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LAS VEGAS, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Carlos Ruisanchez, a veteran Wall Street investment banker, has been named to the newly created position of Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Development. Mr. Ruisanchez will be relocating to Las Vegas.
Mr. Ruisanchez, whose appointment is effective immediately, joins Pinnacle following a successful career at Bear, Stearns & Co., where he most recently served as Senior Managing Director responsible for corporate clients in the gaming, lodging and leisure industries, as well as financial sponsor banking relationships.
Mr. Ruisanchez joined Bear Stearns’ investment banking department in 1997 as an associate in the firm’s Los Angeles office and moved to New York in 1999. Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Mr. Ruisanchez was a financial analyst for Aetna Health Plans in Northern California. Mr. Ruisanchez holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focused on finance and international business, as well as a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Connecticut School of Business.
“We’re pleased to have someone of Carlos’ background and experience joining Pinnacle’s management team,” said Daniel R. Lee, Pinnacle’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Carlos brings a wealth of gaming and finance experience to the company, which will be extremely helpful as we focus on the company’s operations and create value for our shareholders.”
In connection with his appointment, Mr. Ruisanchez was awarded options to purchase 200,000 shares of Pinnacle’s common stock as an inducement for employment. In accordance with Rule 303A.08 of the New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Manual, the awards were granted without stockholder approval and were granted outside of Pinnacle’s 2005 Equity Incentive and Performance Plan, as amended. The options vest in four equal annual installments beginning on August 1, 2009 and the options expire on August 1, 2018. The exercise price of the options is $11.35 per share, which was the closing price of Pinnacle’s common stock on August 1, 2008, the date of the grant to Mr. Ruisanchez.
About Pinnacle Entertainment
Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. owns and operates casinos in Nevada, Louisiana, Indiana, Missouri, Argentina and The Bahamas, and has significant insurance claims related to a hurricane-damaged hotel and casino complex previously operated in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Company opened Lumiere Place, a $507 million casino hotels complex in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, in December 2007. Pinnacle also has a second casino development project under construction in the St. Louis area, which opening is dependent upon final approval by the Missouri Gaming Commission. Pinnacle is currently developing a second casino resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to be called Sugarcane Bay; is developing a casino resort in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and has submitted a proposal for a casino resort in Kansas City, Kansas, subject to various approvals. Additionally, Pinnacle owns a casino site at the heart of the famed Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on which it plans to build a major new casino resort.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
At the Company - (702) 784-7777:

Dan Lee - Chairman & CEO
Steve Capp - CFO
Chris Plant or Lewis Fanger - Investor Relations

Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.

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