The Foureva Podcast

David Meltzer & Dominic Ortiz: Transforming Milwaukee | Potawatomi Hotel & Casino

• Foureva Media • Season 2 • Episode 90

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The CEO’s that bet everything to transform a city ft David Meltzer and Dominic Ortiz, Potawatomi Hotel and Casino.

In this powerful episode of Entrepreneurs: The Playbook, David Meltzer sits down inside the stunning Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee — a venue he calls “a mini Vegas in the Midwest” — to uncover the leadership, vision, and partnership that built one of the nation’s most impressive entertainment destinations.

David is joined by Dominique Ortiz, CEO and General Manager of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, and Jamar Jones, founder of Foureva Media. Together, they dive deep into how belief, humility, and the right people can turn an unlikely city into a world-class powerhouse.

Dom shares the remarkable journey of transforming a struggling facility into a nationally recognized entertainment hub — all rooted in cultural values, community empowerment, and fearless risk-taking. Jamar reveals why he chose Milwaukee for a major event and how partnership, energy alignment, and changing your circle can change your life.

From leadership lessons to community impact to elevating tribal sovereignty nationwide, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and real-world strategies for anyone ready to build something extraordinary.

If you’re ready to see what it takes to make the impossible possible — this conversation is for you.

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SPEAKER_01:

Every day everybody's cheering each other on and I just serve them, build them and try and show them the vision that we can be the greatest in the Midwest. We can be Las Vegas. You don't have to go, you can come experience them because our our people and you got to see them. It's not me, it's the people on the front line that I walk around. They cheer me up every single day. I take a lap because sometimes you know at the top you don't feel successful. I don't feel successful sometimes, you know. It's just you're you're in the grind and you have things that you got to get across the table, and there are risks that you're taking to keep this on board that only you deal with to keep your people to motivate them to continue to do great, and you just sometimes don't feel it.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Entrepreneurs the Playbook. I'm David Meltzer here at the Pottawatomie Hotel and Casino. Man, was I surprised when I walk here because I'm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I've been to so many, living in Southern California, tribal casinos, and some of the best in the world, but I've never been to one like this. This is like a mini Vegas in Milwaukee, and the reason it's here is it takes great leadership. And great leadership is what Dom Ortiz is, CEO and general manager of the Potomatomy Casino and Hotel. But what brought us both here is an amazing entrepreneur, someone who has poured into a community. He pours in with masterminds, retites, speeches, coaching. He's an incredible entrepreneur, Jamar Jones. Thank you so much with Forever Media for setting it up. Yeah, yeah. Gentlemen, I work with entrepreneurs. And every entrepreneur has the same story. That there was no evidence, or the evidence was contrary to you being where you are today. And mine is the same way. There's always still no evidence, or the evidence is contrary. So, Dom, I'm gonna start with you. You know, uh you're here in one of the greatest hotels and casinos in not the biggest market in the world, and I can't see how you got here because every indication of the outside world would have laughed at you, scoffed at you, and made fun of you if you told them you were gonna build this sucker in Milwaukee. Um for you, when those moments came, uh imposter syndrome seeks in, people are telling you no, they're laughing at you, from the biggest governmental agencies in the world to the own tribal agencies down to the community. What was your mindset in belief that you were gonna make this dream happen?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh you know, I'd it it's um having a vision for the property and where you come from, to be able to, uh I would say, just be able to see it, to fill it, to note that you know, you want to bring uh the absolute number one regional entertainment destination to Milwaukee and the property, and that you're not gonna compromise that you're gonna put your job, you're gonna put your some respects, your life on the line, because you know, this is a career. I'd I stepped out and was a successful CFO for three casinos, a tribal govern tribal government development corp over in Michigan for the Saginaw Chippewa, and just got my contract renewed. Here I own my contract, and this job comes up, and they're like, This casino shut down. You've never been CEO before. We're gonna give you an opportunity. You know, and I said, you know, I'd I have been making CEOs uh their number one partner. I have been building the blocks that uh help them be successful and navigate uh Indian country and our sovereign land and our uh protecting the nation of our people and our elected leaders in this group and in this environment. So when I came to it and just uh said, you know, we're we're gonna build something amazing in Milwaukee. We're gonna find the best talent. I've been around uh a myriad of mentors in the industry. I was on the Border Direct, Global Border Directors of AI CPA. I was one of 400,000 to make it on that. Mentors in there were great leaders and mindsets all along the way, uh, such as yourself that keep challenging you to continue to fight to be better. So when I came here and said, We're gonna be, we're gonna be Las Vegas, we're gonna be the Las Vegas of the Midwest, we will be number one in the region, and we need to put together the right people, the right strategy, and the right plan. And, you know, I um stuck to that vision and just surrounded myself, like they always say, with the right people that believe in you, that support you and drive you. So that was what really kept me going.

