Meitzler and Gros honoured as recipients of AGEM Awards ’17
At G2E exhibition in Las Vegas last month, AGEM presented the Jens Halle Memorial Award Honouring Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism to Rick Meitzler, while Roger Gros received the 2017 Peter Mead Memorial Award Honouring Excellence in Gaming Media & Communications
Marcus Prater Executive Director of AGEM
AGEM previously announced the creation of this unique annual awards program to acknowledge the lasting impacts on gaming by Halle and Mead, two distinctive industry veterans who died unexpectedly in 2015. Honorees were announced at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas.
Currently celebrating his 40th year in the gaming industry, Meitzler, 59, began his career as an assistant game designer for Bally Gaming in Chicago in 1977 and now serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of Novomatic Americas, a subsidiary of Austrian technology powerhouse Novomatic Group. In his distinguished career with Bally spanning more than 33 years and dozens of jurisdictions around the world, Meitzler held more than 10 different employment positions, primarily in the areas of sales and customer service.
In 2007, he assisted Australian company Ainsworth Game Technology’s US entry as Senior VP of North American operations. Meitzler assumed his current position with Novomatic in 2015 and oversees a growing team dedicated to expanding the company’s overall presence in North America.
Now nearly four decades into a gaming career that started as a dealer in Atlantic City in 1979, Gros, 66, is the undisputed dean of North American gaming journalists. He started chronicling the gaming industry as a co-founder of Casino Journal magazine in 1983 as well as Casino Player magazine in 1988 that went on to become the leading source of information for casino visitors.
In 2002, he founded Global Gaming Business (GGB) magazine and has been Publisher for the past 15 years for the leading trade publication that has the official endorsement of both AGEM and the American Gaming Association (AGA). His Casino Connection International company also publishes the Tribal Government Gaming, Casino Style and G2E Preview industry journals. In addition, Gros is President of one of the leading marketing affiliates in the U.S. iGaming industry –
iGamingPlayer.com. Gros also was a co- founder of the Southern Gaming Summit in Biloxi, Mississippi, and has organized hundreds of informative panel discussions for G2E, G2E Asia and
other trade shows and conferences.
“Roger’s collective history and knowledge of the industry has been shaped by diverse and unique viewpoints that have made him one of gaming’s greatest communicators and steadfast supporters,” said Marcus Prater, Executive Director of AGEM. “His written words and dedication to the trade journal and trade show segments of our industry have kept all of us informed and engaged as gaming has expanded globally over the past 30 years. He remains a go-to commentator for the mainstream media and supports gaming with a commitment to accuracy based on decades of experience and observation.”
Current gaming professionals were nominated for these memorial awards based on the following criteria that aim to capture the unique attributes displayed by Halle and Mead during their storied careers:
Jens Halle Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism “Nominees must have experience working in the global gaming supplier sector for a minimum of 10 years and possess the following traits and qualities that Jens displayed throughout his working life: Professionalism, business success, attention to detail and timely follow-up; a willingness to ‘go the extra mile,’ both figuratively and literally; a sense of humanity in an oft-times cutthroat business; a recognition of the importance of a handshake and a fair deal for all; and a dedication to the health of the industry as a whole.”
Peter Mead Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Gaming Media & Communications “Nominees must have experience working in the mainstream media, gaming trade press or individual gaming company PR/communications for a minimum of 10 years and possess the following traits and qualities that Peter displayed throughout his working life: Quality reporting and communication with an emphasis on personal contact to generate ideas and gather information; taking risks and questioning the status quo; challenging the industry to consider new ideas; and identifying trusted partners to improve the overall product.”
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM P37
Halle, a longtime Bally and Novomatic executive in Europe who was most recently CEO of Gauselmann Group’s Merkur Gaming based in Florida, died suddenly on May 20, 2015 at the age of 57. Mead, the founder and publisher of Casino Enterprise Management magazine, died suddenly in Las Vegas on June 24, 2015 at the age of 54.
“How very deserving and appropriate it is for Rick Meitzler to receive this award named for his mentor and friend Jens Halle. If you read through the nominating criteria that captures the spirit of Jens and his career, you could just as easily be talking about Rick. He has succeeded in his career by taking care of his customers around the world with a smile on his face and a high level of integrity that makes him one of our industry’s most respected and popular figures.” Tom Nieman, President of AGEM
Insight AGEM Memorial Awards 2017
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
