The Severity Team  

CEO     Pala Casino Resort

CEO     Severity Inc.

CEO     Kewadin Casinos

CMO   MTR Gaming Group

CEO     Tropicana Casino, Atlantic City

CMO   Tropicana Ent/Columbia Sussex

COO    Trump Plaza Casino, 

CEO     Trump Casino Management & Development

Fred is a deeply experienced CEO who has held top spots such as CEO, COO, and CMO, for tribal and non-tribal casinos and resorts across America.   He is hands-on and well known for his marketing prowess, his passion for maximizing the performance of large complex casino and resorts, and for his business transformation expertise.  He is a thought leader and advisor and sits on several boards.  As CMO he developed an on-line casino integrated with the brick and mortar player’s club, casino, and resort.  He  commissioned Oracle for the online CRM and the deployment of online marketing initiatives that served revenue management for the resort, gaming revenue for the casino, but also added value for the loyalty club.   Fred is the author of many published articles about casinos and resorts, and is also the founder and publisher of Darkhorse Magazine, a magazine for high-rollers that highlighted high-end destinations and gifts.    Fred attended Rutgers University on a Fencing scholarship, was NJ state foil champion, and competed for a spot on the US Olympic Team.

Joseph Guzzardo has over 20 years of experience in compliance, regulatory, corporate security, discovery and special investigations,  in the gaming industry.  He served in key roles for Colony Capital, Trump Casino Resorts, Resorts International, and more.

Guzzardo has acted as liaison with government and regulatory agencies in many jurisdictions including Las Vegas, New Jersey, Mississippi, and more.  Conducted due diligence investigations on individuals and entities with business interest in casinos.  Coordinated gaming and criminal intelligence tasks, supervised internal investigations, and coordinated Internal Audit investigations involving financial fraud.  Audited relevant policies and procedures for compliance and effectiveness.  Prior to his career in the casino industry, Guzzardo had a 20-year career with NJ State Police.  He was a Captain in the New Jersey State police and a State Trooper for 25 years.  Guzzardo was the Intelligence Bureau Supervisor responsible for collection and evaluation of data used in formulation of strategic public policy issues designed to provide criminal justice practitioners with an accurate assessment of organized crime and major criminal problems facing the state of New Jersey.  Further, Guzzardo initiated strategic studies for new methods of reducing and/or controlling organized criminal involvement in the areas of narcotics, labor racketeering, sophisticated organized crime conspiracies and political corruption.

Mark advises Severity clients in the treasury function providing his deep expertise in many areas including Planning & Operations, Cash & Liquidity Management, Funding & Capital Markets, Financial Risk Management, Corporate Governance, and Stakeholder Relations, to name a few.  He is a former investment banker with a Wall Street pedigree that includes Solomon Bros., Lehman Bros., and Deutsche Bank.  Mark has managed funds with billions in liquidity while holding top positions in finance and operations that include CEO, CFO, COO, and Treasurer.  Mark is a pioneer in his industry and has orchestrated and managed large complex financed transactions and projects.  Mark is a Georgetown graduate with a degree in Accounting from the McDonough School of Business.

Nick previously served as the first Senior Chief Counsel of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for both the licensing and enforcement divisions.  For more than four years he served as Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel to MTR Gaming Group, Inc., a publicly traded gaming company.    As general counsel, Nick oversaw the operations of the legal department, including SEC filings, litigation, employment law, management of outside counsel, regulatory matters for the company, which included at least five jurisdictions, and government relations for the corporation and its various subsidiaries. He also served as lead counsel in MTR Gaming Group’s proposed merger with El Dorado.

Nick is highly experienced in all aspects of the gaming industry and has represented private and public companies before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and the gaming licensing authorities in West Virginia, Ohio and Nevada in licensing and regulatory matters, and served as lender’s counsel in connection with the funding and initial development of the Rivers and Sugar House casinos. Nick is also highly experienced in contracts, corporate matters and corporate compliance, as well as labor and employment matters, product liability, personal injury and commercial litigation in this industry.

Nick also handles matters before the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, including licensing, renewals and adverse actions.

Nick has served on numerous legislative and industry panels, including the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Gaming Law panel, and was a speaker at the Southern Gaming Congress. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) by Governor Tom Corbett. Nick also was a member of Governor Rendell and Governor Wolf’s transition teams.

Nick previously served in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of General Counsel as Chief Counsel to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and as Litigation Counsel to the Office of Inspector General.

Prior to practicing law, Nick was as a career law enforcement officer/narcotics agent working in numerous capacities, including as a training officer, undercover agent, tactical officer, drug task force coordinator, special operations team leader and defensive tactics/combat shooting instructor. Nick is a veteran, and is graduate of the United States Marine Corps’ Officer Candidates School.

Teri oversees the daily operation of the Company and the work of the executives encouraging maximum performance and dedication for Severity’s clients.  She has long record of success leading teams across a diverse range of industries including sports, media, entertainment, government, banking and nonprofit.  This broad spectrum of experience has prepared her well to oversee the operations of Severity to secure the functionality of the business and to drive extensive and sustainable growth.  Most recently, Teri was the Chief Marketing and Development Officer for a global non-profit organization.  Prior to that, she was Managing Director of Stellar Concepts, a company that provides strategic marketing and business development services to small to mid-size businesses. Previously, she honed her analytical skills at The Nielsen Company lending her sports marketing expertise to the Nielsen Global Sports division, providing deep analytics on  for Professional Sports Leagues and Teams as well as to the "Big Brands" who invest in them. Prior to this, Teri was Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Partnerships for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.  She led the sales and marketing efforts for the NJSEA across all of its properties including Giants Stadium, The Continental Airlines Arena, Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park.  Teri received her B.S. from Ithaca College as a Business Major with a Marketing minor.

Suzanne brings her sales & marketing experience and provides best-in-class service with passion to each of Severity’s clients.  Her duties include implementing effective digital strategies on all social platforms, monitoring competitor products, sales and marketing activities, directing market channel development activity and coordinating sales distribution by establishing sales territories, quotas, and goals.  Prior to joining Severity, her responsibilities have included managing sales & marketing operating budgets, planning and directing advertising & promotional activities including print, social media, email and direct mail, overseeing and evaluating market research and adjusting marketing strategy to meet changing market and competitive conditions.  She has held positions in sales, marketing, and customer service at FedEx, USAirways/American Airlines, as well as management positions in banking, health care, and entertainment.  Suzanne earned her degree from Kent State University where she studied finance and business management.

Erick brings 20 years of experience in Information Technology to the Severity team.  His IT leadership positions include key development roles in casinos and gaming, manufacturing, and government.  He takes a “bottom to top” approach when assessing requisite IT infrastructure and solutions.

He has vast experience in gaming technology, Casino Management Systems, online gaming, redundancy, security, infrastructure, process, and disaster recovery. Erick’s experience with regulated industries has provided expert level knowledge with gaming and government regulations as well has PCI, HIPAA, IT SOX, and other regulated security standards.

Eric has led complete technology design and deployment for a new casino build. He was the leader of a government IT consolidation project which converged 6 different disparate IT departments into one consolidated department. This project tackled all facets of IT reorganization including infrastructure, security, and process improvement.  Additionally, Erick has served as project lead on several Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 IT initiatives and provides IT guidance and solutions to small and medium sized businesses.

His solutions have increased efficiency, reduced cost, and increased profitability in businesses of all sizes.  Eric has earned his seat in the “C” suite and is not shy about causing healthy disruption to help companies transform and provides strong leadership and direction to that end.