SPEAKER_00:

And what got me here is this guy next to me, and Jamar Jones, who also faced, I'm sure, a lot of different evidentiary challenges uh that you could pull this off. And I was just in Las Vegas at the NBA Summer League and spoke to the PAC and the SportsCon. So PAC is a professional athletes community, the biggest NBA stars in the world. And I will tell you, for a man who speaks 200 days a year around the world, that from the time I landed, the Pottawatomi people made it even a better than Las Vegas experience. And I know that you had to facilitate the capabilities of Pottawatomi Hotel and Casino and to believe in them to put your event here and to bring people like me and others like me to this place and you know be confident that we are going to be treated better than Las Vegas. And I'm telling you, from the car to the food to the room, to I will tell you that even my uh amazing Nick of Wam, you know, he went down to the casino, he won money. Uh you know, he's never played slots before. He's like, damn. You know, Dave, I didn't he didn't even know Dave slots, he had to ask someone to help. So uh looking at that, but Jamar, for you, what were you seeing, you know, not just in Dom, but in the entire crew, because it's the people that make this thing so successful, as well as the facilities.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I uh I truly believe in partnership. Um, and you spoke a lot about that today at the retreat, but partnership and bringing really energies together um can create some magical things that are just intangible that you just cannot put a price on. And I know the first time I met Dom, he I could already just I could see that he had a vision, he already has executed a vision, but he's also a visionary and he's able to think outside the box on ideas, and that's where I live, outside the box. So when I was like, hey, how could we partner? What what could we do together? Um I know also you're you're an outside the box kind of guy too. Yeah. Because I mean that's that's kind of how we all got connected. And um I was like, let's bring some of those visionaries together that had that are on that same wavelength and bring them, you know, to a place where I know that everybody's gonna have an amazing experience here. Um and because it's you're surrounding great people, and if you can change your circle, you can change your life. And that's this is what I believe in.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, I got the blessing, the hearing, and you did as well. Uh Dom Ortiz speak. And one of the themes beyond you're either humble or you're about to be, uh, that rang true to me was good voices make good choices. And several different times, both of you uh have illustrated and amplified a message that I need to get out there, which is ask for help. The fastest way to get to where you want to be is to find people that are already there, ask them for directions, and then also utilize those directions to help others get to where they want to be, elevating others to elevate yourself. And both of you are doing just that together here at the Pottawatomie Hotel and Casino, dumb, every step of the way, whether it was where you were being educated, whether it was the council, uh, the tribes themselves, whether it was Harvard, whether it was the Vegas people, you were looking for the right people, the right voices to make the right choices. And so many executives, they listen to the wrong voices and make the bad choices and end up in a place they don't want to be. How important is it for you in that ability to one, be humble and ask for help, but also to choose the right guides in order to facilitate those steps that have created what I believe, forget what whether it's in Milwaukee, this is the number one hotel and casino, uh, regardless of where it's at. It it is awesome. And sportsbook. I mean, there's everything here.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I appreciate it. You know, we're sitting in uh one of the best studios. ESPN came through and was like, man, this is better than anything that we have. When we built this sports book, we wanted to build something that you could just pick up and set in Vegas and that would be an asset to any casino in Vegas, and you've seen it yourself.

SPEAKER_00:

