Les Ottolenghi

American business executive

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Les Ottolenghi

Alma mater| Duke University
Occupation(s)| Businessman, CEO
Known for| Top 50 CIO

Les Ottolenghi is an entrepreneur and technology executive who is currently the CEO of the mobile gaming platform company VIP Play Inc.[1] Prior positions held by him include Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Chief Transformation and Commercial Officer at Lee Enterprises, and Chief Information and Commercial Officer at Stride, Inc.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

## Education

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Ottolenghi holds an MBA in Decision Information Analysis from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business where he received the Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship, the highest award granted by the business school. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University.[3][4][10][11][12]

## Career

[edit]

Ottolenghi began his career as an entrepreneur and founded Computer Innovations Corporation out of college. He later grew the start-up to a retail operation that achieved $13.3M in sales in three years. As a result of his efforts in the industry, CIO Magazine listed him among the top 50 CIOs.[13][10][14]

Ottolenghi’s’ expertise encompasses cyber security, big data, real time CRM, and consumer-centric mobile applications development. He’s led the IT strategic business planning process at the enterprise level by leveraging TBM and introduced the NIST Cyber Security Framework and IT governance and compliance standards.[13][10]

Ottolenghi is also reported to have funded, written, promoted, and produced a cyberbullying documentary reviewed by HBO films, CNN, and the U.S. House of Congress and accepted at 38 film festivals.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]

### Sands Corporation

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Prior to his role at Caesars, Ottolenghi spent two years at Sands Corporation as Chief Information & Innovation Officer and held both the CIO and CTO roles for the first year. In 18 months, he launched an entirely new IT enterprise that included a modern, scalable IT network and software infrastructure and application architecture to replace unprofitable, siloed legacy systems and a new architecture design that integrated casino gaming, hospitality, and resort retail systems into a unified IT services platform. His efforts drove profitability for virtually every area of the company and resulted in a ten-fold increase in the value of IT investments and multimillion-dollar reduction in capital and operating expenses. Additionally, he reversed an enterprise-wide cyber-threat to protect billions of dollars in assets and virtually eliminated future security breaches.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]

### Plat4M Technologies

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Previously, Ottolenghi was the Founder & CIO of Plat4M Technologies where he spent five years creating multi-industry software applications including highly scalable SaaS applications and software for the media, travel, and electronics industries. During this time, he created the strategy, business model, and design for TST, the world’s largest retail travel system and developed and licensed over a dozen leading-edge social media engagement tools.[23][30][31]

### Intent Media Works

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As the CTO and Co-Founder of Intent Media Works, the largest distributor of authorized online music media and entertainment file downloads, Ottolenghi spent four years working on groundbreaking projects including the first platform for providing legal and authorized forms of downloadable media content to consumers that led to the first licensing deals with Pandora and Spotify.[23][32][33][34][35]

Ottolenghi spent nine years at top travel and hospitality companies Agentware Incorporated, CWT, and Holiday Inn Worldwide developing platforms that revolutionized the industry including the first and most influential search engine for the travel industry which was licensed to Kayak and was later sold to Priceline.com for $1.8 billion.[23][36][37]

Ottolenghi was named CEO of VIP Play Inc., a mobile gaming company based in Nevada, in June 2025. Bruce Cassidy, the board chair, stated that his knowledge of cloud, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence was essential to growing the platform and improving user interaction.[1][38]

## Recognitions and awards

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* Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), Employer of the Year (2012)
* GA Tech, Employee of the Year (2010 & 2011)
* Distributed Computing Industry Association, Innovator of the Year (2006)
* Runner-up, Technology Person of the Year, Travel Agent Magazine (2002)
* Nominated CIO of the Year 1998, Information Week
* Named Top 100 Most Influential Person’s in Travel Industry, Travel Agent Magazine (1998)
* Named Top 50 Rising Star by Travel Agent Magazine (1997)
* Entrepreneur of the Year, North Carolina (1989)
* Business Transformation 150, 2020[39]
* Digital Transformation Trailblazer, 2019[40]
* CIO 100, 2018[41]
* Breakaway CIO, 2018[42]
* AI/Data Analytics Innovator, 2018
* CIO of the Year, Gaming/Hospitality, 2017/2018[43]

