camille Mercier of Spirit Mountain Casino.

Digital, media, compliance and industry-body figures round out the panel, among them Siobhan Lane of Light & Wonder, Brooks Pierce of Inspired Entertainment, Peter Arceo of Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, Matthew Sunderland of Caesars Entertainment, Anna Sainsbury of GeoComply, Eric Weiss of IC360, Sean Phinney of Enteractive, Stephen Crystal of SCCG Management, Jennifer Innes of Betting Jobs, Carolina Luna of Esportes Gaming Brasil, Kathleen McLaughlin of NOVOMATIC Americas, Lauren O’Brien Kruczynski of Aristocrat, Sheila Morago of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, and independent voices Debra Nutton and Dr Laila Mintas.

Which companies are backing the Global Gaming Awards Americas 2026

Interblock is the Lead Partner. The Gold Sponsors are Soft2Bet, Aristocrat Gaming, Novomatic, Playtech and Light & Wonder. The Silver Sponsors are SPRIBE, Greentube, MGR Casino Chairs, Betting Jobs, BETER, LT Game, Games Global, IGT, Sightline Payments and FIRST.bet, with Everi shown alongside IGT on the official sponsor board. Read together with the judges panel, the roster underlines the point the shortlist already makes: suppliers, operators and technology firms from across the Americas are all invested in this night.

What a 25-strong shortlist means for gaming operators and suppliers

For operators and suppliers, a shortlist this wide is a competitive signal, not just a guest list. When the industry’s own judging body cannot narrow leadership below 25 names, it says something about how many credible growth stories are running at once across the region. The practical use is simple: the list is a shortcut to which companies and leaders the sector rates as setting the pace this cycle, spanning verticals a single operator rarely touches at once. For anyone mapping partners, competitors or talent across the Americas, that is a reference worth keeping.

When the Executive of the Year winner is revealed at G2E

The calendar is set. The Executive of the Year winner, with the rest of the Global Gaming Awards Americas 2026 winners, will be revealed at a luncheon ceremony on Monday, 28 September, at The Venetian in Las Vegas, during the Global Gaming Expo. Global Gaming Insider has said the full shortlist across all categories will follow on its website. For an industry that treats G2E week as its Americas checkpoint, the result will read as one more marker of where leadership momentum sits heading into the next cycle.

Source: Global Gaming Awards