Meet the Team

GBC’s executive team and advisors are long-established thought leaders, innovators, technologists, former regulators, certifiers, and experienced operators in the nonprofit, gaming and blockchain industries.

With over two decades of dedication to veteran service organizations (VSOs) and extensive experience in senior-level roles within the digital technology sector, Tara Sue Clark now leads Gaming Benefits Corporation’s (GBC) management team. She oversees the deployment of GBC’s cutting-edge regulatory technology platform for online fundraising. Tara Sue’s deep understanding of the charitable gaming industry was forged through hands-on experience as a volunteer ticket seller, consultant, administrator, technician, operator, and licensed distributor and manufacturer of innovative charitable gaming products for nonprofits.

Tara Sue’s digital technology career began during her groundbreaking 2002 campaign for U.S. Congress in North Carolina’s 6th District, where she became the first political candidate to use a weblog and PayPal for fundraising. Her innovative use of technology earned her a nomination for a Wired Rave Award. Subsequently, she was recruited as CEO of Policlicks.com, where she led contract negotiations, supported programming and development, and launched the first organizational social network in 2003. Under her leadership, Policlicks.com provided free platforms to thousands of nonprofits, including VFW Departments, enabling them to modernize their communication strategies. The platform integrated blogging, instant messaging, monetized email, and video streaming, serving over 13,000 sites for 15 years.

A pioneer in live digital events, Tara Sue directed the first live weblogging and video conferencing event between the frontlines of Iraq and BloggerCon Nashville. She also launched Choices of Democracy, a neutral, nonpartisan platform providing educational videos, forums, and debates for organizations like the VFW and NAACP, helping to promote voter education.

Recognizing the critical role of legal support in addressing veterans’ challenges, Tara Sue founded the Veterans Law Project in North Carolina, which later expanded to New Hampshire. She co-founded and continues to serve as Executive Director of the Veterans Foundation of New Hampshire, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting military families and veterans. Through its Legal Boots on the Ground initiative, veterans received pro bono legal services from a team of staff attorneys and military family members, assisting with a wide range of legal matters from civil cases to military law. From 2015 to 2019, the program served an average of 1.5 veterans per day, both domestically and internationally.

In 2018, Tara Sue further extended her impact by founding Tonk Group LLC, a licensed distributor of charitable gaming products in New Hampshire. As CEO, she managed contract negotiations, technical support, product development, marketing, and operations, distributing products from Diamond Games and developing proprietary games to support charitable fundraising.

Tara Sue is also a Nationally Certified Interscholastic Coach and a committed advocate for blockchain technology in gaming. She contributes to the Government Blockchain Association as a founder of its Gaming Work Group, is a member of Global Gaming Women, and actively supports her local VFW Auxiliary and the Seacoast Marine Corps League. She also owns and operates Sumus Media, LLC, which provides multimedia services to nonprofits, particularly those serving veterans and Marines.

A “military brat” with a deep understanding of the sacrifices of military families, Tara Sue holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Theory from Missouri State University, where she designed an individualized honors degree program to build a career addressing the long-term costs of war. She resides in her hometown of Smithville, Missouri, with her teenage children.

Michael Mendyk is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience as a senior executive and consultant, excelling across core operational, technical, and business development functions in the software, gaming, and regulated industries. His impressive career spans managing high-profile software development projects, leading capital-raising initiatives, and structuring M&A exit events—all underpinned by his unique ability to align product direction with corporate growth strategies.

Since 2013, Michael has played a pivotal role in navigating the complex regulatory landscape of the U.S. online gaming industry. He has effectively managed corporate licensing, GLI technology certification, and market entry preparation activities for notable companies like Jackpot Software, Genesis Gaming, and ODDSworks. His expertise in regulatory compliance and market readiness has been integral to these companies’ success in the competitive gaming sector.

As the CEO and founder of Maxpop Inc., an advanced video compression and streaming technology company, Michael demonstrated his visionary leadership by steering the company’s strategic direction. He guided product development and licensing strategies, defined roadmaps, and organized intellectual property assets into a commercially licensable portfolio, showcasing his knack for fostering innovation and driving commercialization.

