Vice President of People and Culture

Vice President of People and Culture Q Casino + Resort 1800 Admiral Sheehy Drive, Dubuque, IA 52001 Full-time Full-time

Q CASINO + RESORT

Vice President of People & Culture

POSITION SUMMARY

The Vice President, People & Culture is the chief architect of DRA's human capital strategy across an integrated casino-hospitality enterprise spanning gaming, hotel, food & beverage, entertainment, and live events. This role leads the transformation of HR from a transactional, compliance-oriented function into a full performance management organization — one that drives accountability, guest-experience excellence, and measurable business results through people. The VP partners directly with the President & CEO and the executive team to align talent strategy with DRA's mission-margin model and the broader Schmitt Island redevelopment vision.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Reports To:

President & Chief Executive Officer Direct Reports:

HR/Talent leads, Training & Development, HRIS/Total Rewards (org design to follow incumbent assessment)

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS NOW DRA

is in a period of significant transformation — senior leadership restructuring, culture change, and a multi-phase capital redevelopment of Schmitt Island. This role is foundational to that transformation: it builds the performance infrastructure, leadership bench, and guest-experience training muscle the organization needs to scale alongside its physical growth.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES HR

Transformation & Performance Management Lead the enterprise-wide shift from a traditional, compliance-driven HR function to a full performance management organization, with clear goal-setting, ongoing feedback, and accountability at every level. Design and implement a unified performance management framework (goal cascading, mid-year/annual reviews, calibration, performance improvement processes) across all properties and departments. Build manager capability to lead performance conversations, coach for development, and hold teams accountable to service and financial standards. Establish people-performance metrics and dashboards that connect workforce outcomes to guest satisfaction, retention, and financial performance. Employee Celebration & Recognition Strategy Initiate and own an enterprise employee celebration and recognition strategy — milestone anniversaries, peer-to-peer recognition, service awards, and culture-building events — that reinforces DRA's values across Q Casino, The Key Hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, ImOn Arena, Lock 11, and the Iowa Amphitheater. Use recognition programming as a lever for engagement, retention, and reinforcing the behaviors that drive guest experience. Training Strategy — Guest & Customer Experience Own the enterprise training strategy for guest/customer experience, ensuring consistent service standards across gaming floor, hotel, F&B, and entertainment venues. Build onboarding, brand, and service-standard curricula aligned to DRA's competitive positioning and the distinct brand expectations of both onsite Hilton properties — Hilton Garden Inn and The Key Hotel (Hilton Tapestry Collection). Partner with operations leaders to close the training gaps identified in current F&B and guest-experience performance, including capture-rate and service-consistency initiatives. Develop leadership and supervisory development pathways to strengthen the bench across departments. HRIS & People Analytics Own the HRIS strategy and platform roadmap, ensuring data integrity, self-service capability, and integration with payroll, scheduling, and performance systems. Use workforce analytics to inform staffing models, turnover reduction, labor cost management, and executive reporting to the CEO and Board. Total Rewards, Talent & Organizational Development Design competitive, market-informed compensation and benefits strategy appropriate to the Dubuque/regional gaming and hospitality labor market. Lead talent acquisition, succession planning, and leadership development to build organizational depth ahead of Schmitt Island's continued capital growth. Partner with the CEO on senior leadership transitions, organizational design, and workforce planning tied to the broader transformation agenda. Talent Recruiting & Onboarding Own the enterprise talent acquisition strategy across gaming, hotel, F&B, and entertainment — sourcing, employer brand, candidate experience, and time-to-fill in a competitive Dubuque-area labor market. Build a structured, consistent onboarding program across all properties that sets cultural and performance expectations from day one, rather than relying on department-by-department practice. Partner with department leaders on workforce planning tied to the Schmitt Island redevelopment timeline, ensuring recruiting capacity scales ahead of capital growth. Track and report recruiting/onboarding effectiveness (time-to-fill, 90-day retention, early-tenure engagement) as part of the broader performance management framework. Culture & Trust Mandate Explicitly strengthen HR's credibility with frontline staff and managers; HR must be experienced as a partner, not an enforcement arm. Conduct a listening tour and HR-practices audit before introducing new systems, to identify opportunities to deepen trust and elevate the employee experience. Balance accountability with employee advocacy — the performance management transformation must raise standards without recreating a punitive climate. Report progress on employee-relations climate (engagement, grievance volume, exit-interview themes) directly to the CEO as a standing measure of HR's credibility. Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team on culture, employee relations, and organizational health. Ensure full compliance with Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission requirements, employment law, and DRA's nonprofit governance obligations. Champion a values-grounded, accountable culture that supports DRA's mission as a 501(c)(4) community-reinvestment organization.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Currently serving as a Vice President or Director of Human Resources/People within a casino, resort, or integrated hospitality business of comparable scale and complexity. Demonstrated success building or transforming a performance management organization — not simply administering HR processes. Strong track record operating as a strategic business partner and coach, leading through influence, standards, and trusted relationships across all levels of the organization. Proven experience strengthening employee-relations climate and engagement within a complex, multi-department hospitality or gaming organization. Established senior HR leadership experience at the VP/Director level, with a demonstrated ability to build organizational capability and drive results from day one. Track record designing guest/customer-experience training strategy in a hospitality or gaming environment. Hands-on experience owning an HRIS platform and using workforce data to inform executive decision-making. Demonstrated talent acquisition and onboarding leadership in a multi-location or multi-department environment. Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field; advanced degree a plus. Preferred SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent senior HR certification. Experience in a multi-venue or multi-brand hospitality environment (casino plus hotel, F&B, and entertainment/live events). Experience operating within a nonprofit or quasi-public governance structure. Familiarity with union and right-to-work labor environments. Leadership Attributes Direct, forward-leaning communicator who builds trust quickly with frontline teams and the executive suite alike. Comfortable leading through ambiguity and organizational change; sees transformation as opportunity rather than disruption. Values-grounded decision-making, balanced with a clear focus on measurable business performance. High EQ; holds people accountable while building a culture employees want to be part of — has demonstrably done this before, not just in theory. Earns authority through credibility and relationships rather than positional control; frontline staff and managers should experience HR as accessible, not adversarial.

