The 2021 Lottery Industry
Hall of Fame inductees
Congratulations to the three newest members of the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame
The 88 members of the PGRI Lottery Industry Hall of Fame have voted for and elected three industry leaders to be inducted into the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame for 2021.
The Lottery Industry Hall of Fame was founded in 2005 as a means of honoring those who have done the most to promote excellence and integrity in our industry and make the world lottery industry the great success. The recipients of this award are all a credit to that ideal and are joining a select and distinguished group of world lottery industry professionals.
Induction Ceremony
The three Hall of Fame inductees will be honored in a LIVE ceremony at 4:30 pm Wednesday October 27, 2021 - Eastern Time U.S. at the Hermitage Hotel, Nashville, TN
Wendy Montgomery,
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Wendy Montgomery
Senior Vice President, Global Brand, Marketing and Communications, IGT After having lived and worked on four continents around the globe, Wendy Montgomery, Senior Vice President, Global Brand, Marketing and Communications has more than 35 years of marketing and management experience from a variety of consumer goods industries which she leverages to play a transformative role in the lottery industry. Before joining IGT in January of 2018, she spent 13 years at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) where she led marketing, sales, operations, policy and planning for the lottery and iGaming businesses. During her tenure at OLG and in her role as the Senior Vice President of the lottery and iGaming businesses, she was responsible for overseeing a team that helped deliver more than 50% increase in Lottery revenue from CDN$2.5BN in 2007 to CDN$3.7BN in 2017 by successfully launching industry award winning new products and retail innovation. In the words of a former global operator, Wendy was one of the most forward-thinking operators they had ever dealt with in the lottery business. In her role at IGT, Wendy embraced the company’s Customer First philosophy, using her B2C Lottery operator knowledge and insights to advocate for player-centric solutions that drive customers’ growth and return more funds for good causes. She championed early adoption in the United States of in-lane sales by negotiating with vendors and working with a major chain to prioritize this innovation. Under her leadership at IGT, the company has made a substantial contribution to the NASPL API Standards and paved the way for significant new channel sales development in the lottery industry. Given the changing consumer journey and the overall pace of retail digitization, lottery adoption of these standards will help lotteries deliver sustainable growth to good causes. As a seasoned executive, Wendy has consistently made a point to mentor young women and foster women’s advancement in the lottery industry. She serves as IGT’s executive sponsor for its Women’s Inclusion Network (“WIN with IGT”) and is the Chair of the company’s Diversity and Inclusion Executive Council. Even more importantly, she has played an integral role in the PGRI Women in Lottery Leadership initiative – a premiere global program to advance women into senior leadership positions. |
John Schulz
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John Schulz
Senior Vice President, Instant Products and Partner Services, Scientific Games A 36-year veteran of the lottery industry, John is a key member of Scientific Games’ Executive Team, directing all aspects of its instant products business. John joined Scientific Games in 1985 as a founder of the company’s first-ever instant product cooperative services program (CSP) with the New York Lottery. Under John’s leadership, the program has evolved into Scientific Games' Enhanced Partnership (SGEP), a four-pillar program that includes product management, retail optimization, advanced logistics and digital engagement, using Scientific Games’ custom analytics and insights. Now the industry’s leading instant game category management program, SGEP customers benefit from approximately 45%* more in funding for the good causes they support. During his tenure, John has been instrumental in over 45 global lottery start-ups, SGEP and systems conversions. Most recently, John’s leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be invaluable to the industry. He strategically navigates teams to safely evolve processes, ensuring the sustained supply of instant products to global lottery customers. This has allowed the industry to not only remain resilient, but to thrive and grow, with many lotteries recording record instant sales in fiscal year 2021. John leads operational and business development teams responsible for all aspects of Scientific Games’ global instant products production, including game design, programming and manufacturing, creating close to 70% of the global instant products retail sales for the industry. Additionally, John oversees Scientific Games’ licensing business, retail solutions and partnership programs, including global SGEP and Americas systems site operations. John holds a B.S. in Organizational Management from Nyack College in Nyack, New York and is a graduate of Columbia Business School, Senior Executive Program in New York City. *45% more than non-SGEP customers based on 2020 U.S. sales in MAP™; excludes MS and PR |
Angela Wong
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Angela Wong
Vice President of Global Lottery Solutions Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) Angela began her journey in the lottery industry in February of 2011 when she was appointed Director of the Montana Lottery. This was a crucial time for the Lottery and her first days were spent working through a controversial audit and an agency in desperate need of attention to internal policies and procedures. Through her dedicated efforts to restore confidence in the agency and improve the agencies internal workings, she was able to achieve an outstanding record of clean audits all while meeting the goals of the organization with record sales and retailer growth over her tenure. As a result of her efforts the Montana Lottery grew in sales of over 100% through product optimization; which is a significant achievement in a state with a highly competitive gaming environment. The Montana Lottery is known as a progressive lottery as it was one of the first states to introduce electronic instant tickets with a highly successful progressive game suite and has one of most successful seasonal raffle games in the country. The Lottery’s Montana Millionaire raffle game started in 2007 and had never experienced a sell-out. That changed due to Angela’s efforts which resulted in the game selling out every year since then in record time each year. The Lottery launched a new in-state daily lotto game in 2016, Big Sky Bonus, that went on to win the prestigious NASPL Buddy Roogow Innovation Award, “Best New Draw Game” in 2017. In 2019 sports wagering was passed in the state of Montana and added to the Lottery product line. Angela led the lottery through the successful and complicated launch of sports wagering. The launch unfortunately coincided with the COVID pandemic, but Angela was determined to make the product as lucrative as it could be in light of the challenges that lied ahead. She successfully navigated the additional challenges of running a state agency remotely all the while introducing a new sports wagering system across the state of Montana. Angela has played an active and significant role in ensuring the continued success of the U.S. Lottery industry. Over the years she’s held various positions with the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL), serving as a Regional Officer, Secretary, Treasurer and First Vice-President. In the midst of the COVID pandemic she became NASPL President and worked with NASPL staff to ensure continuity of industry and educational efforts. She was the first President of NASPL from the state of Montana and was proudly part of industry history that same year as it was the first time that NASPL had an all-female leadership. During her decade-long service, she also served as Wild Card Game Group Chair, Mega Millions Group Chair, Secretary and First Vice-President of the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). Since leaving the Montana Lottery, Angela has taken the position of Director of Lottery Solutions for Gaming Laboratories International, LLC. Where she works to help lottery clients succeed and navigate the evolving lottery landscape by leveraging new opportunities created by the emerging technology and new delivery channels within industry. |