GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 35 - June 2016

COVER STORY Corfman made his priorities clear in his first message to GPWA members as the organization’s executive director. “I have a pretty simple philosophy — that to be a good leader you need to be a good servant to the organization you are lead- ing and to the community within which the organization exists,” he wrote. “And you need to have a vision for where the organization can go and a passion for helping it get there. And you need to be ethical and build solid relationships with others, because when you want to accom- plish something, you really can’t do much by yourself.” (You can read the entire thread at gpwa.org/389. ) If you’re an active member of the GPWA, no matter how long your history with the organization, there’s a very good chance that you found yourself nodding while reading the above excerpt. The philoso- phy Corfman laid out 10 years ago is the same one he employs as the GPWA’s ex- ecutive director a full decade later. As we celebrate 10 years of ownership of the GPWA, it seems fitting to look back and remember just how we got here. (Oh, and if you want to know why Corfman calls himself “Friend to the Village Idiot,” you’ll have to keep reading.) The early days The GPWA was founded by Cindy Carley in 2001 as a place where gambling por- tal webmasters could share informa- tion about programs and learn from each other. “It was all about helping each other then,” says Rick Bard, known as “universal4” on the GPWA forums. “Cindy and the old gang, they were the ones that laid the groundwork for forums all over the world. Nobody had ever really come to- gether with a bunch of competitors that were all willing to help each other.” Carley sold the site to Derossett in May 2004, but two years later, Derossett was looking for someone else to run the site. He sent an e-mail to the GPWA membership on June 27, 2006, letting everyone know he intended to sell the business. Corfman replied less than five hours later to initiate a discussion. Five days later, on July 1, a purchase and sale agreement was signed and ownership of the business was trans- ferred to Corfman and Casino City. I thought the GPWA was a good organization and I thought it was suffering from not having the resources it needed to be successful. I didn’t see any reason why, if the right effort was put in, it couldn’t be more successful.” — Michael Corfman Jim Keith (left), Michael Corfman (center) and Anthony Telesca (right). The “Friend to the Village Idiot” celebrates 10 years at the helm