to state and executives in the c suite where we bring you up close and personal where sea level executives and business leaders to bring you tips tools and resources for small business owners entrepreneurs and other professionals who are thinking about starting  own businesses i am delighted and honored for our guests today mr ron davis and he is here from parks casino i'm excited to have him here we're going to talk about business but we're going to talk about some community initiatives as well and then later when the show stay tuned to the end and later in this so we're going to provide you with some really quick tips for those business people out there who are looking for some opportunities to partner with a casino so grab your pads and pens for that piece so that any further delay i'm to welcome mr ron davis to the show but thank you it is my pleasure and congratulations on your program that educates everyone in the community and hopefully i'll add something to the program that your viewers and those who are looking for additional opportunities can can use i know you will i have no doubt whatsoever especially given not to resume either just you as a person so i want to kind of uncover that you absolutely i'm looking forward to yeah before we get into the business side i'd like to uncovers the kind of the story behind the face so if you could tell a little bit disagree background you can start from wherever you want to start ripley's i want  i'm in the hall of fame a definite high school blessed to be along with my brothers our staff and family of five children mother who just is my heart and continues to be my heart she unfortunate past several years ago but she was always out there rooting us on sports and encouraging us education was a key education education education and my dad he worked at campbell soups board of the national football league players association blessed to have been elected by all the players in the national football league to be on that board so it's quite an honor and then again even more pass for done several things in in my life including the president of company and tourism and oakland california done a tremendous community things with a lot of people stand on their shoulders but came back here as part of a group at the convention center the huge convention center in philadelphia senior vice president there and then after a few years moved on to my current role which is chief diversity inclusion office and director of community develop you got this sense for community i could be making that up but that's not something that kind of has taught did that come from that that family that's part of the family have i can go back to the old days with the with the with the pictures of martin respecting older child and individuals are elders and always respecting the community my mother would talk to everyone anyone diversity and chief diversity of which part of my life and i call diversity different individuals valuing each other regardless of skin intellect talents of the and so they taught us that from the beginning whether it was in sports whether it was going to school whether it's going to church we were taught that diversity from the beginning and th you a quick story i was a captain football team and i thought i was the baddest thing right now she had come to the homecoming game and saw me play for the first time well in the middle of the homecoming game i get kicked in the face know we can fast forward to business all we want but a lot of the skills that are inherent for running your own business and or being successful in business comes from the foundation that we received some of us have that hair and we don't even realize that we have it is because we were taught it at home that's right we might have refined it in school but some of those basic skills were taught at home that's right now yourself that's being part of something larger than yourself as being in trickle part of the things for a successful family six as for life whether it be team oriented whether reed group of collective people who are doing the right thing called doing the right thing when nobody's looking nobody looking and i think you know when to get into square i happen to be a huge sports fan and so i think also that teamwork that again once you are coming when you come up as an athlete and you're accustomed to working with the team when you go into work it's just figuring out who's playing what position and i guess just the mindset that we already have and then if you're starting your own business again those same skills you're going to need i'm all right you don't have to figure out how you work with different people how you want to swing in different circles so all of those things if you can get their foundation early doesn't leave us that's exactly right  stroke on it and i feel i feel really sad for those who don't have that who don't have that early age and there are those of us with struggle in our communities in our families who don't have that sense of value  huge huge in the gaming entertainment industry but what is it that you think is making them a leader i was the first person hired by parks out of twenty five hundred people to do what i do and i was given the opportunity to create the diversity program how we really take the structure of business and align it with the community engage the community include the community so from day value develop a strong strong corporate but community focused one of the the precious things that we always say is that we want to share our success with the community and that covers everything and i think it's important hence why we have this ability to utilize and leverage media this is exactly why i wanted to do this because it's our opportunity to shine a different light on what professional athletes are doing when the cameras aren't rolling you know not capturing them in other moments but capturing these moments letting people know that you know you relish in the success but you're given that back and you're paying it forward especially with your work with young people we talked about that a little bit offline but that's huge for me they need that young people need this guidance they need it they're out there trying to figure out which way to go we kind of had a little bit of help with it so i was excited and that's why i wanted