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CAPITALMarc W/eiswasse

WHAT'S IN A 'ITlfl,E?FINANCE DEPARTMENTDepending on which casinoCEO you ask, the Financedepartment may be the mostimporrant departmentalnmC(ion within the property.Not only (or the obvious reasons such as accounts receivable/payable. payroll, cash ieccages running smoothly,

safeguarding of asse ts, etc, but also for regulatorycompliance and reponing. road shows to raisemone)" investments and diversification of assets.To get a better insight into chis area I reached Ollt toTjeerd Brink, Vice President of Finance, and (F Oat Pechanga Resort & C'lSino. Tjeerd is a seasonedcasino vetenm with more chan 4 years at Pechanga,is a CPA, and has also worked for Harmh's St. Louis,The Palms and dl t Hard Rock casinos in las Vegas,Gtes.u'S \'(forld, and the Street Experience in downrown las Vegas. He has some excellent informationto share, and I thank him for his cime:G&L: Tell lIS ..'loom your propert)'.TB: Pech.mga Resort & Casino is ;'tn AAA PourDiamond property and the htrgesc gaming facilitywest of the Mississ ippi. Pech;'tnga. is located inTemecula, which is about an hour southe1SC of losAngeles ;'tncl north ofdowntown &\11 Diego, and offersthe following amenities:

200,000+ sq. fe . Olsino floor, 28,300 sq. ft . highlimit are-.l, 3,()(X)+ Class HI sloe machines, 130+ tablegames, 54 poker rabies, 517 hoeel rooms including 64suites, \Vorld ClassJourney at Pf(hanga GotfCoutSe,full-serv ice Sp3& Fitness Cemer, 53,()(X) sq. ft. indoormeeting space, Eight full-service restaurants includ ing a 12 ,000+ sq. (c. bullet and a (000 court, SouthernC-ilifomia's largE'Sc nigluclubSiik, a 270-seac Con){'(I)'Club, 1 6 . . ~ RV Resort with fuji hook-ups, a GasShltion, a 1,200-seat Showroom and a 4,000 sq. fc.C'looret Lounge.G&L: Tell liS abom the Organizational Chart andsome of the responsibilities of each departmenthead.

GAMING & LE IS URE

TB: At Pechang.l we have a General Manager and10 Vice Presidents. The G e n e r o l l ' > r ~ t n a g e r reportsto the Pechanga Development Corpomtion, whichis a five member boord of elected members of thePechanga Tribe. All operational functions reportup through one of rhe Vice Presidents: Slots'fable Games (includes Poker)

Food and Beverage Harel Operations (includes Spa and GolO Marketing (includes Entertainment

and Bu ss ing program) Information Technology Talent Management I Human Resources

Public s.'l(ety I Security Facilities FinanceG&L: \'(Ih;'tt are the main diflerences in responsibilities between a CFO and n Vice President ofFinance?TB: TIlis really depends on the company or property.Most single property operations ha.\'e one top financepeoon, and the title mn be Vice President of Finance,alief Financial Onicer, or both. At Pechanga. we usethe ritle of ''Vice President of Finance and CPO".Addition.1Iiy, we ha\'e a Director of Finance and aController. In addition co the Director of Finance, theCFO's direct reports include the Director of Planningand Analysis, rhe DireaorofC'lgeand Credit, and theDirector of Purchasing. 'nlC Director ofFinance o\'ersetS 5eveml other finance areas including: RC\'enueAudit, Regulacory Compliance, Count Room,Inventory Control,Payroll, andAccollncing. At othercomfXll1ies, the Directorof Finance dmiesd&ribed above may beat a Vice President level.

brger, multi-propert)' companies mayhave a Corpomte CFOand Several Vice

SPRING 2011

Presidents of Finance at the property level. It really depends on the size of the enterprise and theiuse of tides. Reca ll 20 years ago every personworking in a bank W;\S a "Vice President" ofsomething. These days, most companies, includingbanks. use the Vice President tides much less frequently.G&L: Describe a cypiml day in )'OUf vo'Ork schedule.TB : I genemlly arriw on pfOIX'rcy between 8:00 and8:30,Ull. I usually smrt my day reviewing shift rer:t)rtfrom se\'{'ml dClXlrtlllencs, which quickly providesderails if we h.1d anything unusual happen the nightbefore. I also gee a geneml ide., if the volumes weregreater or less than expected, and if we had any service issues. I also review cash acrivicy from the daybefore to ensure we have proper Glsh levels in ouraCCOU1l[S and on the casino floor. By 9:00.Ull, the dayis usually kicked inca gear,and we could re workingon anything. Some cbys are fiUed with meetings, bachwith Vice Presidents o( other defXlrtmems or mem bers of the Finance Team.Depending on the enlendar, we may be working on amomh end close, reviewing dmfi: financial smtementsor reviewing other financial summaries. We look atour business from many sides and are always lookingfor \Ya}'S to improveouroperations. Like most people,I have a list of projects thOle need. my attention, and Iwill atmck items on the list between meetings andother Un.1UOOlced time periods that comes up duringthe day. On some days, I make grelt progress on m}project list, and other days, I'm lucky if I gec to anrthing on it. The (un IXl.rt:s of my job and this business

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are thar no days are eyer the same and I continue ( 0learn new things every d'ly.G&L: \'\fhar are some ofrom (OP deIXl-rtmenml priorities,