Names William Fair Sr. Vice President, Chief Development Officer
WYOMISSING, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2014--
Penn National Gaming, Inc. (PENN: Nasdaq) (“Penn” or the “Company”)
announced today that Jay Snowden, who has served as Senior Vice
President, Regional Operations since October 2011, has been named Senior
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. The role
of Chief Operating Officer was previously held by Timothy J. Wilmott,
who was named Chief Executive Officer in November 2013 concurrent with
the spin-off of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (“GLPI”) from the
Company. Penn also announced that effective January 6, William J. (“B.
J.”) Fair was appointed Senior Vice President, Chief Development
Officer, a position previously held by Steven Snyder who assumed the
role of Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at GLPI at the time
of the spin-off. Mr. Snowden and Mr. Fair will report directly to Mr.
Wilmott, and both appointments are subject to customary regulatory
approvals.
Tim Wilmott commented on the appointments, “We are delighted to announce
Jay’s promotion and the addition of B. J. to our team of proven
operations, finance, marketing, project development and legal
executives. Since the spin-off, we have appointed experienced executives
to senior management positions, including CFO, COO and Chief Development
Officer, positioning us to optimize the results of our growing regional
gaming portfolio and deliver excellent entertainment experiences to our
patrons while pursuing opportunities to further expand the scale and
diversity of our operations, and build value for shareholders.”
As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Snowden will be responsible for the
Company’s regional gaming operations, marketing, human resources and IT
functions. Mr. Snowden joined Penn National in 2011 following over 12
years at Caesars Entertainment in several regional and destination
markets, including Nevada, California, Missouri, and New Jersey.
Immediately prior to joining Penn National, he served as Senior Vice
President and General Manager of both Caesars Atlantic City and Harrah’s
Resort Atlantic City. Mr. Snowden began his career with Caesars in 1998
with a financial planning and analysis role prior to being named Slot
Performance Manager at Harrah’s Las Vegas. In 2000, he assisted in the
design and development of Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego before becoming
that property’s Vice President and Assistant General Manager upon
opening. In 2003, he became Vice President and Assistant General Manager
of Harrah’s St. Louis and, soon thereafter, served as acting General
Manager. In 2005, he was appointed Senior Vice President and General
Manager of Showboat Atlantic City, where he oversaw construction of a
$65 million expansion project, and was given additional responsibility
as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic
City in 2008.
Mr. Snowden earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Harvard
University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an Executive Masters in
Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis,
Missouri.
B. J. Fair brings 30 years of real estate and resort operation
experience to the role of Senior Vice President, Chief Development
Officer including senior management positions at leading consumer
entertainment entities with large scale development projects including
American Skiing Company, Universal Studios and Disney Development
Company. At Penn National, Mr. Fair will be responsible for corporate
growth and development initiatives as well as project development
including design and construction.
Mr. Fair previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of
American Skiing Company where he had oversight of ten ski mountain
resorts (Steamboat, The Canyons, Heavenly, Killington, Pico, Mount Snow,
Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Sugarbush and Attitash) which included ski
operations, nine hotels, condominium operations, food and beverage
operations, retail and rental operations, real estate brokerage and
development. Mr. Fair orchestrated the financial turn-around of the
company which culminated in the successful sale of all of the resorts.
Prior to American Skiing, Mr. Fair was President and Director of
Universal Studios Port Aventura in Tarragona, Spain. In this role Mr.
Fair was responsible for establishing the strategic direction, business
planning and master planning to grow the regional theme park and
surrounding 2,000 acres into an international resort destination,
including the planning and development of two 500 room on-property
resort hotels. Mr. Fair joined Universal in 1996 as Senior Vice
President, Business Planning in the Universal Creative Division which
was responsible for the design and construction of the Universal Studios
theme parks where he led the design and preconstruction team on the
Universal Studios Osaka project. From 1992 to 1996 Mr. Fair was with the
Disney Development Company as the Director of Finance and Business
Planning focusing on the development and economic feasibility of the
$1.4 billion Disneyland Resort Project. Mr. Fair began his career in
master planned community development holding senior positions in the
development of the Monarch Beach community in Southern California. Mr.
Fair has previously served on the Board of Directors of numerous
companies including American Skiing and Squaw Valley Ski Corp.
Mr. Fair earned a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Economics and
Political Science from Claremont Mens College (now Claremont McKenna
College) in Claremont, California and a Masters in Business
Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
About Penn National Gaming
Penn National Gaming, through its subsidiaries, owns, operates or has
ownership interests in gaming and racing facilities with a focus on slot
machine entertainment. The Company presently operates twenty-six
facilities in seventeen jurisdictions, including Florida, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada,
New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, and
Ontario. In aggregate, Penn's operated facilities feature approximately
31,000 gaming machines, 800 table games and 2,900 hotel rooms.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements can be
identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as “expects,”
“believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “should”
or “anticipates” or the negative or other variation of these or similar
words, or by discussions of future events, strategies or risks and
uncertainties. Such forward looking statements are inherently subject to
risks, uncertainties and assumptions about Penn and its subsidiaries,
and accordingly, any forward looking statements are qualified in their
entirety by reference to the factors described in Penn’s Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, subsequent Quarterly
Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K as filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). All subsequent written
and oral forward looking statements attributable to Penn or persons
acting on Penn’s behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
cautionary statements included in this press release. Penn undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements
contained or incorporated by reference herein, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward
looking events discussed in this press release may not occur.
Source: Penn National Gaming, Inc.
Penn National Gaming, Inc.
Saul V. Reibstein, 610-373-2400
Chief
Financial Officer
or
Eric Schippers, 610-373-2400
Sr.
Vice President, Public Affairs
or
JCIR
Joseph N. Jaffoni,
Richard Land
212-835-8500
penn@jcir.com