to have you here to talk about that you're  one of the thing before we head into the break what's coming up on the horizon i know that there's a lot of growth anticipated around parks but is there anything specific on the horizon that you want to highlight a theater that we're building  internally which way add to our mix of offerings for customers but we're also looking at a partnership that we have with a group called cordage out of baltimore which is a new venture it is a partnership in south philadelphia  we're looking at having that at some point reality and so we're building behind the scenes with a group we're thinking about how we touch that particular project and so look for that hopefully in the next year or two to be part of the philadelphia new jersey area scene i would imagine that's also one of the larger employers as well some of them sounds like more jobs to and i write about that exactly right also involved as we talked about offline is we're involved in the c m e programs that are male engagement at a community college in philadelphia that is one of the most important things out of all the things that we've done and parks is very generous but we feel very strongly that what the center of a mill and gauge meant to speak for us and its african american affinity program for young males and what we do is go in w real talks to tell them about our lives we listen to them about their lives and we try to build upon the things that are there and we try to strengthen those things strong was strong men strong futures that's our that's our model it's really really heartwarming and uplifting programs but we also as a company parks gives scholarships as a part of the program so i'm proud of very proud of the program going to you can do even more i was excited when i found that out about  u on a personal level beyond just the company i know that that's a personal ambition of yours and i would imagine some of the others is that something that you put your your colleagues and you know this well i was very fortunate  friends listen to me they listened to me on this one occasion and it is really going to the next level with their program because we have programs and all the diversity areas that we feel are important with women you know my question was why is parkes it you know leading the charge and i get it now because you're at the helm you just get it you have a larger view and i can feel that the new time is flying we take a break so well when we come back from this break let's talk about the community partners program i want to give businesses those that are local an opportunity to understand how they can partner with us you know thanks everyone for tuning in please stay tuned we have a pad and pen that i mentioned and we'll be right back after this quick break i don't wan ready to drink super bowl all natural dairy and gluten free be sure to sign up for specials and great deal video marketing can skyrocket traffic to your website and your business from i catch in promotional ads and clients as to whether your training series that showcase your expertise give your brand  we are back in the c suite today i'm joined by chief diversity officer diversity and inclusion at parks as you know mr ron davis so right before the break we started to talk about the community partners program and so i was excited to learn about this program because i'm always trying to find opportunities for businesses to partner and collaborate anything that can help strengthen us and kind of put us on the map and so my understanding of the community partners program is that it's an opportunity to help local businesses not only brand themselves but i would imagine and maybe even get new customers a can you talk a little bit about that probably have about one hundred fifty million dollars and things that we buy every year so no matter if it's a person who has a marketing program or a tchotchke a particular program we certainly want to talk to them we sit down with them we go through an analysis we talk about their various offerings and then we bring them back and look really look at where the opportunities are and then we have an open program we do have an out and do business where we actually bring our partners in and we have tables where our buyers are and we talk have them talk one on one with our buyers and we kind of handle it that way as far as minority business enterprise and women's business enterprise but l b l b is local business local business from our area within a twenty mile radius we what's businesses within that radius to really and how important the casino itself is a generator for all the money i mean we probably have gone annually we generate about seven billion dollars a year in just activity so we want to be seen what that felt by the community i'm going back to this why parks as a leader i think that's what's different than what's happened down at the store so to speak where the local business is didn't necessarily or the local community didn't necessarily always benefit from having such a large beer with him for parks to recognize that we were talking about this before the show start of a local business and you know we eat drink and sleep what we do yet and it's so difficult sometimes to try to figure out where do i get some additional revenue how can i get people to find me how can i you know take advantage of how can i partner with someone that may be able to help me take it to the next level so the fact that parks gets that it's a big deal once and so they  don't even even just getting attention you know you look at a building and you look at the obstacle getting inside that building who can coach you through that process well that's what we do we coaxed the individuals through that process and let me get  talk to soandso and he could talk to them buyer over here listen figure out how we can can get you released and audience with them so you can go to that next step and then the state that keep that ironhide if we can to get you that business that these investment the need to feed your family that's what we are was all about so we not only have succeeded while rules but we've had challenges and some of the roles that we've had in business and so we understand that when you're not to print when you wake up every month on zero meaning you have to generate your own income to feed