Mississippi Lottery Corporation hires veteran lottery director as inaugural president

JACKSON, MS (WLOX) - A man who helped set up the lottery system in North Carolina will now do the same for Mississippi. Thomas N. Shaheen has been hired as the first president of the Mississippi Lottery Corporation.

Shaheen served as Executive Director of the North Carolina Education Lottery from 2005 until 2010, shepherding the lottery through its start-up phase and through multiple years of steady growth.

“Tom brings a wealth of industry expertise and experience running both established and start-up lotteries,” said MLC Chairman Mike McGrevey.

“His history in the leadership of lotteries will help Mississippi establish our lottery quickly and successfully,” said MLC Vice-Chairman Gerard Gibert.

As president, Shaheen will make a base salary of $225,000 and be eligible for performance incentives.

Shaheen most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer of Linq3, a lottery technology company. Before starting up the North Carolina lottery, he served as Chief Executive Officer of the New Mexico Lottery. Shaheen also served as an executive during the startup of the Georgia Lottery Corporation, and worked for both the Texas and Florida lotteries during their start ups.

Shaheen served as president of the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, and president of the Multi-State Lottery Association, the organization that runs Powerball. He received the Public Gaming Research Institute (PGRI) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 and was inducted into the PGRI Lottery Hall of Fame in 2015.