Donald Stanford
GTECH Fellow and Acting Chief Technology Officer
Technology is the engine under the hood of the lottery industry, and Donald Stanford has long been one of the principal engineers behind that technology. Stanford has played a leading role in shaping and ensuring the modernization of the lottery industry in the United States and around the globe while propelling a start-up company into an industry leader.
A 30-year veteran of the lottery industry, Stanford was the Chief Technology Officer at GTECH from 1979 to 2002. He has played and continues to play a crucial role in changing the face of the industry during his time at GTECH. During Stanford’s 22 years with GTECH, the Company grew from a market share of 5 percent and sales of less than $1 million to a dominant worldwide market share of 70 percent and sales in excess of $1 billion by the end of 2002. At the beginning of his tenure at GTECH, Stanford was part of the group that designed, developed, and manufactured the first terminal specifically designed for online lottery application functionality. As it turned out, the creation of the first dedicated lottery POS terminal would change the face of the industry. While at GTECH, Stanford became the co-inventor/holder of six different patents, and GTECH garnered 15 patents under his direction – more patents in online lottery technology than any other company. Stanford guided the growth of GTECH’s technology organization from a software staff of four in 1979 to its current worldwide deployment of more than 1,000 IT professionals. From 1986 until 1989, Stanford served on the GTECH Corporation Board.
Most recently, Stanford accepted the appointment as GTECH Fellow and Acting Chief Technology Officer after returning to GTECH in a consulting capacity.
Stanford serves on several charitable boards and is President of the Board of the Times Squared Academy Charter School in Providence, R.I., which promotes excellence in math, science, and technology. He was appointed Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Brown University and in 1999 received the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Professional Achievement. In 1999, he also received the Honorable Thurgood Marshall award for community service from the NAACP. Stanford also serves on the board of the Rhode Island Technology Council and works in the area of promoting IT education for Rhode Island’s high school population. He received the Brown University distinguished graduate award in 2002, the highest honor bestowed by the Brown graduate school.
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