About Us
Home / News & Press / Story Detail
 
 

Return to News & Press

11/17/2008

Shuffle Master, Inc. Announces Leadership Changes



Drawing on the depth of its executive management team, Shuffle Master, Inc. announced today the promotions of David Lopez, Roger Snow and Jerry Smith to Executive Vice Presidents of the Company.

In addition to these promotions, and in keeping with corporate best practices, the Company announced that its Board of Directors has decided to separate the roles of Chairman of the Board from that of Chief Executive Officer and has elected Philip Peckman, a current independent director, as its new non-executive Chairman.

Finally, Shuffle Master also announced that in order to streamline its domestic operations and improve efficiencies, the Company is consolidating the Shuffle Master Americas division with its Corporate group, both of which are headquartered in Las Vegas.

Mark Yoseloff, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, commented, "I am pleased that during these tough economic times for our industry, Shuffle Master continues to grow and prosper because of our suite of innovative products which provide both revenue enhancement and operating cost efficiencies for our casino customers. Phil’s strong business experience and new role will bring broader perspective to our business, while the promotion of these three seasoned executives will greatly strengthen our senior management team. These changes will allow me to continue to focus on our overall business strategy.”

“We have indicated for some time our plan to strengthen our executive depth and operational focus. Roger, David and Jerry have all been with Shuffle Master for a number of years and have been important contributors to the Company’s dramatic growth. Their strategic planning, operations, development, and managerial experience within the company make them uniquely suited to take on this new responsibility. I am proud of these talented examples of one of our greatest strengths; namely, our human capital, and look forward to working with this dynamic team on a senior executive level,” Yoseloff concluded.

Peckman has been a member of Shuffle Master’s Board of Directors since June 2007. He is an attorney and certified public accountant and presently serves as Chairman of the Board’s audit committee. Peckman is the Chief Executive Officer of Peckman Outdoor Media. Prior to this Peckman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Greenspun Corporation, a company with interests in real estate, media, communications, travel and tourism, gaming and technology. Peckman retired from this post in 2006.

Lopez began his career with Shuffle Master in 1998 as a Marketing Analyst and has since been promoted six times, most recently serving as President of Shuffle Master Americas. During his ten year tenure, Lopez has played an important role in Shuffle Master’s overall growth. Lopez was responsible for managing much of the sales growth and profitability of the business, while building a strong team of leaders to drive continued market success. In his expanded corporate role, he will be assuming many of the responsibilities previously handled by Paul Meyer, former President and Chief Operating Officer. His primary focus will be on sales, product management and operations.

Snow began his career with Shuffle Master in 2000 as Table Games Product Manager. In addition to running the product line, Snow oversaw the development of the Company’s proprietary table games. Snow has developed some of the most popular games in the market, including Four Card Poker®, Crazy 4 Poker® and Dragon Bonus®. Snow’s games represent over 1,200 tables in casinos around the world. Snow has held three other positions in the company. With this promotion, he will take over chairing the Company’s Corporate Products Group, the committee responsible for the Company’s product strategy. In addition, he will oversee worldwide marketing.

Smith started with Shuffle Master in 2001 and most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. During his tenure with the Company, he has played a major role in the Company’s acquisitions and other important legal transactions. Smith will continue to serve as the Company’s General Counsel, responsible for the Company’s legal, compliance and corporate affairs. He will also now serve as Corporate Secretary.

Smith, Lopez and Snow will continue to report directly to Yoseloff and will maintain their current responsibilities in addition to overseeing corporate strategic goals and objectives.

 

This release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current beliefs and expectations about future events, as well as on assumptions made by and information available to management. The Company considers such statements to be made under the safe harbor created by the federal securities laws to which it is subject, and assumes no obligation to update or supplement such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, the following: changes in the level of consumer or commercial acceptance of the Company’s existing products and new products as introduced; advances by competitors; acceleration and/or deceleration of various product development, promotion and distribution schedules; product performance issues; higher than expected manufacturing, service, selling, administrative, product development, promotion and/or distribution costs; changes in the Company’s business systems or in technologies affecting the Company’s products or operations; reliance on strategic relationships with distributors and technology and manufacturing vendors; current and/or future litigation or claims; tax matters, including changes in tax legislation or assessments by taxing authorities; acquisitions or divestitures by the Company or its competitors of various product lines or businesses and, in particular, integration of businesses that the Company may acquire; changes to the Company’s intellectual property portfolio, such as the issuance of new patents, new intellectual property licenses, loss of licenses, claims of infringement or invalidity of patents; regulatory and jurisdictional issues (e.g., technical requirements and changes, delays in obtaining necessary approvals, or changes in a jurisdiction’s regulatory scheme or approach, etc.) involving the Company and its products specifically or the gaming industry in general; general and casino industry economic conditions; the financial health of the Company’s casino and distributor customers, suppliers and distributors, both nationally and internationally; the Company’s ability to meet its debt service obligations, including the Notes, and to refinance its indebtedness, which will depend on its future performance and other conditions or events and will be subject to many factors that are beyond the Company’s control; and various risk related to the Company’s customers’ operations in countries outside the United States, including currency fluctuation risks, which could increase the volatility of the Company’s results from such operations. Additional information on these and other risk factors that could potentially affect the Company’s financial results may be found in documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K.

Media Inquiries:
If you are a member of the media and have questions about Shuffle Master, Inc., please contact:

Kirsten Clark
(702) 897-7150
kclark@shufflemaster.com

Request a Press Kit:
info@shufflemaster.com