As the 2014 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems – Celebrating 30 Years: The Game has Changed approaches, we are dedicating our blog to give you weekly highlights leading up to the event on April 10 and 11. Highlights will include information about speakers, as well as an occasional sneak peek, written by the speakers themselves, about their upcoming presentations.
This week we are happy to introduce Don Feeney, Research and Planning Director, Minnesota State Lottery.
Feeney will be our day one Keynote Speaker. During his keynote address, Feeney will be discussing A Cultural History of Gambling. Later in the day, Feeney will present alongside Jeffery Derevensky, PhD, Co-Director, International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors, McGill University, during the Problem Gambling and Millennials: Understanding and Treating the 20-Somethings workshop.
We are honored to have Feeney join us in celebrating our 30 years, and share his insight to the cultural history of problem gambling.
Here is a little background on Feeney:
Don Feeney has been the Research and Planning Director at the Minnesota State Lottery since 1991. He is responsible for the lottery’s market research, policy analysis, corporate social responsibility programs, strategic planning, and legislative relations.
Mr. Feeney was introduced to gambling policy in his role as a policy advisor to former Minnesota Governor, Rudy Perpich, and previously worked with the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, the Minnesota State Demographer’s Office, the Minnesota State Planning Agency, and the Boston Housing Authority.
Mr. Feeney has been a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) since 2003, served as president from 2011 to 2013, and currently chairs NCPG’s strategic planning committee. He is also co-founder and board member of the Northstar Problem Gambling Alliance, the Minnesota affiliate of the National Council.
His research interests include the relationship between public opinion and gambling policy, public awareness of problem gambling, and gambling and popular culture.
Mr. Feeney holds a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (where he was a teaching assistant for then-Professor Michael Dukakis), a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics from Brown University.
For more information contact Alicia Barron, Intervention and Treatment Support Manager.
If you are interested in attending our informative 2-day conference, please check out: 2014 Massachusetts Conference on Gambling Problems – Celebrating 30 Years: The Game has Changed.
