Born and raised in Southeast Michigan, Ben entered the US Air Force in 1989. He was lucky enough to have served 7 years in the Military Airlift Command as a crew member on C-5 airframes where he was responsible for cargo, passengers and logistics. The global nature of the strategic airlift mission meant that by the time he returned to civilian life, he had visited over 50 countries and been involved in nearly every major global event through early 1996.
The transition after the Air Force led to Ben joining Harrah’s Entertainment and starting a long term career associated with the casino industry. With multiple roles at several Harrah’s owned casinos, Ben moved with the company from Memphis, TN, to New Orleans, LA and ultimately landed in Las Vegas in 2000. With the move to Las Vegas, Ben was charged with creating a new marketing function and team at the Harrah’s (now Caesars) corporate offices. The following three years with the company involved everything from creating marketing programs generating millions across 26 Harrah’s casinos to developing and patenting enterprise software to support the company’s strategic initiatives.
Staying within the casino industry, Ben has owned a consulting company, filled the role of product manager with multiple companies and been everything from an individual contributor in a sales role to creating a sales organization as a vice president of sales. Along the way, Ben began volunteering his time to various organizations in town with support being provided to worthy causes that were meaningful to him with the most recent contribution being 3 years of service on the Nevada advisory board for the Arthritis Foundation.
Today, Ben is employed by Teradata Corporation as an account executive responsible for helping large gaming companies understand how Teradata’s technology and services can improve their marketing and operations. About the same time he joined Teradata, a good friend introduced him to Los Vaqueros. The mission of supporting at risk youth and families of deployed military members, the energy of the organization and the camaraderie of the members proved to be a very solid fit for Ben’s charitable energies.
Ben is married to Holly, a Scottsdale, AZ native. He has a 17 year old daughter, Caitlin, who will attend Auburn University starting in 2014. Both Holly and Caitlin are avid volunteers in their own right with Holly being a long time member and leader of the Junior League of Las Vegas and Caitlin contributing her time to too many school fundraisers to count!