12 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2024 Continued on page 49 Yes you are, thank you, Cindy! Susan and I work great together, as long as I never forget who the real boss is! But there’s no comparison to what NASPL does. The number and scale of their events and services increases the complexity and challenge exponentially. C. Polzin: We changed it up a little bit last year for Brewing the Best in Milwaukee. We wanted to celebrate a little bit of Wisconsin culture and so I hope everyone loved it! The main thing is that we need to push ourselves to evolve, to disrupt and reinvent and try new things. Mistakes will be made and learned from and that’s okay because it is the only way to drive progress. This year in Kansas City will be something new as well. The focus will be on the conference as there won’t be a trade-show. Our valued sponsors and vendor partners are helping more than ever as well. It will be an interesting event with a whole different feeling to it. The trade-show component to the annual NASPL event will be back in 2025. That will be in Niagara Falls, which should afford lots of opportunity to do some fresh and different things as well. But we are all gearing up and excited about A State of Winning from Sept. 9-12 in Kansas City. NASPL, and Lester Elder’s (Exec Director of Missouri Lottery) whole team at the Missouri Lottery, the vendor partners, and everyone involved are all stretching to produce a refreshed and fabulous conference event. They all deserve a lot of respect for all they are doing to create a new and special experience. I promise everyone will be impressed by the format, the content, the social and networking time, and love the whole experience! What are some of the high-priority goals of your tenure as president of NASPL? C. Polzin: I appreciate and am humbled by the opportunity to serve as president of NASPL. The presidency is for only one year, so part of our job is to just provide continuity for strategic plans that are already in place. But I do have two goals. My first goal is prefaced with a bit of a story. I was appointed lottery director in 2016. The first time I met my colleagues was at a MUSL strategic planning meeting in Iowa in Spring of 2017. Of course, I did not know anyone. I don’t think I even knew what “MUSL” or “NASPL” stands for. And I walked into the room and realized I didn't know what I was doing there, or what was expected of me. It was very uncomfortable, right? Thankfully I sat next to this lovely man named Gary Grief, who helped me get acquainted with things. The interim Director of the Wisconsin Lottery before me told me to find a woman named Sarah Taylor – that she would be a great mentor and friend for me. She was and is to this day! The long and short of it is that we should make it easier for new directors to be brought up to speed on who does what, on the mission and purpose of the different associations, committees, working groups, task forces, etc. So one of my goals was to start a mentorship program for new directors. We now have a skeleton blueprint for that. My friend Adam Prock (Director of Minnesota Lottery) had the same idea which we discussed shortly after I was elected president of NASPL. Adam’s guidance has been very helpful as the program developed. Team NASPL put together and we sent it out a first version of the new director mentorship program for directors to review. Since that time, there have been at least five new directors appointed. I want to also thank the four regional directors of NASPL for their support and engagement. They have always been so generous with their time to pitch in and help me and others as needed. David Gale has always reached out to the new director, to introduce NASPL, offer to help or connect, talk any time, etc. After that, the regional director reaches out to the new director and offers their mentorship or to find another director who may have experience or insights into particular issues that the new director is interested in. I, of course, also reach out to the new director. We share with them the activities of the associations and ask them if they have thoughts on how they might like to be involved with NASPL, MUSL, and the industry in general so we might offer guidance on how to proceed. The new crop of directors since I've been president are outstanding! I can't wait to see what they bring to the industry! The new director gets great guidance from their own senior staff. Of course, we all so value our senior executive team, and all our staff, as they are the ones who keep this business running. But there are some issues that can only be understood by someone at the director level, someone who truly understands the complex diversity of stakeholders. Too, incumbent staff is likely to be too invested in procedures and methods that have been in place for years and may be ready for a change. The new director needs friends in a similar position to help them navigate some of these issues. So, I am proud of this initiative, proud of David and the regionals for advancing it, and “The main thing is that we need to push ourselves to evolve, to disrupt and reinvent and try new things.” Cindy at Vending Machine
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