Covering the Industry

Like many young people raised in a family steeped in the gaming industry, Ashley McCulloch wanted nothing to do with casinos as a career. McCulloch, a Northern Nevada native, set her sights on Wall Street when she entered the business program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Alas, when she graduated in 2008, the country was mired in a recession, much of it caused by Wall Street actions. A career in that environment seemed like a bad option. But gaming enjoyed continued growth.

“Luckily, I was able to lean on the gaming community,” McCulloch says. “I worked at a few of the casinos in a variety of roles in food and beverage, marketing and hotel operations.”

She landed a junior sales role at IGT and remained with the company for more than nine years.

“IGT gave me a great opportunity to learn and grow in a fun and challenging environment,” she says. She moved from an account associate in New Jersey to account manager, moved to Florida, then to senior account manager and transferred to Toronto. With each role, McCulloch excelled, learning parts of gaming from traditional retail slots and systems to VLT to online. “In my time there I was consistently a top quota achiever in a variety of markets, and once I was No. 1, I began looking to see my next growth opportunity.”

It seemed progress often required an MBA. She looked into available programs during Covid-19 and centered her search on medical schools.

“I thought if I needed to make an industry pivot, health care was a good option. I was accepted to Vanderbilt University,” she says. Every other weekend she flew to Nashville for classes, working at IGT full time the rest of the week.

McCulloch stayed with gaming, joining the former Scientific Games, now Light & Wonder. “It was tough to leave IGT with so many great people and where I had grown, but I needed a different challenge.”

In January 2023, Inspired Gaming hired McCulloch as director of account management for North America, with a chance to experience a smaller company with enormous potential.

The position includes developing and implementing a product and operator strategy as well as creating a successful team. “We have been able to implement a strong content strategy, including releasing a new-to-industry product with 70 percent organic growth year over year.”

McCulloch has received many requests for her to mentor younger staffers, a skill she lacked.

“I didn’t understand the impact of a mentor as an advocate in achieving your next goals until I was at Vanderbilt,” says McCulloch, who relaxes with a good book, from self-help to murder mysteries, cooks and bakes especially challenging recipes, and travels.

Connections emerged at Light & Wonder.

Deb Nutton acted as a coach, mentor and sounding board. So did Tony Lewin, vice president of strategic sales, the first person who actively advocated for McCulloch. “It was a new experience to meet new people and have them say that Tony had told them how I was an up-and-coming leader with tons of potential.”

As her career grows, McCulloch sees the chance to advocate for others.

“Good people attract good people, and success attracts success, and I want to put a lot of positive energy into the universe and make an impact on the industry and others.”

She set her sights to become more intentionally vocal for herself and the industry in general. She recently was elected to the board of WISE LV (Women in Sports and Events), an organization which promotes diversity and education in the sports and events industries.

“I plan to grow into larger leadership roles in the industry and to grow my skills further. I would like to extend my expertise outside of North America into a more global role and understand new markets.”