10 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2025 ACCOUNTING FOR FUTURE GROWTH THE MODERN CFO: FROM ANALYST TO STRATEGIC ALLY Mary Harville, Chief Executive Officer and President, Kentucky Lottery Corporation (KLC) and Maggie Garrison, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Kentucky Lottery Corporation (KLC) Paul Jason: Mary, how did you smooth the path for your senior executive team to work collaboratively; and support the transition of the CFO from the “sales prevention department” into the Department of “Let’s figure out together how to turn this into a financially viable action-plan that optimizes performance and results.” Mary Harville: My career began at the Lottery in legal, as general counsel. We’re a sales organization, and I wanted to support that. But others in leadership seemed to be habituated to certain kinds of unflattering stereotypes: calling the Legal Department the “Sales Prevention Department,” for example, and they didn’t even know me. So I am sensitive to that. In meetings, the departmental silos were interfering with productive communications between VPs. There was this feeling that Legal and Finance in particular weren’t entirely welcome, especially when the discussion turned to product or sales. There was a clear “Stay in your lane,” or “Don’t tell us how to do our jobs” vibe. PGRI INTERVIEWS PGRI INTRODUCTION: When I was talking with CEO Mary Harville and asking her about how the role of the CFO has changed over the past decade, and how that is even more the case at the Kentucky Lottery Corporation, Mary suggested I interview her CFO Maggie Garrison. I suggested we feature an interview that includes both Mary and Maggie, and she agreed. Thank you! I think you dear reader will agree this turned into a most interesting study of how one of the most progressive lotteries in the country balances the need for fiscal responsibility with investment in change and innovation. To understand the success of Mary and the entire team at the Kentucky Lottery, you first need to know Mary’s vision when she took the helm of the Lottery in 2020 after being appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear. Prior to her appointment, Mary served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of the KLC for 16 years before ascending to the C-Suite. Soon after taking the reins, Mary made multiple innovative changes that produced exciting results across the board and leaves the organization wellpositioned to continue its mission in the future. These changes include partial corporate restructuring. Significant structural changes to the organization began within months after Mary’s appointment. Several long-time advisers in executive level positions announced their decisions to retire, while at the same time, emerging leaders were ready to advance to the next level. To move forward, Mary drew upon her innovative spirit to not only adapt and optimize organizational efficiency, but to ensure the company is strategically focused in the pursuit of its mission of funding college scholarships and grants. Today, every member of Mary’s initial 2020 senior leadership team is no longer with the Lottery, and Mary has either hired or promoted nearly all of her executive leadership team to their current roles. Leadership coaching has been utilized to assist in this important time of transition. One example of Mary’s vision is Maggie’s outstanding success at the KLC. Maggie joined the KLC in 2011, was promoted to Vice President in 2015, and Mary named her as CFO in February 2023. Mary’s initiatives have broken down departmental silos and forged a multi-disciplinary approach to running a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, and at the forefront has been the expansion of the CFO role to champion of innovation and sustainable growth.
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