As head of TMG Consulting’s strategic planning and gaming services divisions, Suzanne Leckert evaluates the practicality and feasibility of large and small-scale developments across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Europe and Africa.
In the early part of Leckert’s career, she was not thinking about working for a consulting firm, but first was employed in a public agency. Then she decided to make a change, switching to a private consulting firm.
“The change was drastic,” she says, “and it took some time for me to adjust to the differences.”
She notes that her ability to portray a sense of confidence that others are able to pick up on helped her throughout not only these early stages of her career but all the way to her current position.
Leckert states that her boss, Dr. Anthony Mumphrey, Jr., has been an influential person in her life, teaching her about running her own business and how to stay in business for the long term.
When asked about trends in the gaming industry for emerging leaders and young professionals, Leckert explains, “The Global Gaming Women organization is a great vessel for young women entering the industry.” She says she was relatively alone in a male-dominated industry early in her career, and she thinks the Global Gaming Women organizations will help bring women together. To help spread her experience and knowledge, she has started an internship program at her firm in which she can hand-pick a few individuals to give insights or advice that she never got starting her career.
Going forward, Leckert plans to continue growing more business, and has two pieces of advice for those young professionals entering the gaming industry: One, she says, “Get off of it.” In other words, it is up to you to find the job that affords you opportunity for personal and professional growth. Second, “Work your tail off and strive to be the absolute best at what you do—excellence matters.”
In her career as an analyst and a planner, Leckert has become proficient in the performance of feasibility analyses, highest- and best-use studies, economic impact assessments and revenue forecasts. Using her tuned research skills and ability to utilize complex models (gravity and otherwise), she has generated financial projections for developments as small as an individual restaurant and as large as a $3 billion multi-component and multi-phased casino resort.
Leckert is well-versed in the use of geographic information systems technology to solve real-world problems and the analysis of markets—hotel, amusement, entertainment, retail, food and beverage, gaming, and spa. Her planning, coordination, management and intergovernmental skills have also helped clients in realizing their development visions, including the $300 million recovery program of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Leckert previously worked for the Innovation Group as the director of development analysis, and was a city planner and special assistant to the planning director for the city of New Orleans. Her years of work experience also includes a staff position with U.S. Senator John Breaux and one with the Tax and Estates practice of the law firm Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre.
