Donna More Named General Counsel of Columbia Entertainment

FORT MITCHELL, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Columbia Entertainment, the company that successfully bid to acquire Aztar Corporation and its Tropicana casino properties, has named former prosecutor and gaming regulator Donna B. More its General Counsel. More will be responsible for legal and government affairs, compliance, and community relations for the corporation and its casino properties.

In making the announcement, Columbia CEO William J. Yung said that More brings top level regulatory and compliance experience plus a track record of success in private sector legal representation to Columbia’s management. With the completion of the announced acquisitions of Aztar and Casino Queen, Columbia will operate a total of 13 casino properties in the U.S., including the Tropicana properties in Atlantic City and on the Las Vegas strip.

“We’re fortunate to have someone of Donna’s stature in this critical role,” Yung said. “She has authored gaming regulation and enforced it. She has been counsel to major gaming companies on virtually the entire spectrum of compliance. And she is well known and respected by gaming regulators, with whom she has earned a reputation for integrity in balancing the demands of the public and the needs of business.

“With a footprint that will soon include casinos in every major gaming state – Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi, Louisiana, Indiana and Illinois, and with a potential development in Pennsylvania – Donna’s skill set is exactly what we need to manage, maintain and enhance our interface with gaming jurisdictions that regulate our casino businesses,” he said.

More began her career in gaming in 1990 as the first Chief Legal Counsel of the then newly formed Illinois Gaming Board (IGB). While there, she led a legal team that wrote the regulations that formed the framework for the state’s $2.0 billion river boat casino industry. As IGB’s top lawyer, she advised the Board on legal affairs, oversaw rule making and disciplinary matters, and represented the Board in administrative and judicial proceedings.

More left IGB in July 1994 to join Chicago law firm Freeborn & Peters where she was an equity partner and developed the firm’s first gaming practice. In 2000 she became President of her own firm, More Law Group, specializing in gaming law. In 2004 she moved to Greenberg Traurig, LLC, where she headed the firm’s gaming practice.

Prior to her work in gaming, More was a successful state and federal prosecutor. Upon graduation from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984, she spent five years with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office trying felony cases and supervising criminal appeals. In 1989, she became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois prosecuting white collar crime.

More is a past President (2002-03) and a long-time Trustee of the International Association of Gaming Attorneys. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1979 from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts and her Masters in political science in 1980 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

About Columbia Entertainment

Columbia Entertainment is the gaming affiliate of Columbia Sussex Corporation and together are one of the largest privately held owners, developers and operators of hotel properties and casinos in the world. Columbia Sussex is the largest licensee of full-service Marriott Hotels in the U.S., and the Company and its affiliates own a total of 82 hotels and 8 casinos with approximately 27,000 rooms, including Marriott, Hilton, Westin, Sheraton, Renaissance and Doubletree branded properties across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Founded in 1972, the Company is led by William J. Yung III and owned by Mr. Yung and the Yung family. Columbia Entertainment and Columbia Sussex Corporation are headquartered in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky and have more than 18,000 employees worldwide.