A top job in the gambling regulation world is open as The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is looking to hire a new administrative leader.
As Executive Director of the gaming commission, Ed Bedrosian supervised a staff of 90 people who did the complex regulatory work that led to the openings of the state’s two resort casinos: MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor.
With the casinos up and running and the commission shifting to an oversight role, Bedrosian said it was time to move on. He’s returning to the international law firm where he worked before he was hired by the gaming commission in December 2015.
At a public meeting in Boston Thursday -- the day before Bedrosian’s resignation was scheduled to take effect -- the commission voted unanimously to appoint Karen Wells, director of the commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau as interim executive director.
However, the five-member commission was unable to agree on a process for selecting a new permanent executive director. They disagreed over whether to hire a consultant to recruit candidates and initially screen applicants.
Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein argued for an outside search firm.
"It is so important to make sure internal candidates feel comfortable and outside candidates feel it is fair and objective," said Judd-Stein. "It is a big position."
Commissioner Gayle Cameron said the search for applicants could be done by the commission’s own human resources staff.
"I think we have limited or mixed results in the past when we've hired executive search firms," said Cameron.
Hiring an outside firm would likely prolong the time it takes to hire a new executive director, since bringing on a consultant would have to be done through a competitive bidding process.
Whichever way the commission goes, Judd-Stein pledged the hiring of the next executive director will be fair and transparent.
"We want this process to be as open and as inclusive as possible consistant with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law," said Judd-Stein.
State law allows for two of the five commissioners to conduct interviews in private to reduce the field of applicants to two or three finalists.
Candidates for the job who are identified as finalists must be interviewed by the five commissioner in a public meeting.
