Happening December 5-11, 2021 and entitled Head Up: Elevating Leadership in the 2021 Landscape, UNLV International Gaming Institute (IGI) and UNR College of Business and Extended Studies will present an essential course to help gaming leaders to rebound from crisis and run business with optimism and hope.
The Executive Development Program (EDP) is considered the world’s most esteemed leadership ‘boot camp’ for rising star executives in the casino industry. Founded in 1990 by Dr. Bill Eadington, the pioneer of commercial gaming studies, EDP preserves his legacy by encouraging future leaders of the global gaming industry to think strategically about emerging industry issues.
It is a week-long intensive course examining key subjects in the sector: sustaining competitive advantage, responding to political uncertainties, managing organizational change, developing strategic alliances and adapting to the rules of a new playing field in the continually evolving gaming industry. EDP is taught by experts who position participants to meet to current and future challenges and opportunities for their gaming organizations. In the past 30 years, the program has graduated more than 1,500 executives and senior managers from gaming companies and regulatory agencies of over 48 countries.
About this cycle, Bo Bernhard, Executive Director, UNLV International Gaming Institute and EDP Moderator, commented: “This ‘special edition’ of EDP emerged from brainstorms from our best champions: our EDP alumni, who now run operations and tech companies all over the world. They noted that we remain in a ‘post-traumatic’ period, and that leadership is particularly crucial during a time when things are still difficult. We can promise that attendees will graduate from EDP prepared to lead in all crises imaginable, and some they would never have imagined.”
Bernhard is joined in leading the program by renowned industry thought leaders and mentors to the second EDP Presents class: Alan Feldman (Distinguished Fellow, UNLV International Gaming Institute; Longtime Gaming Executive, MGM Resorts International), and Holly Gagnon (President, HGC Hospitality Gaming Consulting; Distinguished Fellow, UNLV International Gaming Institute; Chairperson, Artemis Strategic Investment Corp).