POSITION SUMMARY
The Vice President, People & Culture is the chief architect of the Dubuque Racing Association's, DRA's, human capital strategy across an integrated casino-hospitality enterprise spanning gaming, hotel, food & beverage, entertainment, and live events. This role provides strategic leadership for DRA's people strategy by advancing performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness across the enterprise while driving 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
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Reports To: President & Chief Executive Officer
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Direct Reports: Human Resources Team
WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS NOW
The DRA is entering an exciting period of growth and investment across its gaming, hospitality, entertainment, and community operations. As new venues, guest experiences, and organizational capabilities continue to evolve, the Vice President of People & Culture will play a key role in building a high-performing workforce and ensuring our people strategy supports long-term organizational success.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
HR Transformation & Performance Management
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Lead the continued evolution of DRA's enterprise people strategy by integrating performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness into a unified approach across all business units.
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Design and implement a unified performance management framework (goal cascading, mid-year/annual reviews, calibration, performance improvement processes) across all properties and departments.
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Build manager capability to lead performance conversations, coach for development, and hold teams accountable to service and financial standards.
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Establish people-performance metrics and dashboards that connect workforce outcomes to guest satisfaction, retention, and financial performance.
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Partner with the CEO and executive leadership team to shape organizational strategy, leadership effectiveness, executive succession planning, and long-term workforce capability.
Employee Celebration & Recognition Strategy
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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, Lock 11, and the Iowa Amphitheater.
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Use recognition programming as a lever for engagement, retention, and reinforcing the behaviors that drive guest experience.
Training Strategy — Guest & Customer Experience
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Own the enterprise training strategy for guest/customer experience, ensuring consistent service standards across gaming floor, hotel, F&B, and entertainment venues.
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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).
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Partner with operational leaders to continuously enhance guest experience through consistent service standards and leadership development.
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Develop leadership and supervisory development pathways to strengthen the bench across departments.
HRIS & People Analytics
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Own the HRIS strategy and platform roadmap, ensuring data integrity, self-service capability, and integration with payroll, scheduling, and performance systems.
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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
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Design competitive, market-informed compensation and benefits strategy appropriate to the Dubuque/regional gaming and hospitality labor market.
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Lead talent acquisition, succession planning, and leadership development to build organizational depth ahead of Schmitt Island's continued capital growth.
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Partner with the CEO on senior leadership transitions, organizational design, and workforce planning tied to the broader transformation agenda.
Talent Recruiting & Onboarding
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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.
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Develop a consistent enterprise-wide onboarding experience that reflects DRA's culture, service standards, and brand.
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Partner with department leaders on workforce planning tied to the Schmitt Island redevelopment timeline, ensuring recruiting capacity scales ahead of capital growth.
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Track and report recruiting/onboarding effectiveness (time-to-fill, 90-day retention, early-tenure engagement) as part of the broader performance management framework.
Culture, Engagement & Organizational Effectiveness
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Foster an approachable, solutions-oriented HR function that supports both employees and leaders while maintaining compliance and organizational standards.
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Conduct a comprehensive assessment of people practices and engage employees and leaders across the organization to identify opportunities that enhance employee experience, organizational effectiveness, and long-term success.
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Promote a culture that balances accountability, coaching, recognition, and employee development while supporting operational excellence and an exceptional employee experience.
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Monitor and report key organizational health indicators, including employee engagement, retention, workforce trends, and employee relations insights, to support executive decision-making.
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Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team on culture, employee relations, and organizational health.
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Ensure full compliance with Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission requirements, employment law, and DRA's nonprofit governance obligations.
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Champion a values-grounded, accountable culture that supports DRA's mission as a 501(c)(4) community-reinvestment organization.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required
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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.
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Demonstrated success developing high-performing organizations through strategic talent management, leadership development, and performance management.
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Strong track record operating as a strategic business partner and coach, leading through influence, standards, and trusted relationships across all levels of the organization.
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Proven experience fostering employee engagement, positive employee relations, and organizational effectiveness within a complex, multi-department hospitality or gaming organization.
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Established senior HR leadership experience at the VP/Director level, with a demonstrated ability to build organizational capability and drive results from day one.
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Track record designing guest/customer-experience training strategy in a hospitality or gaming environment.
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Hands-on experience owning an HRIS platform and using workforce data to inform executive decision-making.
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Demonstrated talent acquisition and onboarding leadership in a multi-location or multi-department environment.
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Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field; advanced degree a plus.
Preferred
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SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent senior HR certification.
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Experience in a multi-venue or multi-brand hospitality environment (casino plus hotel, F&B, and entertainment/live events).
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Experience operating within a nonprofit or quasi-public governance structure.
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Familiarity with union and right-to-work labor environments.
Leadership Attributes
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Direct, forward-leaning communicator who builds trust quickly with frontline teams and the executive suite alike.
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Comfortable leading through ambiguity and organizational change; sees transformation as opportunity rather than disruption.
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Values-grounded decision-making, balanced with a clear focus on measurable business performance.
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High EQ; holds people accountable while building a culture employees want to be part of — has demonstrably done this before, not just in theory.
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Builds strong relationships across all levels of the organization through credibility, collaboration, and sound judgment.
FIRST 90 DAYS
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Assess current people practices and identify opportunities to enhance employee engagement, communication, and organizational effectiveness.
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Evaluate existing people programs, processes, workforce trends, and employee feedback to identify strategic opportunities that support organizational priorities.
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Establish baseline organizational health and employee engagement metrics to support continuous improvement and long-term strategic planning.
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Develop a thoughtful implementation roadmap informed by stakeholder feedback and organizational priorities.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY
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Partner with department leaders to ensure employee relations decisions are consistent, well documented, aligned with organizational policy, and support sound business and employment practices.
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Significant policy changes affecting employee experience (e.g., attendance, discipline, recognition program design) are reviewed with the CEO before enterprise-wide rollout.
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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 — FIRST 12 MONTHS
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Comprehensive assessment completed with recommendations that strengthen organizational effectiveness.
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Demonstrated improvement in employee engagement, retention, workforce effectiveness, and other key organizational health indicators.
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Performance management framework designed, piloted, and rolled out across at least one major operating division, implemented in a manner that supports coaching, accountability, and employee development.
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Enterprise employee recognition/celebration strategy launched with measurable participation.
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Guest-experience training curriculum deployed, with measurable improvement in service-consistency or capture-rate metrics in priority F&B/guest-experience areas.
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Talent acquisition and onboarding program enhanced, with improved time-to-fill and 90-day retention across priority roles.
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HRIS roadmap defined, with near-term data integrity and reporting improvements delivered to the CEO and Board.
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Trusted advisor relationship established with the CEO and executive team on organizational design and talent strategy
