LAS VEGAS, NV – Konami Gaming has announced a series of internal promotions to Vice President, expanding its senior management. Within the research and development department for its award-winning Synkros® casino management system, Konami has named Jeff George as VP of Customer Support, Adriane McGrath as VP of Professional Services, David Schwartz as VP of UI/UX & Database Development, and Eddie Sepich as VP of Embedded & Interface Development. Additionally, Konami has named several key promotions in administrative areas of the business with Brian Alu as VP of Information Technology, Jeanie Griese as VP of Human Resources, and Noah VanWetten as VP of Supply Chain, Purchasing & Manufacturing. In total, these latest additions to Konami Gaming’s senior management hold more than 90 years of combined experience at the organization.
“As Konami Gaming’s technology offering and marketing reach continues to expand, we are pleased to highlight these key internal promotions in support of our casino customers,” said Tom Jingoli, President & COO at Konami Gaming. “The latest additions to Konami’s senior management team exemplify the level of service, integrity, innovation, and teamwork that is core to our company values and long-term success.”
As VP of Information Technology (IT) at Konami Gaming, Brian Alu will lead the company’s global IT operations, ensuring 24/7/365 service, security, and total functionality in support of its strategic goals and objectives. He has demonstrated performance and results in his field for more than 25 years, across a variety of systems, applications, platforms, hardware, environments, and emerging areas of technology. Alu’s tenure with Konami dates back to 2011 in systems and network engineering, advancing to an IT department supervisory role shortly after. His role continued to expand with increasing promotions, including appointment to Director of IT in 2022. With a leading role in maintaining the organization’s core systems and infrastructure, he has now been promoted to Vice President of IT. His Konami career development has included prominent leadership and mentorship programs.
In 2001, Jeff George was hired by Konami Gaming as Director of Software Engineering after the company acquired all shares of Paradigm Gaming Systems where Jeff served as VP of Software Engineering. Since then, he has played a central role in the development of Konami’s award-winning Synkros casino management system and pioneering best-of-breed technology for its casino customers. As VP of Customer Support, George is responsible for leading the system’s technical and support development teams to deliver a world-class customer support experience for Synkros casino customers, with availability 24 hours a day year-round.
Since 2015, Jeanie Griese has served Konami Gaming and its team members with highly effective communication, planning, programming, training, coaching, recruiting, and leadership in the area of human resources (HR). She joined the organization as HR Generalist, advancing her positive influence and professional role within Konami over the coming years. Now promoted to VP of Human Resources, Griese is responsible for leading strategic HR planning, talent management, and organizational/leadership development, in alignment with company goals and objectives. Her HR career spans more than 25 years of experience, with workforce teams across a diverse variety of domestic and international locations. Griese is Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and Value Based Six Sigma (VBSS) Green Belt certified.
With more than 25 years of experience in the casino and bingo industry combined, Adriane McGrath brings a strong customer focus to her role at VP of Professional Services at Konami Gaming. She leads the organization’s key accounts team, ensuring customer satisfaction, collaboration, and success with Konami’s Synkros casino management system. In addition, McGrath is responsible for growth and scalability of the Synkros professional services team, dedicated to supporting systems customers with a mix of custom-tailored solutions spanning design, development, and training. With an in-depth operational knowledge and technical specialty, McGrath has worked to advance casino customer success through Synkros since 2010 in roles spanning product, operations, sales, and more. Prior to joining Konami Gaming, her gaming career included both operations and regulatory control and has served as Board Member for the Canadian Gaming Association since 2018.
David Schwartz joined Konami Gaming’s engineering team in 2006, and has since dedicated his expertise in design, development, and user experience to advancing the company’s Synkros casino management system. He has brought his leadership to a wide variety of areas surrounding Synkros, including support engineering, customer service, technical services, software engineering, and more. In his new role as VP of UI/UX & Database Development, he works with stakeholders across the business to innovate and improve the technology, with a focus on the countless casino players and team members reached by Konami’s system. He oversees all Synkros projects and personnel in the areas of UI/UX and database development.
Eddie Sepich joined Konami Gaming 2003 and has held numerous increasing leadership roles. With his promotion to VP of Embedded & Interface Development, he will lead the global development life cycle for the embedded and interface components of the Synkros casino management system. His responsibilities include embedded hardware and software; interface software; and overseeing the support engineering team, which is responsible for the production server stack. Work done by the teams he oversees helps support strong success for Konami’s systems division and its Synkros casino customers worldwide.
In 2022, Noah VanWetten joined Konami Gaming as Director of Supply Chain and Purchasing, bringing years of proven experience in demand planning, retail management, procurement, vendor management, data analysis, inventory control, and warehouse management with some of the gaming industry’s largest casino operators. With his promotion to VP of Supply Chain, Purchasing, & Manufacturing, he will lead and manage all procurement; warehouse and logistics; supply and inventory control; manufacturing functions; and planning and quality control of production materials. VanWetten and his teams help ensure Konami’s games and systems products reach markets across the globe in a timely, efficient, safe, and cost-effective manner.