I have one at the wind in the lobby. You do it. And this is equal to with Sirius XM. So you're talking about the biggest distribution in satellite, and this is equal to a greater, you know. Be careful what I say about Sirius, I don't want them to cut my deal. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. But uh I I you know I don't think you could have said it any better, was um looking to find uh the people around you that not only could bring the vision but support the vision and uh uh really elevate you. And and in return, I treat all of my partners and my clients like you know uh you are just one of the team. You you are. I mean, I I you know I look to I really look to serve the people that I work for to help them uh continue to build their game up and around me and and to show them what we could do. Because when you come in here, you you come into a new market, uh, you have to find the right talent around you that is gonna give you the advice. Maybe some advice you don't want to hear, but you know, and I and I do believe in um staying humble with the people around you, trying to serve them, make them better people. At the end of the day, they're gonna be loyal, they're gonna see the vision, and and you have to believe in the vision and see the vision. You know when you're around the table and if there are people that aren't believing in it, you have to deal with it, you know, because if you're gonna become great and you're gonna challenge the status quo and you're gonna create something uh amazing, in my opinion, these processes when you put people together aren't just blocks, man. These are uh as we say in our traditional ways, and if you look at our um war chiefs, when they were connected and made decisions, we all made a decision. You had to have a hand on somebody like this. So you put your hand on his shoulder, man, like that, and we're all we're connected like that. And you'll see old photos in the Smithsonian archives, man, and they're standing here like this, making a decision for the nation of their entire people and their life, and they're connected with each other, and you see the pictograms, and it's uh it's an animal, and from that animal goes a line, and that line is each drawn to each one of us on that journey, so that we're all connected in what we do. They share that with you. So when you build that team, it really needs to be connected. I got a note that I can count on you, you can count on me that uh not everything's gonna go the way that we want, that uh you know, we're gonna prepare when when uh the storm is calm and get ready for uh whatever we see over the next horizon and believe in each other and keep fighting for it, and amazing things happen, and each people around you will help you see things that you don't see. I always want somebody with a different line of thought that could be a part of the team. What happens if we all row on the one side, man? Exactly. We roll on one side, so we gotta row together and believe in each other and and and fight because you are not gonna get here and do something amazing without more risk, more of a ro roar more reward. I mean, this wouldn't happen if I laid back and just kind of accepted the status quo and tried not to riffle any feathers. But I didn't. I seen the vision, I fought for it. There were elders that believed in me and told me to keep fighting, even when it got tough, and even when the rain got hard and the storms were tough, and when you get to the top of the mountain, that's when the wind blows the hardest, and you gotta be prepared to stay up there and fight. I did this, I didn't go, I stayed, I put my job on it, and here we are, twelve months later, and I'm still here with the property, continuing to build success because I believed in it. I'm gonna stay here and own up to it, and I'm either gonna be fired or celebrated for what we did.

SPEAKER_00:

I love it, man. And the air is thin at the top, and people don't know until they get there how thin that air can be. Speaking about risk and timing and timing and risk tolerance, Jamar, there's a million different places you can hold your event.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I, as I told you, go to 200 of these around the world, not just in the United States, not just in Vegas, just with Sirius Alone, AspireTour Gitech, Sigma, Wed Summit, all the different tours that I'm on. And I'm always curious why I would choose a venue, especially if it's not in New York, LA, or Vegas, somewhere that has a major hub of land. I just came back from there with the Major League All-Star Game. You know, we're in Milwaukee. Not that we don't have the Bucks and the Brewers, which are great teams, and I love them both. Yeah, and the owners are friends of mine, and so now I know what uh Mark was bragging about with me with Junior Achievement, bragging to me. You gotta come, Dave. It's the real deal. I'm like, yeah, right. You know, everybody else tells me what the real deal is. What were some of the things that you looked at to make the decision to bring this event to this extraordinary facility?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I mean, the the number one decision is that Milwaukee is a fantastic place to be. Uh I brought the weather, by the way.

SPEAKER_00:

