CASINO NIAGARA, NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO,
CANADA
Selected by The Ontario Casino
Corporation in July 1996, The Navegante Group was charged with the responsibility
of planning and executing the Casino Niagara project, a 100,000 square foot
casino with 3,400 employees, scheduled to open by December of that year.
This was an extraordinary situation from an employment and training standpoint. The great majority of potential employees had absolutely no gaming experience, presenting the opportunity to implement training techniques that TJ and Robin had used with much success at the MGM Grand. The challenge to move the fresh recruits from the most elementary notions of gaming to being fully responsible for the operation of a casino with projected earnings of more than US$ 400 million the first year was one that the gentlemen met head on with fantastic results.
In addition to his
duties as President and COO of the parent company, TJ was involved in the
overall strategic decisions of positioning the project in context to the
political and socioeconomic impact and expectations of the community. As
the principal marketing consultant, he interviewed and recruited the key
marketing personnel; implemented the host and VIP departments, set credit
and complementary policy, and served on the selection committees for PR
and Advertising agencies. He was actively involved in defining the goals,
instilling a sense of purpose, and establishing and conveying the performance
expectations of the company to the staff. TJ communicated these messages
through motivational seminars to various operational departments.
As part of the pre-opening executive committee directing the project,
Robin Powell was responsible for conceiving and directing all facets of
the development of the 1000 person, 130 table game operation. 
This included recruiting the management that would
operate the facility, overseeing the development of all policies and procedures
and developing a teaching program to train the 700 dealers and 200 supervisors
that the project required. He coordinated the tasks of the construction
and technical staff, dovetailing their efforts seamlessly. By providing
a reliable liaison service, he efficiently expedited this complex process.
In addition he was responsible for procuring all the gaming equipment from
over a dozen vendors in four countries, and was closely involved in the
design and installation of the project.
The project opened - to very favorable reviews on December 9th. 1996, 131 days after the engagement started.