| Topics
At a Glance
- Strategic Planning & Alliances
- International Issues
- Crisis Management
- Social Impacts
- Innovation & Games of Tomorrow
- Casino Operations & Marketing
- Integrated Resort Design
- Measuring Financial Performance
- Leadership & Human Resource Issues
- Diversity & Inclusion
Format and Schedule
As a participant of the Executive Development Program, you will be among the pacesetters in the gaming industry — leaders from around the world who grapple with important strategic issues common to casino gaming. You will establish lasting professional relationships that will be valuable to you and critical to your organization well into the 21st century.
Program Format
In a series of stimulating and demanding class sessions, participants will examine and discuss key issues such as sustaining competitive advantage, responding to political uncertainties, managing organizational change, developing strategic alliances and adapting to the rules of a new playing field in the continually evolving gaming industry.
Participation in study teams and case-study analysis is an integral part of the program and is required of all participants. The program considers this daily interaction among faculty and participants as crucial to its success and vital to the overall experience.
Fluency in English is required of all participants.
Program Schedule
The Executive Development Program begins at 5:00 p.m. with registration and a reception on Saturday evening, November 8, 2025. The program begins promptly at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, November 9, 2025. The program concludes at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, November 16, 2025. Expect to spend full days and several evenings on program-related activities.
Program Moderators
Bo Bernhard, Ph.D.
Vice President of Economic Development
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Bo Bernhard is a proud fifth-generation Nevadan and student of the late Bill Eadington, Ph.D. Over the course of his career, Bernhard has worked with the international gaming industry on all six inhabited continents and in more than 100 jurisdictions. He has earned numerous teaching and research awards during his nearly two decades at UNLV, including the Denken Career Award for Research, the Barrick Scholar Award, and the top teaching and research awards at the Harrah College of Hospitality. He is the only professor at UNLV to have won both the Spanos Award for teaching and the Harry Reid Silver State Research Award, the university’s top career research award. In his current role as the Vice President of Economic Research, he has delivered more than 200 keynote addresses to industry, regulatory and policy leaders.
Jim McClenahan
Executive Director of Outreach and Engagement, University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business.
Jim McClenahan’s mission is to link the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business’s most valuable asset – its students – with companies that will benefit from their skills and talent and help those students grow in their personal and professional skills.
As the college’s executive director of outreach and engagement, McClenahan is responsible for connecting students to businesses through community events, internships, mentorships and providing contacts for career opportunities. He is also responsible for the Nevada Global Business program, which takes students around the world for experiential opportunities and for administering the college’s Corporate Partners program. As the College expands programs to specific industries, McClenahan is engaged as the Director of the College of Business Real Estate Initiative, and the Interim Director of the Institute to Study Gaming and Commercial Gambling. He has served on the planning team for the Executive Development Program, the premier leadership program for the Gaming Industry for 15 years. McClenahan also teaches marketing in The College of Business Executive MBA program.
McClenahan holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Nevada, Reno and bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
McClenahan currently serves as Past Chair of the Board of Directors for United Federal Credit Union, a $4 Billion national financial institution, and as past chair of the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement Northern Nevada, a nonprofit dedicated to financial literacy in K-12 schools. He recently finished his term as the past chairman of the board for The Reno Chamber of Commerce. He is an ordained Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Reno.
He and his wife Karen have lived in Reno for the last 20 years and enjoy all the outdoor activities Northern Nevada has available.
EDP World-Class Faculty includes Casino Industry Experts and Researchers
Our faculty has included program founder Bill Eadington, Brett Abarbanel, Staci Alonso, Amy Ayoub, Maria Christina Annaloro, Rich Baldwin, Randy Bardwell, Larry Barton, Jan Jones Blackhurst, Sharon Blecker, Andrew Burke, Eugene Christiansen, Kim Copp, Roberto Coppola, Shondra DeLoach-Perea, Michelle DiTondo, Mike Dreitzer, Alan Feldman, Hector Fernandez, Rodrigo Fernandez, David Forst, Geoff Freeman, Holly Gagnon, Greg Giordano, Dick Haddrill, Becky Harris, Todd Haushalter, Shekinah Hoffman, Per Jaldung, Connie Jones, Kevin Kuklok, Mark Lerner, Anthony Lucas, Kenneth Manuel, Punam Mather, Virginia McDowell, Robert Melendres, Gillian Murphy, Dennis Neilander, Terry Oliver, Drew Pawlak, Phil Shoemaker, Marcus Prater, Toni Repetti, Robert Rippee, Jennifer Roberts, Bruce Rowe, Daniel Sahl, Seth Schorr, Roger Snow, Paul Steelman, James Stewart, Simon Thomas, Andre Wilsenach and Kent Young.