WMS expands North American sales and marketing leadership teams

In addition, Steve Byrne recently joined WMS as Executive Director of Product Marketing. Riehm, who will be based in WMS' Chicago technology campus, and Rivera and Byrne, who will be based at the Company's Las Vegas office, will report to Rob Bone, Senior Vice President of North American Sales and Marketing.

Orrin Edidin, President of WMS, commented on the management appointments: "A primary strategic priority throughout our organization is to strengthen our efforts and focus on customers. Rick, Ron and Steve each have extensive gaming industry experience with demonstrated track records of leadership and success, and bring creative strategic thinking with a sharp focus on understanding customer needs and delivering high value and strong service. With the benefit of their industry experience and leadership, WMS is taking a significant step forward in further strengthening the alignment between our sales and marketing efforts that will support WMS' initiatives to be a world-class customer centric organization."

Rick Riehm joined WMS in 2006 as Regional Sales Director for the Central Region and was most recently Executive Director for the Central Atlantic Region, where he led a team of six account executives working with more than 100 casinos located in the Midwest and Northeast. He has more than 25 years of sales customer relationship building experience.
 
Riehm brings his expertise to bear with an in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by casino operator customers and how to bring solutions and value to the relationship. Prior to joining WMS Riehm held executive sales and management positions in several companies, most recently with NSK Corporation. He holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.

Ron Rivera will join WMS following 25 years in senior sales and management positions at IGT. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of U.S. and Canadian Sales for IGT, leading a senior sales team of 18 managers. During his time at IGT, Rivera held positions of increasing management and leadership responsibilities with success in creating and executing sales strategies and strong customer value propositions through collaboration with the product management, marketing and customer service functions. He brings extensive experience in building strategic customer relationships, both at the casino and corporate level to WMS. Rivera has a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Nevada.

Steve Byrne joins WMS with more than 14 years of experience in the gaming industry having most recently served as Director of Slot Performance at Caesars Entertainment, where he was primarily responsible for slot product strategy and revenue management at the company's thirty-six gaming facilities across North America, and also was the lead contact for all vendor business relationships. As WMS' Executive Director of Product Marketing, Byrne will organize collaboration between the Company's Product Management and Sales teams to ensure that sales efforts and marketing resources combine to serve WMS' customers. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Vanderbilt University.

Rob Bone added, "Growing our range of customer touch points allows WMS to offer greater availability and support to our customers as we work with them on high-return solutions for their gaming equipment needs. Rick, Ron and Steve are all accomplished individuals whose gaming industry experience will provide meaningful benefits to WMS and our customers as we continue to enhance our capabilities to create and execute strong sales and marketing strategies that are best aligned with our customers' needs."