Meet Our
Key Players

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Joe Nayquonabe, Jr. | Jiigewegaabaw
CEO, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures
Joe Nayquonabe, Jr. is an American Indian business professional who has spent his career reimagining and reinventing how American Indian tribal economies grow and prosper.
He spent more than a decade growing the Grand Casino brand before becoming CEO of Mille Lacs Band’s Corporate Commission, where he founded several companies. Among them is Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures which manages the business portfolio of the Mille Lacs Band; including SLOTCO.
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Robert “Robbie” Sawyer
COO, SLOTCO
Having a long-standing career in tribal gaming, Robbie’s tenure has led him through hospitality, marketing, and slot operations where strategy and flexibility has allowed him to gain success in a progressive career. Throughout his 25 years in casino operations, he’s driven by influencing positive change today and believing in the mission of the organization for the future of his family. Being a servant-leader, and ethical partner within Indian country, are at the utmost importance to Robbie. To understand future goals is to understand historical events – this allows for him to navigate respectfully and with intent.
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Becky Houle
VP of Compliance, SLOTCO
As a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Becky operates with integrity and a value-added mindset when approaching cost containment strategies or identifying opportunities for, and improving, efficiencies. With nearly 20 years in tribal operations to include Gaming Regulation and Compliance, Becky is a resource and respected amongst tribal and state regulators, as well the National Indian Gaming Commission. Beyond regulations and licensing, Becky’s passion is to see other tribal nations thrive.
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Aarik Robertson | Waagosh
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures
Aarik is a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and has over 15 years of experience in tribal operations. His flexibility has allowed him to be innovative in how he approaches his projects and helped him to build strong relationships throughout Indian country. Aarik is an active member of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association (MAIBA) and earned his Juris Doctorate, from Mitchell Hamline School of Law, with a focus in Federal Indian Law & Policy.
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Randy Sivigny
Business Development Director – Midwest, SLOTCO
With over three decades of experience in tribal gaming across all facets of operations and business development, Randy understands first-hand the overall goals and challenges. He has been recognized as an industry leader and a valuable resource to maximize slot operations performance. Embracing the wisdom of tribes, Randy understands the strength behind building trust is by going slow and listening to our tribal partner’s needs and then customize accordingly.
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Scott Norton
Business Development Director – Southwest, SLOTCO
Scott has more than 20 years of gaming experience across all facets of operations and business development. Having spent more than a decade working with tribes, he understands the importance of sustainability within tribal communities and will be a valuable, forward-thinking partner. He will work with you to identify and solve challenges, realize new revenue streams, and help drive growth.
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Deb “Debbie” Schmolke
Manager of Analytics and Logistics, SLOTCO
A valued numbers ninja, Debbie has over three decades of experience in slot operations within tribal gaming. Consistently, she is a reliable resource throughout the industry that looks for small wins and micro-changes, for big impact. She embraces, respects, and nurtures mutual goals while translating data into actionable insights to drive slot floor performance to maximize profitability. Debbie commits herself to building relationships while looking at data through a strategic lens while tracking its nuisances for better results.
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Imran Khan
Lead Data Scientist, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures
Imran is a curious data scientist that remains objective as he navigates through marketing analytics, predictive modeling, machine learning and big data technologies to help deliver actionable insights. Recognized as a servant-leader in tribal gaming, Imran is obsessed with building strong partnerships. He said, “SLOTCO provides a calmness – we give a moment to pause and reflect as we provide an outside perspective and experience so that tribes, our partners, can focus on what’s important to them.”
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Karyann Waukazoo
Director of Marketing
An indigenous professional with a career spanning 25 years within the hospitality industry, including tribal operations – both gaming and tribal government – Karyann brings her love and expertise of marketing and communications to SLOTCO. Her focus is to be a strategic partner to the client-property to enhance their marketing operational efforts to include, but not limited to, promotions, advertising, and brand management, to loyalty programs, community relations and more!