{"id":47105,"date":"2026-05-01T13:40:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/vitalvegas\/?p=47105"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:57:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T20:57:22","slug":"rios-leadership-purge-continues-under-new-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/vitalvegas\/rios-leadership-purge-continues-under-new-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio’s Leadership Purge Continues Under New Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The new owners of Rio, Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, have been quietly making sweeping changes to their executive roster.<\/p>\n
As we were the first to report, Kennedy Lewis took over majority ownership of Rio and promptly fired several key executives, including the off-Strip casino’s president and general manager, Patrick Miller. He was replaced by Rodney Turlan.<\/p>\n
We’ve got all the recent changes in personnel. Yes, it’s awkward, but somebody’s got to do it.<\/p>\nOh, look, it’s the only sensible location for a professional sportsball venue in Las Vegas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In the first phase of the executive purge, Michelle Engstrom, VP of Marketing, was out. She was replaced by Vincent Lentini.<\/p>\n
Chief Financial Officer Christopher Balaban was also out, replaced by Lori Ware.<\/p>\n
Laurae Clifford, Vice President of Sales, out. Clifford has been replaced by Ashley Lowe.<\/p>\n
That’s a lot of institutional knowledge being shown the door, but the replacement of Rio’s leadership hasn’t slowed since.<\/p>\n
Recently, Carrie Spooner, SVP of Revenue Optimization and CRM, was let go. Tyler Kemper is now Vice President of Revenue Management.<\/p>\n
Grant Rogers, VP of Casino Operations, was let go, replaced by Todd Simons.<\/p>\n
General Counsel Jorge Morales is no longer with Rio (he’s now at Golden Gaming). He has not been replaced to date.<\/p>\n
It’s a lot.<\/p>\nOur best advice to the new executive team at Rio: More this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We’ve been reporting for months that Rio has been struggling, despite the investments being made in the resort.<\/p>\n
Kennedy Lewis Investment Management seems to think a new crop of executives could help turn things around, despite the incontrovertible fact the Rio is where it is.<\/p>\n
Many of the new executives hail from Caesars Entertainment. Ironically, Caesars Entertainment owned Rio prior to it being acquired by Dreamscape. One of the biggest challenges for Rio is overcoming the perception for which Caesars Entertainment was responsible. There was no incentive for Caesars to invest in the resort as a sale loomed, but that resulted in the place being a mess. That’s been largely rectified since Dreamscape took over, as its investment has been massive.<\/p>\n
Everyone on the new executive team has extensive experience. The previous team did, too.<\/p>\n
The new team has its work cut out for it. Watch for Rio to focus even more on nabbing players from its nearest competitors, Palms and Gold Coast.<\/p>\nBored by casino inside baseball? We’ve got you! Rio has a new Freed’s cake ATM. Slices are $11 a pop, delicious despite the cake to frosting ratio being off. Let your cake get to room temperature. You’re welcome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The musical chairs of leadership at Rio shows a definite plan being implemented.<\/p>\n
Rumblings are the executive firings weren’t handled particularly well, but the world of business often involves some jerk-like behavior. Capitalism has no time for kit gloves, don’t let the door hit you.<\/p>\n
We were just testing you. It’s “kid gloves.” That old-timey expression comes from the fact “kid” refers to kid leather. Kid leather is made from young goat skin. Incredibly, kid gloves are still made and sold, despite the fact that anyone who uses a young goat’s skin to make gloves is a monster.<\/p>\n
All this as a way to end an awkward story and we trust all the displaced executives will land on their feet.<\/p>\n
We hope to meet all the new executives at Rio to hear what they’re going to do to make everyone visit the Rio again. And, no, it won’t be the “Show in the Sky” or Carnival World Buffet, so please stop asking.<\/p>\n
We love Rio, so we’re rooting for the new administration just as we rooted for the former. Hope abounds.<\/p>\n
Just nix the paid valet parking idea. Or as it’s called in the casino business, “shooting oneself in the foot.”<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The new owners of Rio, Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, have been quietly making sweeping changes to their executive roster. As we were the first to report, Kennedy Lewis took over majority ownership of Rio and promptly fired several key executives, including the off-Strip casino’s president and general manager, Patrick Miller. He was replaced by Rodney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vegas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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