Public Gaming Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

68 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 Wendy Montgomery from page 10 forward-thinking operators they had ever dealt with in the lottery business. In her role at IGT, Wendy embraced the company’s Customer First philosophy, using her B2C Lottery operator knowledge and insights to advocate for player-centric solutions that drive customers’ growth and return more funds for good causes. She championed early adoption in the United States of in-lane sales by negotiating with vendors and working with a major chain to prioritize this innovation. Under her leadership at IGT, the company has made a substantial contribution to the NASPL API Standards and paved the way for significant new channel sales development in the lottery industry. Given the changing consumer journey and the overall pace of retail digitization, lottery adoption of these standards will help lotteries deliver sustainable growth to good causes. As a seasoned executive, Wendy has consistently made a point to mentor young women and foster women’s advancement in the lottery industry. She serves as IGT’s executive sponsor for its Women’s Inclusion Network (“WIN with IGT”) and is the Chair of the company’s Diversity and Inclusion Executive Council. Even more importantly, she has played an integral role in the PGRI Women in Lottery Leadership initiative – a premiere global program to advance women into senior leadership positions. As Community relations, responsible gaming and sustainability are part of Wendy’s current oversight, she maintains IGT’s positive reputation of being the industry leader in corporate social responsibility. As part of her personal commitment to this, she chairs IGT’s Executive Sustainability Committee which reinforces IGT’s approach to sustainability throughout its global culture. She also ensures the company’s commitment to aligning strategies and operations with nine of the United Nations Global Compact universal principles on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, and taking actions to advance the UN’s sustainable development goals. Under Wendy’s leadership, IGT formalized its Responsible Gaming Policy to educate all employees about the company’s responsible gaming initiatives and commitment, while reflecting its balanced role as both a B2B and B2C supplier for a diverse customer base and licensed regulators. In 2016, Wendy was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. In 2020, she was recognized with Providence Business News’ C-Suite award. n John Schulz from page 10 LOT TERY INDUSTRY HAL L OF FAME CONT INUES invaluable to the industry. He strategically navigates teams to safely evolve processes, ensuring the sustained supply of instant products to global lottery customers. This has allowed the industry to not only remain resilient, but to thrive and grow, with many lotteries recording record instant sales in fiscal year 2021. John leads operational and business development teams responsible for all aspects of Scientific Games’ global instant products production, including game design, programming and manufacturing, creating close to 70% of the global instant products retail sales for the industry. Additionally, John oversees Scientific Games’ licensing business, retail solutions and partnership programs, including global SGEP and Americas systems site operations. John holds a B.S. in Organizational Management from Nyack College in Nyack, New York and is a graduate of Columbia Business School, Senior Executive Program in New York City. *45% more than non-SGEP customers based on 2020 U.S. sales in MAP™; excludes MS and PR n game suite and has one of most successful seasonal raffle games in the country. The Lottery’s Montana Millionaire raffle game started in 2007 and had never experienced a sell-out. That changed due to Angela’s efforts which resulted in the game selling out every year since then in record time each year. The Lottery launched a new in-state daily lotto game in 2016, Big Sky Bonus, that went on to win the prestigious NASPL Buddy Roogow Innovation Award, “Best New Draw Game” in 2017. In 2019 sports wagering was passed in the state of Montana and added to the Lottery product line. Angela led the lottery through the successful and complicated launch of sports wagering. The launch unfortunately coincided with the COVID pandemic, but Angela was determined to make the product as lucrative as it could be in light of the challenges that lied ahead. She successfully navigated the additional challenges of running a state agency remotely all the while introducing a new sports wagering system across the state of Montana. Angela has played an active and significant role in ensuring the continued success of the U.S. Lottery industry. Over the years she’s held various positions with the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL), serving as a Regional Officer, Secretary, Treasurer and First Vice-President. In the midst of the COVID pandemic she became NASPL President and worked with NASPL staff to ensure continuity of industry and educational efforts. She was the first President of NASPL from the state of Montana and was proudly part of industry history that same year as it was the first time that NASPL had an all-female leadership. During her decade-long service, she also served as Wild Card Game Group Chair, Mega Millions Group Chair, Secretary and First Vice-President of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Since leaving the Montana Lottery, Angela has taken the position of Director of Lottery Solutions for Gaming Laboratories International, LLC. Where she works to help lottery clients succeed and navigate the evolving lottery landscape by leveraging new opportunities created by the emerging technology and new delivery channels within industry. n Angela Wong from page 10