Employee Volunteer All-stars
Commercial gaming industry employees donate tens of thousands of hours of volunteer hours a year. Through coordinating youth education initiatives and caring for wounded veterans to raising funds for medical research and caring for the environment, industry employees make a significant impact in their communities.
The following individuals have been nominated by their companies as industry employee Volunteer All-Stars. Their stories of service provide a snapshot of a workforce dedicated to giving back and making a difference. The AGA salutes their outstanding contributions.
Honorable Mention
Kerry Anderson
Corporate Director of Media Relations & Public Affairs
Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.
Kerry Andersen, the corporate director of media relations and public affairs for Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., is an active member of her community. She serves on eight charitable organizations and, just last year, earned three separate honors for her work on behalf of children. In addition to her dedication to child welfare, breast cancer survivor support, and animal rescue and adoption, Kerry has a passion for fighting illiteracy, racism and violence against women. Her work in these areas has led to recognitions such as the MLK Coalition’s honor for outstanding community service and the Literacy Council of Southwest Louisiana’s award for outstanding leadership and community service. In 2006, Kerry was appointed to the Louisiana Center for Women and Government at Nicholls State University, and she has served as vice president of the regional council established to encourage and promote the leadership of women in Louisiana.
Dale Baca
MGM Grand Poker Room Coordinator
MGM Resorts International
There is no project too big or deed too small for MGM Grand office coordinator Dale Baca; he just wants to see the world become a better place. Even when cancer threatened him with a grapefruit-sized tumor, he stared cancer in the face and would not let it stop him from giving back to others in need. Living out his commitment to volunteerism, Dale has been active in many volunteer initiatives that include the building of a number of Habitat for Humanity homes, collecting items for the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation and counseling those affected by HIV. Dale was MGM Resorts International’s 2010 Shining Star recipient, an award that is given to employees who go the extra mile in making volunteerism and service part of the culture at his or her resort. As part of the award, a $1,000 grant was provided to the organization of Dale’s choice.
Gail Bell
Project Manager, Product Compliance
Aristocrat Technologies, Inc.
Gail Bell has been a project manager in the product compliance department at Aristocrat Technologies, Inc. for the past seven years. She also serves on the Community Involvement Committee (CIC) and holds a position as one of the officers in charge of the Corporate Challenge Team, among other giving programs at Aristocrat. Along with her co-partners on the committee, Gail takes great pride in the CIC’s efforts to continue to build strong community partnerships with charitable giving organizations. Some of her favorite charities include Helping Hands of North Las Vegas, which helps the elderly, and Purple W.I.N.G.S., which strives to help under-privileged and at-risk girls to become productive and outstanding citizens. Additionally, she heads the Rose Regatta Race, which serves more than 600 Las Vegas women seeking breast health services.
Aleksis Bocanegra
Compliance Specialist
Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago
Aleksis Bocanegra began her career with Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago in January 2008. During her career, she has volunteered for almost every Ameristar Cares event that the company has sponsored. In 2012 alone, she amassed a great deal of volunteer hours by participating in several events, including: the East Chicago Celebration of Peace Walk; the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana’s Hope Harvest Walk; the Ameristar Cares Earth Day Clean-up Event in East Chicago, Ind.; the March of Dimes March for Babies Walk; the City of East Chicago’s Mexican Independence Parade float committee; and Ameristar’s annual Salvation Army Holiday Feeding program; among other activities. Aleksis and her family also enjoy volunteering at the Great Chicago Food Depository in their spare time. Among these volunteer activities, Aleksis’s favorite is the Salvation Army Holiday Feeding program. She feels that it is extremely important for her to give back and support her community and cites the Winston Churchill quote, “We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.”
Heather Brandt
Representative, Health and Wellness
International Game Technology
Heather Brandt, a Health and Wellness representative who has worked at International Game Technology since 2007, has connected with many great community organizations through IGT’s corporate sponsorships. She has also helped coordinate an IGT team to participate or volunteer to help at numerous fundraising events in the Reno area. But Heather’s commitment to helping people for a good cause goes back even further. Heather’s Reno area elementary school had a program where students could sign up to have a “lunch buddy” with students in the special education class, along with having buddies they would meet every couple of weeks at Marvin Piccolo and have a play date. Family is also a reason for her commitment: Growing up, Heather’s mom worked for the Committee to Aide Abused Women, where she volunteered to play with the children who were living in the shelter.
Amy Byro
Executive Pastry Chef
The Quad Resort & Casino
For Amy Byro, an executive pastry chef for Caesars Entertainment Corp., helping the Las Vegas community is her passion and drive. Amy is active in organizing donations for the Boys and Girls Clubs’ annual auction. She also supports the Nevada Ballet Theatre and runs several 5K races every year to support cancer research and awareness, such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Amy also trains every year to run a half marathon in San Diego, which raises money for Leukemia and Lymphoma. Additionally, she is involved with Project Teddy and Toy Drive in the Las Vegas area.
Elena Cistrunk
Project Manager
Aristocrat Technologies
Elena Cistrunk has been working with Aristocrat Technologies, Inc. since 2003 and became involved in its Community Involvement Committee, Building Hope, in 2005. Having grown up with the value of service, Elena has enthusiastically embraced her role in helping Aristocrat broaden its impact on the local Las Vegas community. During the time Elena has served on Building Hope, Aristocrat has established several partnerships with non-profit organizations in the Las Vegas area, such as Street Teens, which offers sanctuary, supplies and other services to homeless children; Purple W.I.N.G.S., which offers counseling to young girls affected by human trafficking; and The Shade Tree, which provides emergency shelter for women and children seeking refuge from domestic violence. Elena most enjoys working on projects that benefit children.
L.B. Douglas
Landmark Buffet Cook III
Ameristar St. Charles
L.B. Douglas, a single father of five, still manages to find time to volunteer whenever he can. A Landmark Buffet Cook III, L.B. first joined Ameristar St. Charles in 2002. Since then, he has volunteered for every Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event that Ameristar has been involved with. Having seen and experienced the effects of breast cancer in his own family, L.B. makes it a point to not only walk in these events, but to bring his children along in order to teach them the importance of supporting the cause. In addition to volunteering for the Komen Race, L.B. has been instrumental in the execution of the company’s Team Member Workplace Giving Campaign. He has been an inspirational cheerleader for the campaign as well as an active participant in the various activities and events with campaign partners.
Shauna Ferguson
Community Affairs Coordinator
MGM Resorts International
Many at MGM Resorts International refer to Shauna Ferguson as the “Queen of Volunteerism”—and with good reason. Shauna, a philanthropy and community affairs coordinator, is a leader among MGM’s family of properties in building collaborative relationships and strategic alliances with members of the community. One of her proudest achievements includes increasing MGM employees’ level of volunteerism. Last year, she organized the company’s campaign to reach a goal of 100,000 volunteer hours within the year. Under Shauna’s leadership, the company far surpassed that goal by logging more than 113,000 volunteer hours of work in the community—a company record.
Matt Fitzsimmons
Senior Principal Software Engineer
WMS Gaming
Matt Fitzsimmons, a senior principal software engineer at WMS Gaming, has been a FIRST® mentor for four years. FIRST® Robotics is an organization founded in 1989 that encourages young people to participate in mentor-based robotics competitions that spark interest in engineering and technology. Matt became involved because he feels it is an excellent program for teaching engineering skills. As a mentor, he guides the students with the goal that they learn design, fabrication, scheduling and engineering skills. Matt has spent countless hours volunteering for this program—not just mentoring, but fundraising, holding tool drives and providing logistics, setup and scheduling support.
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