Saratoga Casino Hotel vice president on a varied career, wins and losses in the casino game - Albany Business Review

8/5/2016 Saratoga Casino Hotel vice president on a varied career, wins and losses in the casino game Albany Business Review

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Rita Cox on the opposition in Saratoga to aproposed casino: "It was absolutely a surprise."

From the Albany Business Review: http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2016/07/28/10-minutes-with-rita-cox-of-saratoga-casino-hotel.html

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

10 minutes with Rita Cox of Saratoga Casino Hotel

Rita Cox on a varied career — and wins and losses in the casino game

SUBSCRIBER CONTENT:Jul 28, 2016, 11:31am EDT

Rita Cox’s experiences living on a farm in Iowashaped her work ethic.

That determination is evident today, as shehelps lead the effort to keep Saratoga CasinoHotel a destination for thousands of gamblerseven as a full-scale casino is gearing up to openroughly 25 miles away in Schenectady.

What was the greatest thing about growing upon a farm? I didn’t necessarily love it when itwas happening, but the greatest thing aboutbeing raised in that environment is you workhard and are taught a level of responsibility for getting the job done andcommitment. It’s not about what’s going to be given to you; it’s about what youearn in life.

Was that something you realized in hindsight? Living on a farm is really hard workand I have tremendous respect for people who do it for their livelihood. The singleworst job I’ve ever done is baling hay. It’s hot. It’s sweaty. It’s physically very hard.

Why did you decide to study English and Russian studies at Dickinson College?My goal when I went to college was to get into international law. That’s where the

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English major came from. It was always a big part of my upbringing because mygrandfather owned a publishing company. Reading and grammar were part of mylife from when I was itty-bitty.

Why did your plans for law school change? I decided, when I was in college, itprobably wasn’t the best path for me. In college, what you take away isn’t thebooks. For most people, what you take away is what you learn about yourself. I hadalways been into music and things like that and I just kind of fell into the radiostation there.

You were a fan of heavy metal music in college. Best concert you saw? ProbablyTemple of the Dog before they released their first album. It was in a little club inNew York before they became a huge phenomenon.

Tell me about the job you had at Sony Music. The division I worked for is legacyrecordings, which re-issues old [music] on CDs. At the time, CDs were still new andyou had a vast catalog of Sony material to work with. I learned to love all kinds ofmusic that I hadn’t been exposed to before. I also got the chance to work withsome artists that were just amazing.

Who impressed you the most? Willie Nelson is definitely up there because he has akind spirit about him. Carlos Santana is another one. He was very spiritual. I wascompletely and utterly star-struck by Johnny Cash. I was raised listening toJohnny’s gospel. The first time I met him was after one of his shows at CarnegieHall. He’s taller than tall, and all he wants to say is thank you for putting out abunch of his stuff that had not been out before.

You were in your 20s, living in New York City, meeting famous musicians. Whydid you leave that behind to move to Albany for a different job? I was raised on afarm, and while New York City is great and I still love to go back and visit, I’m not acity girl. It was real hard to leave but I think ultimately it was the right thing to dobecause I needed to get away from the constant fray.

You worked at a few different places before taking the position in Saratoga inDecember 2003, just before hundreds of video slot machines (VLTs) wereinstalled at the harness race track. Why were you interested in the job? I’vealways loved marketing and entertainment. This seemed like such an exciting placeto be. There was so much happening and so much possibility with the role that

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marketing played with the company.

Do you gamble? Some.

Ever put money in a VLT? We’re not allowed.

I know you worked hard to get a full-scale casino license. How disappointed wereyou when the state awarded the license to developers in Schenectady? Verymuch. That was hard. I think that anybody who puts that much into something,whether it is work or personal, when it doesn’t happen for a reason that’scompletely outside your control, that’s very hard.

The owners of Saratoga Casino Hotel had to pursue a license in East Greenbushbecause there was so much resistance in Saratoga. Were you surprised by theopposition? It was completely from left field. There’s always going to be somelevel of objection whenever a business wants to expand. I think what was such aleft-field thing was we put a lot of time and money and resources into thiscommunity. It was absolutely a surprise.

The new 117-room hotel and Morton’s Steakhouse are meant to compete with thenew Schenectady casino opening in early 2017. Do you feel like you will be OKbecause Saratoga is already a destination? Our location has played a role in oursuccess from the very beginning. We’re going to be OK. Our business is going tolook different. They are definitely going to have a negative impact. We will be OK.It’s just going to be a different way of doing things.

Rita Cox

Title: Senior vice president of marketing and external affairs

Company: Saratoga Casino Hotel

Age: 48

Education: Bachelor’s degree in English and Russian studies, Dickinson College,1990

Grew Up: On a farm south of Des Moines, Iowa

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Resides: Clifton Park

Personal: Boyfriend, Steven Jongeling

Michael DeMasiReporterAlbany Business Review

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Saratoga Casino Hotel vice president on a varied career, wins and losses in the casino game - Albany Business Review