FIRST 90 DAYS

Conduct a listening tour across all properties and shifts — frontline staff, supervisors, and department leaders — to diagnose where trust in HR was lost and why. Complete an audit of current HR practices, employee-relations cases, turnover patterns, and exit-interview themes before proposing new systems. Establish an engagement and trust baseline against which the CEO and Board can measure progress over the following 12 months. Hold introducing major new performance, recognition, or training systems until the diagnostic phase is complete, so changes are seen as responsive rather than imposed.

DECISION RIGHTS & GUARDRAILS

Final decisions on termination of non-exempt and frontline staff require documented concurrence from the relevant department leader, in addition to HR sign-off, to prevent unilateral, HR-driven discipline. Significant policy changes affecting employee experience (e.g., attendance, discipline, recognition program design) are reviewed with the CEO before enterprise-wide rollout. The VP has full authority over HR department operations, HRIS, recruiting, and training design, but escalates any pattern of employee-relations risk or culture concern directly to the CEO rather than managing it in isolation.

SUCCESS MEASURES

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FIRST 12 MONTHS

Listening tour and HR-practices audit completed, with a clear, shared diagnosis of where trust was lost and a credible plan to rebuild it. Measurable improvement in employee-relations climate — engagement scores, grievance volume, and exit-interview themes — versus the pre-transition baseline. Performance management framework designed, piloted, and rolled out across at least one major operating division, introduced as a partnership rather than an enforcement tool. Enterprise employee recognition/celebration strategy launched with measurable participation. Guest-experience training curriculum deployed, with measurable improvement in service-consistency or capture-rate metrics in priority F&B/guest-experience areas. Talent acquisition and onboarding program redesigned, with improved time-to-fill and 90-day retention across priority roles. HRIS roadmap defined, with near-term data integrity and reporting improvements delivered to the CEO and Board. Trusted advisor relationship established with the CEO and executive team on organizational design and talent strategy.