Chief Executive Officer since April 1, 2005 and our President and Founder since our inception in March 2002. Mr. Lipscomb previously served as Chief Executive Officer of our predecessor company, World Poker Tour, LLC, from March 2002 until February 24, 2004. Mr. Lipscomb is the creator and Executive Producer of the World Poker Tour television series. Prior to forming World Poker Tour, LLC in March 2002, Mr. Lipscomb was an independent producer through his company, Lipscomb Entertainment, producing and directing award-winning television shows and films.
Lyle Berman
Chairman of the Board
Chairman of the Board since our inception in March 2002 and Executive Chairman since April 1, 2005. Mr. Berman served as our Chief Executive Officer from February 25, 2004 until April 1, 2005. Since January 1999, Mr. Berman has served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Lakes Entertainment, Inc. ("Lakes"), a publicly-held company that develops and manages Indian-owned casinos. Lakes owns a majority of our common stock through its wholly owned subsidiary, Lakes Poker Tour, LLC. From November 1999 until May 2000, Mr. Berman served as President of Lakes. Mr. Berman served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grand Casinos, Inc. from October 1991 through December 1998. Mr. Berman served as Chief Executive Officer of Rainforest Cafe, Inc. from February 1993 until December 2000. Lyle Berman is the father of Bradley Berman, who serves as a director of the Company and is President of King Show Games, LLC.
Robyn Moder
Executive Vice President
Robyn Moder has a diverse background in television production and serves as the Supervising Producer of the World Poker Tour.After working in marketing/visual merchandising, Moder joined 20th Television in 1999, quickly rising to become Coordinator of Production Operations and Finance. She managed all phases of production on such shows as "America's Most Wanted," "Cops," "Divorce Court," and "Power Of Attorney." She has produced projects for Warner Brothers, Paramount and CBS, and Fox, where she worked with CEO Steve Lipscomb while managing a series of television pilots. Prior to joining the WPT, she managed production on 130 episodes of "Rendez-View" for Paramount and then went on to serve as the Production Manager for the acclaimed CBS series, "American Fighter Pilot."
Like Chairman of the Board Lyle Berman, Moder grew up in Minneapolis. She earned a B.A. in Communications with an emphasis in advertising from San Diego State University in 1995.
Scott Friedman
Chief Financial Officer
Scott A. Friedman joined the World Poker Tour in September 2004, as Vice President of Finance & Controller. Prior to joining World Poker Tour, Friedman served as Controller for Sony Pictures Digital, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Prior to that, Friedman spent five years at The Walt Disney Company in a variety of Finance capacities in the Corporate and Consumer Products divisions. Friedman received a Bachelor of Accountancy at George Washington University and began his career at Arthur Andersen.
Peter Hughes
Chief Operating Officer
Prior to joining the World Poker Tour, Peter Hughes was Executive Vice President of SFX Sports Group, a global leader in sports marketing, athlete representation, special events and television. Hughes worked with the various SFX divisions —basketball, baseball, football, soccer, hockey, golf, tennis, events, marketing, media, financial services and their Australian operations. Hughes also served as Vice President, Business Development, at Integrated Sports International (ISI) creating licensing programs for top brands including Cadillac, Notre Dame, Wheaties and the Association of Professional Volleyball Players (AVP). In addition, he also led or worked on teams that provided strategic consulting for such clients as AOL, Burger King, FootAction stores, Disney Attractions, the Anaheim Angels, the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers.
Hughes got his start in the sports business with the National Football League. After a two-year stint working for Dell Publishing as financial manager, he was called upon by National Football League Properties, Inc. to be financial manager for its publishing division. Shortly afterwards, Hughes was directed to a position as senior director of the NFL's Retail Licensing Program where he was responsible for maximizing profits in publishing, collectibles, trading card and player categories. Hughes played a key role in the formation of the NFL Quarterback Club, which packaged the game's top quarterbacks as a marketing powerhouse. He helped this startup venture generate significant licensing and endorsement revenue for each player involved. The program lasted a dozen years and attracted marquee sponsors like Domino's, Upper Deck, DirecTV, and others under his watch.
Adam Pliska
General Counsel and Secretary
Adam Pliska joined WPTE in 2003 and currently serves as the Company's General Counsel. Previously, Mr. Pliska served as the Vice-President of Legal and Business Affairs for a multi-media company headed by the futurist, Alvin Toffler and as an attorney at the firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Los Angeles. Mr. Pliska also worked as a television producer in connection with noted industry veteran Al Burton including work at Universal Television and Castle Rock Entertainment where he produced and develop numerous television properties. He is an alumnus of USC Film School and UC Berkeley's law school, Boalt Hall. Additionally, he has served at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (for the Hon. Alex Kozinski) and at the Governor's Office of Legal Affairs (Ca.).
Stock Information
NASD:WPTE
$0.95- 0.04
Jul 3, 2008
1:14 PM ET
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes. Information provided by TurboFeed.
WPT Enterprises, Inc. is a publicly traded company on Nasdaq
under the symbol "WPTE" and is a majority owned subsidiary of
Lakes Entertainment, Inc., a publicly held company.
show all
hide all
