His roots are in Iowa farming
Travis Dvorak, a graduate of North Tama Community Schools and a Marine Corps veteran, was introduced Wednesday as the new general manager of Wild Rose Jefferson.
Dvorak is the casino’s second general manager. Mike Couch, who was hired in December 2014 and saw the casino to its opening last July, left Wild Rose employment in March.
Dvorak comes to Jefferson from the general manager position at Wild Rose Clinton. He was assistant general manager of Wild Rose Emmetsburg while Grow Greene County and Wild Rose were working to secure the gaming license for Greene County. He was promoted to the Clinton position just a month before the Greene County license was secured.
Dvorak told the 15 or so people present for his introduction Wednesday that he had hoped to be tapped for the Jefferson job should the license be granted, “but I took the ‘bird in hand’ when Clinton came up.”
Dvorak enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school during the Gulf War era. When he returned to Clutier, where his family farms, he intended to pursue a job in law enforcement. He applied at the Meskwaki casino in Toledo hoping for a security job. He was offered a job as a black jack dealer. “It didn’t take long before I fell in love with the gaming part of it,” he said.
From Meskwaki he moved to work at Lakeside Casino in Osceola. It was there that Timmons first met Dvorak, and it was Timmons who later recruited him as casino manager at Wild Rose Emmetsburg in 2006. Dvorak has worked for Wild Rose since then.
Dvorak said he learned from Timmons the importance of being part of the community and to understand customers and employees.
“Travis has done quite well managing the Clinton property, and he has the added experience of having worked in central Iowa,” Timmons said. “He leads without ego, and works diligently to build a team atmosphere. He possesses the right skill set and market experience to continue the work and improvements made recently in Jefferson.”
With Dvorak was his wife Kelley Dvorak, new human resources manager at the casino. Kelley Dvorak has worked in gaming for 13 years and for Wild Rose since 2007. She was manager of corporate services at Wild Rose Clinton.
The Dvoraks have four children. The eldest son works in Fort Dodge, the middle son works in Emmetsburg, and the youngest son just graduated from Camanche High School and will enter the U.S. Army in July. Their youngest child, a daughter, will start high school in August.
They plan to move to Jefferson. “There’s something special about central Iowa and towns this size,” Travis Dvorak said about Jefferson.