75, 75 and sunny. I'm just saying, invite Dave Melcher to speak comes with perfect weather.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, yes. And I mean, especially in the summer in Milwaukee, it's just unlike anything. Um, and I wanted people to experience that. And then being here at this facility is like the perfect hub, the perfect location. You have everything entertainment, you have stay, you have play, you have great energy, you have great connections with people. Um, the parking's free. I mean, like everything is there for you. Yeah, the food is incredible. Um, I was just telling somebody that like in Vegas, their marketplace, their food courts are like kind of your your Joe Schmoe, average, you know, kind of fast food places here. It is good food. I saw the lady was making my quesadilla right there, and I'm like, man, that thing's fresh. So like I wanted people to have that really accelerated experience here in Milwaukee. And I knew, I mean, even from our out-of-towners already, they already told me today, they're like, wow, I can't believe that like this is here in Milwaukee, and this is my first time here, and like I gotta come back. And that's the whole reason why I chose to do it in Milwaukee, but better yet, having a great partner in Potawatomi and showing how like how we do it really here in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, they'll be getting a call from me and a lot of the tours that I'm on so that we can start coming back here once I preach and teach from the tops of the thin air mountains that I get to walk on, uh, how amazing it is. Let's finish up with what's most important to me in this economic development of towns. And one of the things I love most about your speech was how much you cared about other people and how you wanted to pour into all your different communities, not just the the cultural community that you belong to and the federal community that you belong to, but our state here, our city, and also the country. And you think that big and and I really appreciated. I was hoping maybe we could finish up with what type of impact this hotel and casino is having on Milwaukee, on the state of Wisconsin, and even the United States, because that really hit me of how you got a mayor to make his first bet at the casino because he believed so much in you and what you've done. That's a rarity, by the way. Most mayors will never touch that. And you actually have the support of the mayor along with everybody else.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, man, uh like Milwaukee uh since I've been here uh has been amazing. I've seen uh the people, the cultures, the groups, and here at the casino, we support over 2,400 inner city jobs with some of the best benefit packages that any of the corporations in the city. And I do that because the tribal elders said, you need to take care of yourself and you need to take care of our people. You know, this is what we need to do here, and we're gonna do right by them. And they give me uh the free with all to do that. And when things got tough a few years ago and you're coming out of COVID and people were struggling, and you know, inflation was a little high, you know, you was just getting on that crest, and people were like, How do I deal with this? And COVID money hasn't spread, you know. And Trav's like, What do your people need? And I said, Well, I'd like to give them I'd like to give everybody a hundred dollar gift card, and they go, is that enough? So that's what we did. The entire team across the group that was struggling. It's those small uh gestures. So we, you know, in this casino, in this facility, we're building the lives of, you know, over 2,400 people, giving them jobs, giving them opportunities, and you know, we we opened up Pottawatomi Sportsbook and brought uh a new revenue, a new industry, and you hit on it. What we're doing here in Wisconsin and what I'm a part of is gonna have ramifications across the United States because I am trying to protect the interests of tribal exclusivity and tribal revenue share for digital gaming, and we are fighting for this across the country. You can see it in California with Sam and Well and and Yamaha and and those groups over there, FanDuel DraftKing came in and tried to buy their way in with legislation and wanted to stomp all over them and come put their product, and they didn't, and they lost, and they continue to make grounds and say, look, um uh the tribes uh ultimately uh are looking to protect their culture and their sovereignty. So here in Milwaukee, um building this asset and be able to create this for the city because they told me this is like the most segregated city in the United States by some respects. You know, and um I don't see it because I I live with uh, you know, just a multicultural group in the inner city, and we just every day everybody's cheering each other on, and I just serve them, build them, and try and show them the vision that we can be the greatest in the Midwest. We can be Las Vegas. You don't have to go, you can come experience them because our our people and you got to see them. It's not me, it's the people on the front line that I walk around. They cheer me up every single day. I take a lap because as sometimes you know at the top you don't feel successful. I don't feel successful sometimes, you know. It's just you're you're in the grind and you have things that you gotta get across the table and there are risks that you're taking to keep this on board that only you deal with to keep your people to motivate them to continue to do great, and you just sometimes don't feel it, you know. That's when they look at me and stop and elders say you need to take care of yourself, son. You know, because you just get so you you you feel heavy, you feel clogged, and you know, you're like, oh, you're the CEO or all this, you should be flying on a clothing and feeling in seventh heaven. I don't feel like it, you know. I feel like I'm in a battle for my life and I'm pushing to do great things, and there are things flying and coming after us left and right that we gotta navigate in order to kind of get us to the place that we need to be and share that success. So, you know, Pottawatomi is fighting for sovereignty and fighting for Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_00:

And the United States of America. I will tell you one thing. I'm on a mission to empower over a billion people to be happy. I know how to do that is to make a lot of money to help a lot of people and have a lot of fun. I've been to 200 cities in the last year in that mission, meeting all types of executives, billionaires, millionaires, entrepreneurs, celebrities, athletes, entertainment to help me with that mission. And to be invited by you and for you to have gone through the due diligence to find a place like Pottawatomi Hotel and Casino, and to have such leadership aligned with my mission. Because I will tell you, of all the establishments that I get to be a part of, this one is so aligned with the mission, how to make a lot of money to help a lot of people and have a lot of fun. Pottawatomi Hotel and Casino is the place to do all three. I want to thank you, Dominique Ortiz, the CEO General Manager of Pottawatomi Hotel and Casino, and my man Jamar Jones, the head of Forever Media, making the choice and convincing me that I was going to have this experience. I just have to say you underestimated how great it was. To that end, I am here at the Pottawatomi Hotel and Casino. I'm David Meltzer with Entrepreneurs the Playbook.

SPEAKER_03:

Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and don't forget to hit that notification bell for more amazing content that we're going to be putting out. And don't forget, you can change your circle to change your life.

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Jamar Jones

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