In his current role as Chief Operating Officer of Gaming Benefits Corporation (GBC), Michael’s deep understanding of the U.S. gaming industry and his diverse skill set are instrumental in providing day-to-day operational support. He is also focused on positioning GBC’s platform to seize opportunities for strategic partnerships with leading online sportsbook and casino operators, ensuring the company’s sustained growth and success.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Nebraska and serves as the managing partner of iGaming Consultants, a professional services firm supporting B2B and B2C gaming companies. His multifaceted expertise and proven leadership continue to drive innovation and operational excellence in the gaming and technology sectors.

 Jonathan is the founder of Peerplays Blockchain and President of the Peerplays Blockchain Standards Association. As prominent blockchain & crypto influencer and advocate for decentralization, Jonathan brings to bear decades of blockchain developmental experience. Founder of eXeBlock Technology Corporation, Mr. Baha’i is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the high-performance server hosting and telecommunications industry.

Beyond serving the industry as a thought leader, Jonathan launched Peerplays in 2016 taking it public with a $40 million market capitalization, raising $10 million in Bitcoin funding for its ongoing development.  Jonathan has evolved blockchain development building an open public blockchain experience that puts people first. Jonathan has become the foremost authority in provably fair blockchain gaming. Serving as the President of the Peerplays Blockchain Standards Association, the nonprofit is devoted to expansion of fair gaming and humanistic experiences on the Peerplays blockchain.

Jonathan brings a passion for empowering people’s freedom to create greater outcomes, giving them control over how they own and collaborate worldwide.

GBC is partnered with Peerplays to integrate immutable ledgering technology into the Gaming Benefits Corporation Regulatory Monitoring systems to ensure accountability.

Stephen Naylor brings nearly 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, equipping him with an exceptional understanding of regulatory, technical, and operational facets of the field. A graduate of Clemson University, where he earned a BS in Computer Science in 2006, Stephen began his career at Gaming Laboratories International (GLI). During his time with GLI, Stephen worked in both the New Jersey and Netherlands offices, gaining exposure to a wide range of domestic and international projects. He provided guidance to hundreds of suppliers and operators, expertly navigating them through the GLI testing and certification process.

In 2018, Stephen joined GameAccount Network Ltd (GAN), a premier provider of online gaming platforms for U.S. casino operators. As Senior Director of Client Services, Stephen spearheaded the successful launches of new platforms for major casino partners in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Beyond platform launches, he managed daily operations post-deployment, including overseeing new product development, ensuring seamless integration, resolving issues on live platforms, and addressing compliance-related matters with precision.

Stephen’s extensive background in compliance will be instrumental in supporting Gaming Benefits Corporation (GBC) as it delivers one of the most advanced and certified raffle platforms in the U.S. charitable gaming industry. His deep expertise ensures GBC’s platforms meet the highest standards of reliability, security, and regulatory adherence, positioning the company as a leader in responsible and impactful gaming solutions.

Dr. Christopher Sanborn serves as the Chief Blockchain Engineer and Advisor at Gaming Benefits Corporation (GBC), where he plays a pivotal role in leveraging blockchain technology to bring transparency, efficiency, and innovation to charitable gaming and financial transactions. In addition to his role at GBC, Dr. Sanborn is the owner of Core Crypto Consulting, the Founder of ArtCASA Fine Arts, and a core developer of BitShares.

Dr. Sanborn has an impressive portfolio of contributions to blockchain-related projects, including Radiative3D: A C++ project focused on radiative transport in 3D Earth models, HTLCProductsSim: A Python library designed for simulating financial products based on hash oracles, Python-bitshares: A fully featured client-side library for the BitShares blockchain, written in Python, Uptick: A Python-based CLI toolset for the BitShares blockchain.

An innovator and creative thinker, Dr. Sanborn seamlessly bridges the nonprofit, gaming, and blockchain industries. His technical expertise and forward-thinking vision make him an invaluable leader in GBC’s mission to modernize charitable gaming and foster responsible innovation.

Vincent Lee Horton is set to join Gaming Benefits Corporation (GBC) as Director of Information Technology, further strengthening the executive leadership team. With 25 years of experience in system management, data center operations, and emerging technology consulting, Lee has held critical leadership roles, including Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and IT Director, within both publicly traded and privately held startup companies.

