William R. Schmitt

WILLIAM R. SCHMITT, Executive Director of CIBC World Markets, is
an equity analyst following the gaming and lodging industries.
From 1998 through March 2000 he followed the gaming industry for
Wasserstein Perella Securities. Prior to that, he spent four
years following the gaming industry at Gerard Klauer Mattison, an
institutional boutique in New York, and was a generalist at Moran
and Associates concentrating on cable, cellular, gaming and
leisure industries from 1989 to 1994. In 1997 he was ranked in
the top-10 category among all casino and lodging research
analysts in the Reuters Survey on investment banking/research
firms and in 1996, 1999 and 2001 he was a Wall Street Journal
‘All Star’ for stock picking. Zacks Investment Research recently
named Mr. Schmitt the top analyst in the gaming sector for 2001
based on the investment performance of his ratings and he has
been recognized as a ‘homerun hitter’ by Institutional Investor
magazine. He was also named as one of the ‘Top 10’ analysts for
stock picking, among all research analysts, in 2001, by Starmine.
His research universe includes coverage of 20 gaming and gaming
equipment companies. He has an MBA from Fordham University and a
BA from Hobart College.