Our Team
We are always seeking highly-motivated, hard-working people to join our team who want to help our country live up to its ideals. We have opportunities in almost every part of the country. Please send a resume and a cover letter to mail[at]stoppredatorygambling.org or call (202) 567-6996.
Les Bernal – National Director
Like many of the thousands of citizens who have fought to get government out of the predatory gambling business over the last twenty-five years, Les was a convert to the cause. The more he learned about how this policy has failed and how it has become the public voice of our government,
the more committed he became to work for a fairer and more hopeful vision of the path to American prosperity.
Les has been the National Director of the SPG Foundation since it was formed in 2008. During this time, he has spoken and written extensively in calling for a fundamental national reform –an America where no taxpayer dollar is used by government to lure citizens into gambling away their money and becoming slaves to debt; where no agency or entity of government depends on gambling to fund its activities; and where no legislature passes laws to promote, sponsor, or enable gambling in the name of economic development or raising government revenue.
He has appeared on national television and radio including 60 Minutes during its expose of slot machines in January 2011, CNN, Fox News Channel, Piers Morgan Tonight, National Public Radio and The BBC. He has been interviewed by national newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe. He has also spoken before dozens of business organizations, college audiences and faith groups across the nation.
Prior to joining the national movement, Les served as a Chief of Staff in the Massachusetts State Senate and worked as a campaign strategist for more than forty federal and state campaigns. He is also a former college and high school basketball coach, founder of the Robert Frost Foundation in Lawrence, Massachusetts- the hometown of America’s favorite poet – and a past chairman of the city’s Planning Board.
Les graduated from Ithaca College with a B.A. in English and earned a M.P.A. from Suffolk University.
Phone: (202) 567-6996 x1
Email: Les[at]stoppredatorygambling.org
Tom Grey – Senior Advisor
Tom Grey has been the leading voice in the national movement against the government program of predatory gambling for almost twenty years. He first became active in the predatory gambling movement when a riverboat casino was docked in his county in 1992.
Joining with other concerned citizens from across the political spectrum hailing from every region in the U.S., Tom emerged as a leader for the movement representing a diverse national coalition of groups and individuals.
Hailed as “Prophet of the Year” by The Chicago Tribune, and “Riverboat Rambo,” Tom traveled the country, teaching local citizen groups how to organize and fight back against the enormous spending by predatory gambling interests in their bid to overpower state and local governments.
Tom has appeared in numerous major media outlets including: Time; U.S. News and World Report; The Los Angeles Times; The Nation; The Chicago Tribune; The New York Times; The Wall Street Journal; The Philadelphia Enquirer; PBS’s Frontline; and 60 Minutes.
Before becoming a minister, Tom served as the commander of a U.S. Army rifle company in Germany and as a military advisor to a Vietnamese infantry battalion in Vietnam. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. He has served four churches, including one bi-racial congregation made up of members from four denominations: Presbyterian, United Methodist, Disciples of Christ, and the United Church of Christ.
Phone: (202) 567-6996 x2
Email: Tom[at]stoppredatorygambling.org
Debbie Blank- Financial Manager
As the SPG Foundation’s Financial Manager, Debbie Blank brings over thirty-five years of business and non-profit expertise to the organization. She has served as Vice-President of a national restaurant chain, co-owner of family businesses and Mobilization Coordinator for Gambling with the Good Life in Nebraska as well as volunteering on nearly two dozen local and national non-profit boards. Currently, Debbie is President of Living Word Ministries and uses her financial background to assist several non-profit groups. She and her husband, Bob, have two grown sons and live in Omaha, NE.
Jonathan Krutz, Development Director
Jonathan has been an effective and persuasive advocate against government’s predatory gambling policy at the state and national level for sixteen years. In addition to joining the SPG team in December 2012, he currently leads JK Analytics, Inc., a communications firm in Boise, Idaho. He was named 2006 Nonprofit Executive of the Year in Lincoln, Nebraska and has served as CEO of three award-winning nonprofits and a Midwestern agricultural company. He also has taught business at Boise State University, Doane and Concordia colleges in Nebraska, and several schools in Southern Russia. Jonathan graduated from the honor’s college of Valparaiso (Indiana) University and earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa.
Arelia Taveras, National Victims Advocate
Arelia was a New York attorney who became disbarred as a result of her gambling addiction to casinos promoted by the government. She is now a passionate and articulate advocate for compulsive gamblers struggling with the consequences of gambling addictions. She supports major legislative changes to government’s partnership with casinos and lotteries and hopes to bring national attention to this deadly addiction which has been ignored by the public health community.
Caitlin McGrail- Intern
Caitlin is an intern and a junior at Wellesley College where she is majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies. She has a strong interest in non-profit administration and firmly believes in the power of a group of committed citizens seeking to make change.