George has been in the entertainment and amusement business for more than thirty years. During his industry tenure, he has been involved in all facets of facilities operations and management. Currently, Mr. Smith is President/CEO of Family Entertainment Group.

Previously, George has been a dominant force for many successfully prominent companies such as Animaland Inc, Paradigm Entertainment, and Namco Cybertainment, and more.

Mark Nesfeder has worked in the Amusement business for 30 plus years, gaining his start with the Bally’s Aladdin’s Castle arcade chain in the early 80’s as a single unit store manager and worked his way into District and Regional management positions with Aladdin’s Castle. Mark continued on with Namco Cybertainment after Namco’s purchase of Aladdin’s Castle, handling multi-unit management positions as well as being named Director Of Partnership Operations. During this period, Namco grew this burgeoning area of the amusement business as they looked to develop a new business model outside of the traditional mall arcade. Mark joined Family Entertainment Group in 2008.

Jim Connolly has worked in the amusement industry for 16 years. Jim began his career in 1994 with CDW Computer Centers until he joined Namco Cybertainment Inc. in 1998. Jim was the Controller at Namco from 1999 to 2008 and CFO from 2009 to 2010.

After two years at Midas International, Jim joined Family Entertainment Group in 2012 where he oversees the accounting, finance and HR departments. Jim earned his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1993 and his M.B.A from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in 2008. Jim passed the Illinois CPA exam in 1994.

Kevin Bachus was one of the four individuals at Microsoft Corporation who conceived the Xbox video game console system. He joins FEG from Dave & Buster’s, where he helped set new standards of excellence at the industry-leading nationwide restaurant/entertainment chain over the past decade as its Senior Vice President of Entertainment and Game Strategy.

Kevin will be responsible for guiding the development of world-class products, services and technologies that will continue to delight FEG customers across the country.

Steve Paris has over 25 years of amusement industry experience. Starting his career as a small route operator in Pennsylvania. After taking a position at Dave & Buster’s as an Assistant Amusements Manager, he later accepted a corporate position as a Midway Operations Director.

In 2003, he joined Tricorp Amusements and, in 2005, became its Chief Operating Officer. In 2012, Steve joined Elaut USA taking the role of Chief Operating Officer as part of a new corporate leadership team. In 2018, Steve was integral with the transition of the operating arm of Elaut being sold to CTM where Steve was most recently working as the Chief Operating Officer.

At Family Entertainment Group Steve will focus on driving results and leading east coast operations including overseeing partner locations and the Family Entertainment Group owned brand, In The Game.

Robin Kerr joined Family Entertainment Group in 2016 serving as a Regional Director of Operations. Robin now serves as Vice President of Operations and his responsibilities will be leading west coast operations.

Prior to joining Family Entertainment Group Robin was hired by Putt-Putt as director of operations, responsible for franchise support, game and attraction purchasing, budgets, new construction and remodels.

Robin will focus on driving results and leading operations including overseeing partner locations and the Family Entertainment Group owned brands, In The Game & Bonkers.

Victoria Duff oversees strategic planning and alignment of human capital management. Having worked in organizations sized from start-up to Fortune 200’s and with over two decades of HR experience, Ms. Duff possesses a strong background for leading FEG’s growing HR operations.

Silvia Lintner has been with Family Entertainment Group since 2008. As a head of the debit card system department, she has been on the forefront of debit card system design and innovation. Her creative ideas have been adopted by debit card system companies such as Sacoa, Embed, and Tigapo.

In 2017, she was presented with an early adopter award by Embed for the insight which has helped to shape and improve their debit card system offerings. She has closely worked on many card system advancements. Her ideas and feedback are continuously not only helping FEG, but also helping card system companies develop features and functionality which benefit other FECs not only in United States but all over the world.

Bill Michalski has worked in the amusement industry for more than 30 years. He began working for Dream Machine were he advanced from single store manager to Regional Manager of their Florida Operations. In 1997, Bill joined Namco Cybertainment Inc. as a District Manager and advanced to Vice President of Operations for US and Puerto Rico. Additionally, he was responsible for Business Development In Las Vegas and Puerto Rico. In 2015 Bill reunited with George Smith’s Family Entertainment Group to assist in operating the newly acquired Bonkers and to open the company’s first “In The Game” in Massachusetts. Bill is now based in Itasca, IL as Vice President of Amusement and Equipment Services which includes parts, game purchasing, logistics and technical support.

Rich Pankey began his career in the coin-op amusement business in 1985 working for a Barrel of Fun arcade on Florida’s Space Coast. Within a short time he was performing a supervisory technical support role from the corporate office in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of Rich’s experience in the industry centers on the provision of Technical Support, as he acted as Director Technical Services for what is now Namco Entertainment for the many years. Rich transitioned into an operational role as Western Regional Director of Operations in 2002.While residing in Arizona, he parted ways with Namco in 2004 and followed his entrepreneurial aspirations, obtained his Arizona Real Estate license and established a niche Real Estate brokerage along with his wife. Rich was drawn back into the industry in 2013 when he discovered how successful George Smith’s Family Entertainment Group had become. He now directs the procurement and optimization of equipment for the organization and heads up the technical services group.

