Last week, attendees at the NASPL Professional Development Seminar in Omaha celebrated the 2024 Powers Award and Ott Brown Scholarship winners.
The Powers Award recognizes a senior lottery employee for their significant contributions. The drive, commitment, and integrity exhibited by the recipients of this award are nothing short of amazing and set the standard of excellence we all strive to achieve. Many are nominated for the award each year, but only one Lottery employee can be honored with the title annually.
This year's winner was our very own Tony Russell!
"He's been so many things to this lottery over the course of his career, even most recently serving as interim director. But what he is for us every day is motivator in chief, and we love him for that," said Virginia Lottery Executive Director Khalid Jones.
Tony had many notable highlights during his tenure as interim director, including leading the agency during the 2024 General Assembly Session, coordinating and negotiating legislative initiatives including the potential establishment of an additional casino, skill games, potential headquarters relocation, a gaming commission study, and many, many more. We could not think of a more deserving recipient for this award!
Tony wasn’t the only Virginia Lottery employee honored in Omaha. The Ott Brown scholarship was created with the intention to cultivate future industry leaders by providing opportunities to learn and grow. It is awarded to just one U.S. Lottery employee each year to attend the Lottery Leadership Institute, and we are so proud that our controller, Courtney Shearer, was selected to win the 2024 Scholarship!
Courtney joined the Lottery in 2022 as controller, a new position established in recognition of the increasing complexities of financial accounting standards and the expansion of the Virginia Lottery's responsibilities. Since then, Courtney has led an amazing team that has played an integral role in ensuring our financial integrity as an organization.
Congratulations, Courtney and Tony, on these well-deserved honors!