Smoke signals., November 01, 2004, Page 8, Image 8

Smoke Signals
New Director At Spirit Mountain Started Out As A Dealer, Worked His Way Up
Mitch Goldstein has worked in Atlantic City, Louisiana, Illinois and now Oregon.
8 NOVEMBER 1, 2004
By Peta Tinda
Mitch Goldstein is the new Gam
ing Director for Spirit Mountain
Casino. He got his start in gaming
23 years ago as a craps dealer in
Atlantic City.
Since then he's worked at Trump
Plaza in Atlantic City, spent four
years working on the riverboat ca
sinos in Louisiana and worked at
Players Island Casino in Metropo
lis, Illinois.
He is familiar with Tribal gam
ing and was employed for four
years at Prairie Nights Casino in
South Dakota and experienced
work at Lakeside casino in Baroma,
California, the third largest casino
on the United States.
He moved to Oregon and "just fell
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Mitch Goldstein
in love with the place," he said.
He also has praise for Spirit
Mountain. "There's a tremendous
amount of style, and it's very
uniquely designed, and I like how
it's planned with the future in
mind."
Goldstein met with the Tribal
Council and says he looks forward
to working with his fellow manag
ers. He said he thought there was still
a lot of untapped potential at the
casino.
"The potential is there," he said.
"There's still a lot of room to move
forward."
As Gaming Director, Goldstein
said he will be looking at new and
creative ways to expand the business.
"I want to look at upgrading the
machines and finding different
ways to reach customers," he said.
With the additional rooms that
the expansion will provide,
Goldstein sees Spirit Mountain
Casino as a more upscale, destina
tion resort.
"If you look at Vegas, they tar
get they're marketing strategy to
attract families. The hotel was key
to that."
In has spare time, Goldstein en
joys camping, fishing and visiting
new places.
Goldstein said that he looks for
ward to meeting and working with
the casino staff, "with the goal of
improving the casino floor."
Tactical Approach, Research Are Strengths Of New Casino Marketing Director
Sharon Farrell promoted fights in Vegas. Will boxing come to Grand Ronde?
By Peta Tinda
Sharon Farrell is the new Mar
keting Director for Spirit Mountain
Casino. She brings with her 15
years experience in marketing for
some of the largest casinos in the
nation.
Her intent was to go into the fam
ily catering business when a friend
who worked in marketing asked
her to help during an especially
busy weekend. She soon learned
she had a knack for marketing and
took it up full-time.
She has been with some of the
county's largest gaming companies,
having worked at Circus Circus in
Reno and Industrial Gaming Tech
nologies, the world's largest maker
of gaming machines.
She was in charge of marketing
at the Las Vegas Hilton, a 3,700
room hotel with seven restaurants.
Farrell said marketing comes in
two parts. The first is "marketing
is the overall communication, im
age and public relations for the
business. It's the heartbeat of the
business because it reaches out to
everybody."
The second part, she said "is brand
ing, recognition and loyalizing."
I work very hard to make sure to
reach the right audience at the
right time with the right message,"
said Farrell.
She says that she is very tactical
in her approach to marketing.
"I have a firm belief in research;
I spend time with focus groups and
in general, base the majority of my
decisions on research," she said.
She said that she is very im
pressed with the experience of some
of her fellow Spirit Mountain em
ployees. The most challenging aspect of
marketing, she said, is that "Every
thing I do is subjective something
I think is creatively superior may
not be the best solution."
Farrell was very impressed with
the enthusiasm of the employees.
'This has been the warmest wel
come I've ever received," she said.
"This property rates very high in
customer satisfaction," she said.
"The employees are very enthusi
astic and I see that spill over into
the floor."
Farrell lives in Tillamook with her
husband and two sons.
"My hobbies are my kids, taking
them to sports, school and the like.
I also collect sports memorabilia."
Farrell has an extensive collec
tion of signed boxing gloves and
other items from her days promot
ing fights in Las Vegas.
She has plans to "really step up
the marketing," for the casino.
"We have to stay on top of our
direct marketing and public rela
tions efforts by showcasing our key
selling points: food, entertainment,
the new rooms and the events. We
want to change the billboards and
commercials to get people off of the
highway and into the building."
Her other main responsibility is
to make sure that Spirit Mountain
casino is in the top of customers'
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Sharon Farrell
minds.
"We do that by formulating a plan
and provide an image that fits with
the overall business strategy of the
property."
Tribal Member Lives His Sovereignty
Ronny Riggs-Johnson "raises his people'' with a gas pump in his hand.
By Jack Ham and Ron Karten
Around mid-July, Public Infor
mation Manager Brent Merrill
came back from the Tribe's conve
nience store amazed by his en
counter with Fueler Ronny Riggs
Johnson. The service was so good
that he wanted a story on this
Tribal member.
As a Fueler at the Spirit Moun
tain Convenience Store, Riggs
Johnson indeed shows great
people skills to the customers who
pass through Grand Ronde.
Riggs-Johnson's typical day in
cludes hustling from car to car to
meet customer's needs. Through
the hustle, Riggs uses a good atti
tude to impress his customers:
"I like to show the image that we
are a kind and generous people,"
he said. "We can be professional
and intelligent.
"When people pass (through)
Grand Ronde for a moment they, ,
leave with a good feeling," said
Riggs-Johnson. "This isn't minimum
wage work. It's my sovereignty.
"I try not to shoot arrows at
people. We all got to work together
to raise our people," he said.
"(I can) share good spirit with
people," he said.
"(I am) walking in the spirit of
my Grandfather," he said.
"Spirit Mountain, my grand
mother. I look up to her," he said.
"I can uncle up to all of these
young nephews, plant some good
seeds of life to inspire these young
guys," he said.
"I believe in showing that the
Grand Ronde people are kind and
generous like a family," he said.
"I like to be out here with the
people, be with the brothers," he
said.
And then he was off to serve an
other guest, another brother.
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Ronny Riggs-Johnson is inteviewed by Jack Ham