your family and when that phone call doesn't get returned you're absolutely right or all the follow up that you have to do or you're trying to figure out well what is it going to take to help me get that to the next level now i see why your program is so successful because you've been there you get it you get it in every aspect i want to i want to be the accountable part of what we do because from whatever days that i have doing this i want to make sure that ron davis makes an impact on the people that we serve we we are servant believe in servant leadership we really do i love it so here's my my testimony  don't ask me to tell it but i'm going to tell it and so i reached out to you speaking of phone calls i decided i wasn't going to send you an e mail as my first we introduced myself i was going pick up the phone and i was going to call you and i found you one line because that's what i do and i called you and left a quite long winded message but it was intentional because i said in case we end up playing phone tag let me tell you why i'm calling here the three reasons you called me back personally not just secretary not sure you called me back i believe it was the same day and i remember that and i remember saying what a hung up the phone i cannot wait to meet him because that doesn't happen very often and i'm a tell more you on vacation and you took time to call me back so i'm going to tell everybody and i know i think of you then but i'm going to thank you publicly because it meant a lot that you took the time to you know not say you're going to do when nobody's looking that means everything so thank you so very mr davis but they did a phenomenal job so i just wanted to let everybody know is there anything else before we start to wind down that i may have forgotten any other only person online on our website and the diversity you can find me if i'm what i'm saying are davis that parks casino dot com because again we can go away after talking and people have those needs and if they want to reach out to me a certain way i'll be there to reach out to you it means everything i'm going to tell you i call it old school but let's keep it and this is the kind of stuff we can pass down to these young people that you're mentoring the young people that i mentor these are the kinds of skills they need to understand if you say you're going to do do something the follow up if you have an opportunity to meet someone phenomenal follow up twenty four hours forty eight follow up with them don't just let that thing go through to the wayside because these opportunities  not come around every day at all and by the way everyone in the community partners program you can find that online on parks as you know web site parks casino dot com it's a phenomenal website by the way and so i will show you how to get that information about the community partners program so that you can take advantage of some of the opportunities around talked about i love this program it has even more depth to it than i thought you know the the web site was fantastic but it was generic so i didn't realize you really have a consulting piece in there you really showing people how to do this that's very rare where we want to very well get and we want to share our success with the community and help people to be successful you just left the convention center senior vice president and we had a lot of engaged conversations on my role at the casino and this is the one that i really this is a passion for it seems like it's a hybrid it's brought together your ability to want to serve you've got the giving funding needs which means you can give back you've got the business man which means just to teach excel you know how to pull all these things together it's unbelievable unbelievable it's so ron davis  just absolute dream job because i was able to can't put a lot of things in them that i believe in to function but a lot of engaged part of what i do is lobbying work with the state i do public relations i'm able to do a lot of motive patient and then i serve on boards i'm on about eighteen boards of directors and chambers of commerce recrossed i was on the board for the l players association with the head injury issues and all the other things with the new collective bargaining agreement all the other things i was part of that that picture and then with the services which is helps people with disabilities  just a variety of other areas among the crime commission philadelphia dover valley crime commission and so i kind of get a sense of the community by serving on the board where the needs are where they are where they are and where we can help try to do that you're living a life you just are using it to say this is i know this needs over the year and i know there's a need over here let me bring these two and i would imagine the diversity and inclusion means now i get to invite people to the table are often not even given that not at all i don't know and i'd be remiss without mentioning my brothers and sisters i mean they are we're actually first generation college graduates four or five others because my parents basically give although their lives were lives are different because of the challenges they had did not go to the college so my brother art he's retired now  have another sister who's done well in the social social areas of outreach so we're we're we're blessed and again they're exempt and keep me going daily well as i said mr davis did a phenomenal job it's refreshing to be able to talk business but also talk about the role that our families play in our lives i'm a first generation college grad too so you know what i mean so it was our way of giving back to our parents to say thank you for everything they did for us so there's such a pleasure to have you here please give your phone number one more time before we wrap up just in time but yes thank you to six seven two two three three six one zero  well everyone thank you for tuning in thanks to all of our sponsors for today's show reach out to iran as you can see this is genuine visit the web site parks you know dot com feel free to visit our website for any additional information about this show or how we can help you raise visibility for your own business or get your show on the air at staging exec's dot com thanks again for tuning in and we look forward to seeing you again in