The Game Business
Eclipse headquarters in Duluth , Georgia
“
It ’ s exciting to see the transformation of our products that have been on casino floors for decades to the newest products we are launching today .
“
— Sean Evans , Senior VP of Sales , Eclipse Gaming Systems
STEAM students ( science , technology , engineering , arts and math ); and countless other efforts .
But over the past four years , Minard has extended this philosophy of service to the communities of Eclipse ’ s customers , the Native American tribes in the Class II markets the company serves .
“ Everybody talks about ( success ) just being in the game ,” Minard says . “ Based on our tribal business , I recognized that tribes wouldn ’ t exist if it wasn ’ t for these casino properties . It ’ s 100 percent of some of these tribes ’ economic development . And so , I focused on getting people to understand that the better we do , the better they do , and the more they can serve their own community .
“ And it expanded beyond that to the realization we should be helping the communities as well . We took it upon ourselves to culturally build that into the mix , and think about being a great citizen , a great partner to our tribes , and then to our communities around us .”
Minard relates a story in which a tribe asked Eclipse to sponsor a golf outing to raise money for tribal education . “ I said , how about we buy you books or whatever else you need , and then we ’ ll go play golf ?” He says that way , he ’ s building a relationship with his customers , rather than simply responding to a request for money .
Going beyond the game .
The Game Business
Not that the game itself is unimportant ; quite the contrary . The reason Eclipse and Minard ’ s former companies have had the resources for all this charity work is that he is an innovator in technology who knows how to move a company to the next level .
At GameTech International , he was head of the video lottery terminal and gaming division . At Sports Challenge Network , he was a pioneer in the use of then-new mobile technology to create XBowling , a complete program of contests , competitions and score-sharing that created an interactive digital community for one of the oldest sports in the world , bowling .
But perhaps most pertinent to how Minard is moving Eclipse forward is his experience as chief financial officer and executive vice president of Cadillac Jack , another Atlanta-based Class II supplier which , after being acquired by AGS in 2015 , has evolved into a significant player in the Class II and Class III markets . Minard sees a similar eventual path for Eclipse , and the process of growth has already begun , as the company still has substantial greenfield space in Class II markets , particularly in the East . The first step has been to attract veteran talent .
For game development , Minard brought in Steven Slotwinski , a longtime game producer for WMS Gaming and Scientific Games — and chief operating officer for a subsidiary of NHN Entertainment , responsible for multiple socialmobile product lines — as chief technology officer . He brought in Laura Olson- Reyes , a veteran of AGS , Scientific Games , Bally Technologies and Aristocrat , as senior VP of marketing . He named Sean Evans senior vice president of sales . Evans was one of the top sales executives at Aristocrat during its most crucial growth period in the U . S . in the early 2000s , and held top sales positions at Scientific Games , A . C . Coin & Slot , and Aruze Gaming .
Other top executives each bring special skill sets that are helping to grow the company . President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Visintainer , who joined Eclipse in 2019 , has a 25-year history in which he oversaw global operations and supply chain management for NCR Corporation . Chief Financial Officer Louise Ward has more than 20 years ’ experience in accounting and financial operations and building best-in-class financial and operations teams .
In all , it ’ s a team tailor-made to expand the Eclipse footprint in Class II , and ultimately , attack the goal of evolving the company into a full-service supplier in both Class II and Class III .
“ At Cadillac Jack , we saw Class II at an early stage grow and grow , and then into other markets with compacts ,” Minard recalls . “ And then it grew into
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