Most recently, Lee spearheaded the global transformation of Hathlom, enabling the adoption of big data, advanced analytics, and high-performance computing. In his role as Director of Technology for Bridgepoint Power & Light, the largest pre-paid electricity provider in Texas, Lee successfully led his team through the custom development, implementation, and integration of a cutting-edge billing and database management system with market participants. Before his tenure at Bridgepoint, Lee served as CTO for Dallas-based venture capital firm MAC Partners, where he played a pivotal role in driving technological innovation across the firm’s portfolio companies.

At GBC, Lee will focus on building and maintaining a robust, scalable, and secure cloud-based infrastructure to support the company’s rapidly growing online charitable fundraising platform. His goals include enhancing the performance and functionality of the existing technology suite, positively shaping platform application roadmaps, managing the developer ecosystem, and safeguarding the company’s source code and platform software assets.

With his extensive experience and proven track record, Vincent Lee Horton is well-positioned to help GBC innovate and expand its mission of enabling responsible and impactful charitable gaming.

Ali Ghanavati has over 30 years deep experience across many aspects of technological regulation in the gaming industry.

Ali began his career with the Technical Services Bureau of the State of New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement as chief engineer and deputy chief. During his 20 year tenure he consulted with numerous state agencies and gaming jurisdictions regarding casino gaming regulation and standards.

More recently Ali spent over a decade at Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), which provides the gaming industry’s leading testing and certification services. As Director of Client Services where he lead and guided over hundreds of operators and suppliers in successfully launching certified products in various gaming channels. Ali currently served as head of regulatory technology for Fubo Gaming, a subsidiary FuboTV a publicly traded tv streaming company where he is overseeing the implementation of an online sports betting platform.

Ali currently serves as Director of Regulatory Compliance for the risk management and research firm Odds on Compliance based in New Jersey.

In his role as an advisor, Ali will collaborate with management team on both tech standards as well as obtaining the requisite state regulatory approvals for launching GBC certified online fundraising platform in various states.

To strengthen the management team, Mark Waser brings over 35 years in a distinguished career in software systems design and development, and artificial intelligence. His vast experience includes data architecture and system architecture for big data, machine learning, blockchain and collective intelligence systems.

Mark has an M.S.E. degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Pennsylvania, and has performed doctoral studies in Machine Learning and Human Decision Making at George Mason University. He frequently engages in public speaking engagements to form consortia and encourage the growth of a common decentralized ecosystem rather than today’s siloed systems.

Ms. Brenda Williams serves as the Benefits Director for Gaming Benefits Corporation, acting as a neutral, non-compensated party responsible for certifying the company’s Benefit Report, which highlights the public impact of the company’s activities.

Ms. Williams is the owner of Change Agents, LLC, a management consulting firm offering expert services across the public and private sectors. She is also the founder and former CEO of Young America Works Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., an innovative institution that redefined education for underserved students often labeled as “at-risk.” Under her leadership, the school achieved remarkable success, graduating students who pursued higher education and now hold prominent positions, including roles within the current DC government.

Brenda has been a trailblazer throughout her career. From 1969 to 1977, she served as Personal and Confidential Assistant to the Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld. During this time, she supported him in various high-profile roles, including Secretary of Defense, Chief of Staff to President Gerald R. Ford, Ambassador to NATO, Director of the Cost-of-Living Council, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and Counselor to President Richard M. Nixon.

Earle Hall is an internationally recognized entrepreneur, visionary and innovator. He is a global leader with a long history in spurring growth and innovation in the gaming industry.

Since 2014, Earl presides over the AXES Network, a company that specializes in cloud-based information management technology for the casino industry, and is well-positioned to see how blockchain technology can be best leveraged to shape the future of both online and land-based gambling platforms.

Earle serves as the Chairman of the International Gaming Standards Association, an international trade association that creates benefits for gaming manufacturers, suppliers, operators and regulators. Since inception, the GSA has established nine committees which created 15 standards. Earl also chairs the Gaming Standards Association (GSA) of Canada Blockchain Committee, ushering the association into
the new era of blockchain technology in the gaming industry.

Earle will offer the management team his guidance where blockchain would be of interest to regulatory authorities as the potential for central monitoring systems and in areas where new standards could be developed.

Earle is a graduate of the Royal Military College and a Veteran Officer.

Gaming Benefits Corporation | info@gamingbenefitscorp.com

Missouri

PO Box 530

Smithville, MO 64089