LAS VEGAS, April 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MGM Resorts
International (NYSE: MGM) ("MGM Resorts" or the "Company") today
announced the appointment of highly respected leader in digital
business and companywide transformation, Atif Rafiq, as President of Commercial and
Growth, reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Jim Murren. Rafiq has extensive experience in
rethinking and transforming global organizations, reshaping
consumer behavior and delivering significant, measurable, new
sources of profitability for companies.
With this new role, Rafiq will develop new customer experiences,
business models and revenue streams, including launching digital
businesses to further differentiate MGM Resorts. As the lead
commercial officer, he will oversee current revenue streams
including commercial, digital, sales and marketing, bringing them
together in a unified strategy allowing for efficient, nimble and
innovative growth. This is in line with the principles of MGM 2020,
the Company's plan for transformation and revenue growth, with an
emphasis on data-driven, digital and customer-centric
innovations.
"MGM Resorts is on a clear path toward growing the customer
experience and digital transformation, and Atif is the right leader
at the right time. We conducted an exhaustive search knowing we
needed to find someone with not only digital transformation
experience, but also a business leader with proven ability to
translate emerging consumer behavior into strategy and revenue
growth. Atif brings all of these skills to the table," Murren said.
"I have no doubt that he will harness technology and utilize the
greatest assets and employees in the business, to maximize revenue
and evolve the guest experience."
As the first Chief Digital Officer in the Fortune 100, Rafiq led
one of the largest digital transformations in the world at
McDonald's Corporation. In less than five years, his initiatives
went from idea to global rollout becoming one of the main revenue
growth drivers for the company. Rafiq joins MGM Resorts from Volvo
Cars, where he led strategic initiatives to embrace business model
change through digital subscriptions, developed direct-to-consumer
relationships, introduced a wave of connectivity services for cars
and created partnerships with tech giants.
"MGM Resorts sits at a unique intersection between hospitality
and huge consumer appetite for experiences. More and more,
consumers gravitate toward experiences that entertain, delight,
sustain, build treasured memories and create lasting connections.
MGM has the assets, scale advantage and strong brand to grow and
deepen its customer relationships taking aim at such
opportunities," Rafiq said. "The building blocks of digitization –
user experience, design and technology – have been harnessed by
companies like Airbnb, WeWork and Uber to revolutionize their
spaces. We need to obsess over changing consumer behaviors within
our sights, and use these same building blocks to grow in new ways.
I look forward to partnering with the executive team to bring this
ambition to life."
A veteran of Silicon Valley with 17 years of experience leading
large scale digital businesses at top global technology companies
including Amazon, Yahoo! and AOL, Rafiq will be a key leader as MGM
Resorts embarks on its major digital transformation under MGM
2020.
MGM Resorts is in the midst of a significant and exciting
transformation under MGM 2020. With the addition of Rafiq to the
senior executive leadership team, he will set the digital strategy
and drive change across the organization. His strategic insights
and his strong execution experience and initiatives should help MGM
Resorts realize significant incremental cash flow.
"Our Company continues to focus on hiring and developing leaders
for the future," Murren said. "Atif joining the leadership team
further deepens our bench of talent."
Atif Rafiq's headshot can be
found here
ABOUT ATIF RAFIQ
Atif Rafiq is a senior executive
widely recognized for his innovation, general management and market
influence over his 20-year career. He is joining MGM Resorts
from Volvo Cars, where he served as Senior Vice President, Group IT
and Chief Digital Officer. Atif is a veteran of Silicon Valley and
held a variety of general management positions at leading global
consumer and technology companies, including McDonald's, Amazon,
Yahoo!, and AOL. He was also the co-founder and CEO of a start-up
at the age of 28, and advised, invested and served on the boards of
more than 15 start-ups. Before his work in the digital and
technology realm, Atif began his career at Goldman Sachs as a
financial analyst, supporting companies such as Borders, Kmart,
PetSmart, Lockheed Martin and other large organizations. Atif holds
a bachelor's degree in Mathematics-Economics from Wesleyan University and a master's degree in
Business Administration from the University of
Chicago. Atif has over 600,000 followers on social media and
is an active speaker at conferences including Fortune Reinvent,
Cannes Lion, SXSW, CES, Google I/O, Web Summit, MIT Artificial
Intelligence Summit and more.
ABOUT MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL
MGM Resorts
International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment
company with national and international locations featuring
best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and
conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment
experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife and
retail offerings. MGM Resorts creates immersive, iconic experiences
through its suite of Las
Vegas-inspired brands. The MGM Resorts portfolio encompasses
30 unique hotel and destination gaming offerings including some of
the most recognizable resort brands in the industry. Expanding
throughout the U.S. and around the world, the company recently
acquired the operations of Empire City Casino in New York and Hard Rock Rocksino in
Ohio, which was rebranded as MGM
Northfield Park. In 2018, MGM Resorts opened MGM Springfield in
Massachusetts, MGM COTAI in
Macau, and the first
Bellagio-branded hotel in Shanghai. The 83,000 global employees of MGM
Resorts are proud of their company for being recognized as one of
FORTUNE® Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies®. For more
information visit us at www.mgmresorts.com.
Statements in this release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve risks and/or
uncertainties, including those described in the Company's public
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company
has based forward-looking statements on management's current
expectations and assumptions and not on historical facts. Examples
of these statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's
expectations regarding future results and the Company's financial
outlook (including any guidance), the Company's ability to generate
free cash flow growth, return capital to shareholders and further
de-lever, and the Company's ability to execute its strategic plan,
capital allocations strategy, and deliver on its 2020 goals. These
forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those indicated in such
forward-looking statements include effects of economic conditions
and market conditions in the markets in which the Company operates
and competition with other destination travel locations throughout
the United States and the world,
the design, timing and costs of expansion projects, risks relating
to international operations, permits, licenses, financings,
approvals and other contingencies in connection with growth in new
or existing jurisdictions and additional risks and uncertainties
described in the Company's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K
reports (including all amendments to those reports). In providing
forward-looking statements, the Company is not undertaking any duty
or obligation to update these statements publicly as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
law. If the Company updates one or more forward-looking statements,
no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates
with respect to those other forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE MGM Resorts International