## References

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1. ^ a b IQ, S&P Capital (2025-06-04). "VIP Play, Inc. Announces CEO Changes, Effective June 2, 2025 | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2025-06-20.
2. ^ "Caesars Entertainment Names Les Ottolenghi Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer" (Press release). Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
3. ^ a b Norton, Steven (2016-02-18). "Caesars Entertainment Gets New CIO from Las Vegas Sands - CIO Journal. - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
4. ^ a b 4-traders. "Leslie Ottolenghi, MBA - Biography". 4-traders.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. ^ Heller, Martha (2016-02-23). "New CIO appointments, February 2016 edition". CIO. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
6. ^ "Caesars Entertainment Names Les Ottolenghi Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer (NASDAQ:CZR)". Investor.caesars.com. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
7. ^ "Career Fest: TechConnect Monday | Calendar | University of Nevada, Las Vegas". Unlv.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
8. ^ "Dr. William J.Bennett and Les Ottolenghi On CNN Representing MouseMail.com". YouTube. 2010-08-16. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
9. ^ "Lee Enterprises adds Chief Transformation and Commercial Officer". Investors.lee.net. May 1, 2024.
10. ^ a b c Les Ottolenghi (2016-02-16). "Les Ottolenghi: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
11. ^ "Former Pharmacology Professor Athos Ottolenghi Dies | Duke Today". Today.duke.edu. 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
12. ^ "In Memory of Anna D. Ottolenghi, M.D. - Cremation Society of the Carolinas, Raleigh, NC". Cremnc.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
13. ^ a b "Caesars hires LVS' Les Ottolenghi as chief information officer". Gaming Intelligence. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
14. ^ "Les Ottolenghi | Caesars Entertainment | Email, Chief Information Officer, @caesars.com". Ctosonthemove.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
15. ^ "'Submit the Documentary™' The way we hurt each other has evolved™". Prnewswire.com. 2013-02-26. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
16. ^ "Educational Film About Cyberbullying and Sexting". Prweb.com. 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
17. ^ McAllister, Cameron (2013-03-13). "Reel Georgia - Georgia's film guide: Atlanta review: "Submit the Documentary" (****½)". Reelga.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
18. ^ "Les Ottolenghi". IMDb.
19. ^ "New Award Winning Anti-Bullying Documentary". Prweb.com. 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
20. ^ "Kay Stephens Co-Author of Cyberslammed Reviews Cyberbullying Movie". Prweb.com. 2013-07-19. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
21. ^ "Submit the Documentary: The Virtual Reality of Cyberbullying Movie Review". Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
22. ^ Snider, Mike (2011-01-05). "MouseMail filtering program traps kids' cyberbullies - USATODAY.com". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
23. ^ a b c d "CZR Company Profile & Executives - Caesars Entertainment Corp. - Wall Street Journal". Quotes.wsj.com. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
24. ^ "Les Ottolenghi has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Las Vegas Sands Corp. in Las Vegas - NV, USA". Hospitalitynet.org. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
25. ^ "Defining Media Entertainment & Social Networking on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
26. ^ "Defining Power Consumption, Cybersecurity & Interoperability". YouTube. 2013-05-28. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
27. ^ "Defining Geolocation Services & Vehicular Automation". YouTube. 2015-02-19. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
28. ^ "2014 Top Chief Information Officers". advisorycloud.com. 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
29. ^ Albano, Jonathan (2015-08-12). "019 | Technology Innovation, Big Data Analytics and Cyber Security with Fortune 500 CIO Les Ottolenghi". Lodging Leaders. LodgingLeaders. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
30. ^ "Goizueta Magazine - Winter 2001 | Feature Story - Six Degrees of Separation". Goizuetamag.emory.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
31. ^ "Durham Academy Head of School's Blog". Da.org. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
32. ^ "MISRC | Seminar Series". Misrc.umn.edu. 2005-10-07. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
33. ^ "Carlson Leisure Group's First IT Review and Webcast hosted by CIO Les Ottolenghi on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
34. ^ "Les Ottolenghi, CIO of AgentWare on WGCL-TV Atlanta 46 on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
35. ^ "Innovation at Holiday Inn Worldwide featuring Director of Emerging Technologies, Les Ottolenghi on Vimeo". Vimeo.com. 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
36. ^ "Les Ottolenghi Bio". Carlson.amediatech.com.
37. ^ "Intent MediaWorks - About Us - Leadership Team". Creativeblaze.com.
38. ^ Inc, VIP Play. "VIP Play Inc. Appoints Digital-Transformation Veteran Les M. Ottolenghi as Chief Executive Officer". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2025-06-20. `{{cite web}}`: `|last=` has generic name (help)
39. ^ "Business Transformation 150 2019 - 2020". Constellation Research Inc. 2019-06-18. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
40. ^ Phillips, Alexa. "TIBCO Recognizes Innovative Customer Achievements in the Americas at TIBCO NOW Chicago | The TIBCO Blog". Retrieved 2021-08-27.
41. ^ Corporation, Caesars Entertainment. "Caesars Entertainment Recognized by CIO as One of the CIO 100 Award Winners". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2021-08-27.
42. ^ "Evanta Announces Winners of Global CIO Executive Summit Breakaway Leadership Awards". PRWeb. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
43. ^ "Les Ottolenghi". Constellation Research Inc. 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2021-08-27.