Jeff Pierce has been in the Amusement industry since the age of 16 operating rides and attractions for Kiddieland Amusement Park in Melrose Park, Illinois. While attending school for architecture and graphic design, Jeff worked up to supervisory roles and eventually Assistant Park Manager. In 1991, Jeff joined the industry-leading team at The Enchanted Castle in Lombard, Illinois.

In 1999 Jeff joined Disney Regional Entertainment, assisting with the development and operation of the new ESPN Zone brand. After leaving Disney, Jeff and two partners started their own venture with Alan-Grant incorporated to design and license a handful of redemption games brought to market including Coynz, Flipz, Triple Spin, and Platinum Heights. Prior to joining Family Entertainment Group in 2011, Jeff also owned a sign company and provided entertainment consulting services.

With over a decade in the Amusement Industry and more than 18 years in retail, Lisa Price has taken her diverse training and applied it to merchandising in the amusement industry. With Family Entertainment Group, Lisa has provided merchandising consulting services & has participated in, presented, and spoken, at many industry educational seminars. Utilizing her knowledge of national top trends, Lisa has developed Family Entertainment Group’s own line of custom plush products that are nationally recognized by industry vendors.
Additionally, Lisa oversees Marketing and F&B operations to focus on brand strategy, brand communication, campaigns, and market research to drive engagement for FEG and its brands.
Lisa works out of FEG’s Ohio locations and has been with Family Entertainment Group since 2008.

Ray Smith has worked in business development for over twenty five years. Since joining FEG in 2015 Ray and the business development team have focused on growing our outsourced revenue share business through strategic relationships with high quality partners and identified opportunities to expand our wholly owned brands through acquisition or building of new locations. Ray takes great pride in building lifelong relationships with partners and sellers and structuring deals that are collaborative, mutually beneficial and achieve desired results.

Ray spent a large portion of his career in commercial banking serving as a credit officer, senior relationship manager and market manager. In these diverse roles Ray worked closely with privately held businesses and their adviser’s to assist them in planning, expansion, operations and M&A activity to achieve their financial goals. Ray graduated from Saint John’s University and he holds professional designations in Mergers and Acquisition, Business Valuation and Commercial Real Estate.

Scott’s career in family entertainment began in 1987. He rose in the ranks from a seasonal position to a park manager, then Director of Marketing, and eventually a General Manager.

He has a degree in Marketing and Advertising and has held various roles in those fields throughout his career.

Prior to joining Family Entertainment Group in 2017, Scott served as the COO for a website and digital marketing company that specialized in parks and attractions.

He has been an active participant in the amusement and family entertainment industry serving on various committees and presenting at industry conferences for over 25 years. He is recognized as an IAAPA Certified Attractions Executive.

Randy Schneider has been in the Restaurant and Family Entertainment business for 25 years. He started his career with Disney Regional Entertainment in various training and operations rolls, including being a part of 7 new store openings as a Training Manager, as well as General Manager and Regional Manager over 12 years with Disney. Randy has also spent time with Darden Restaurants and Andretti Indoor Karting & Games prior to joining Family Entertainment Group in 2017. He has held various positions within FEG including General and District Manager prior to becoming Director of Restaurant Operations.

Rachael joined Family Entertainment Group in 2019 to lead the event sales department.

Rachael began in the FEC industry in 2004 with Dave & Buster’s and was promoted and relocated to the New York/Long Island market to serve as Sales Manager. In her time with D&B, Rachael trained Sales Managers and provided ongoing support to all 5 locations in her region, including the iconic Times Square venue.

During her years at Dave & Buster’s, Rachael also expanded her experience, by overseeing various departments including product inventory control: back of house, bar, and redemption.

In 2016, Rachael joined Main Event Entertainment, opening centers in two new markets and providing training support for the local sales teams.

As Director of Sales, Rachael’s primary responsibility is to work with location Sales & Marketing Managers to build group, event and birthday party sales. Through strategic planning and coaching, the location teams have delivered stronger revenue results. Rachael has committed her FEC career to creating “rememberable” experiences for team members and the future guests they serve.

Yoo Jin has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years. He first began working in the Hospitality and Restaurant space in 1999 with what was then a small startup called Opentable.com. He was part of a small team of employees who launched the Chicago market for Opentable. He later joined the Gibsons Restaurant Group in 2006. In 2008 he took over their IT department and helped the group grow to 14 locations which grosses $350 million annually.

The operational and technical knowledge he learned in the restaurant space has helped him identify new technologies that benefit both customers and operators. With the fast-changing environment of today’s customer needs, he enjoys researching and learning about new technologies that will provide solutions to offer better customer experiences in the future.