Supplier News
US – Interblock completes three North American appointments
By Phil - 31 August 2016
Interblock has completed a hat trick of appointments to strengthen its North American team with Jennifer Saragnese, Rick Riehm and Mike McKiski all joining the company.
Sales aficionado Mike McKiski joins as Vice President of Sales for Western United States where he will oversee sales strategies in order to grow the company’s revenue in Nevada, Oklahoma, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington.
Interblock Global CEO John Connelly said:“Interblock has been strategically growing our business across North America and having someone with Mike’s expertise is a huge milestone for the company. Mike brings a wealth of sales knowledge to Interblock and I am more than confident that with his leadership,Interblock will be able to increase its footprint throughout the region.”
Mike McKiski added: “I am thrilled to join John’s global executive team to help continue the growth of Interblock around the world. The electronic table games space is exploding, and I am excited to help introduce new streams of revenue for tribes and casinos across the Western United States, through the Interblock luxury electronic table games brand.”
Prior to Interblock, Mr. McKiski served as Director of Sales and Commercial Operations at Scientific Games Interactive, where he oversaw the Sales, B2B Account Management and Marketing Services teams for the North American market. He is a market transformation catalyst who has been at the forefront of launching mobile and social marketing products for hundreds of casino operators across the continent.
Before that role, he spent four years helping launch the Bally Interactive division. For two years prior, he was a Product Manager at Bally, with responsibility to drive market research and product strategy for Latin America, South America, and South Africa. He joined the gaming industry right out of college, with almost two years at MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts) as a Public Relations coordinator.
Rick Riehm joins as Vice President of Sales for Eastern United States. He will be based in Chicago and will be responsible for the sales revenue for the eastern half of the US, including managing existing and additional Account Executives. Mr. Riehm brings over 25 years of sales and marketing experience to Interblock. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Sales for its Eastern division for WMS, now known as Scientific Games, where he led a sales team responsible for over $200m in revenue.
“We are very proud to welcome Rick to the Interblock team. Rick’s prior experience at WMS proves that his expertise and guidance will be extremely beneficial for Interblock and the North American sales force. He will be a major contributor in developing and implementing sales strategies, which is a key focus for our North America sales initiatives in order to grow our revenue and footprint throughout the eastern region,” said Mr Connelly.
Mr. Riehm said:“I am excited to be joining Interblock’s sales team in a time when the Electronic Table Game segment is growing at such an astounding rate not only in the United States, but globally. I look forward to being a part of John’s team and look forward to cultivating relationships with current and prospective customers.”
Jennifer Saragnese meanwhile joins as Director of Customer and Player Service. Saragnese where she will oversee Interblock’s global marketing strategy team from the company’s corporate office in Las Vegas, Nevada, focusing on customer service and account management for all of Interblock’s existing customers. This team is a new addition to the Interblock organization.
Saragnese and her team will work with all of Interblock’s customers to strengthen successful partnerships and create new ones, and will collaborate with customers to implement best practices around service and product performance.
She brings a wealth of P&L management, marketing, business development, and customer service experience to Interblock and its customers. Over a 12-year period, Saragnese held several roles within Marketing, Sales, and Finance organisations for GTECH, now known as International Game Technology.
“As Interblock continues to expand into new markets while meeting the high demand for Electronic Table Games (ETGs), this new customer service-focused role ensures that we are keeping our customers’ priorities and requirements at the top of our service management and product development efforts. We are excited to welcome Jennifer to Interblock, and we are confident our customers will find her gaming knowledge and customer service expertise valuable to them,” said Mr. Connelly.
