The president of a private college in New York’s Finger Lakes region and former Clinton administration official has been confirmed as chairman of the 1-year-old New York State Gaming Commission.
Mark D. Gearan’s appointment to the post by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was confirmed Tuesday by the state Senate, the governor announced. The commission regulates all aspects of gaming and gambling activity in the state, including the development of upstate casinos.
Gearan is president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, where he has served for 15 years. A Massachusetts native, he previously led the Peace Corps as its director and served as presidential assistant, communications director and deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.
“Casino gaming holds the potential to create thousands of new jobs in upstate New York,” Cuomo said in the announcement, “while providing millions of dollars to schools and local governments statewide. Mark’s decades of public service and great work leading Hobart and William Smith Colleges will be of tremendous value in this new role, and I thank him for taking the time to serve on the Gaming Commission.”
Gearan said as commission chairman he “will help shepherd much-needed economic development throughout New York state…My colleagues and I have a great deal of work to do and I am eager to get started.” He will serve a five-year term.
The gaming commission will meet March 12 to appoint members to the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board and to adopt equine drug rules to bring uniformity to the horse racing industry.
Long active in public and civic service, Gearan is an appointee of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Political Reform, which focuses on policy recommendations on electoral system reform, congressional reform and encouragement of greater public service. He is a former member of the White House Council for Community Solutions, a group of cross-sector leaders appointed by President Barack Obama to recommend collaborative solutions to increase civic engagement.
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