“We thank him for all his years of dedication to our people. “We’re honored to be here today to honor Ken with a couple songs,” said former Board of Director Tony Hatch. The ceremony started with traditional songs offered by Tulalip youth, led by their cultural liaisons Deyamonta Diaz and Tony Hatch. Attendees formed an intimate gathering of friends, family and business colleagues that brought tears to the Kettler family as they were overjoyed to see how their father was embraced by leadership and elders. There was no setting more fitting that the Resort Casino’s Orca Ballroom. Showered with well wishes and heartwarming memories, the most successful and longest tenured President of the Tulalip Gaming Operation was celebrated with a retirement ceremony in late December. We’ve only continued to grow since then, and I for one don’t think we’d be enjoying the financial prosperity we are today if it wasn’t for Ken’s leadership.” With Ken’s expertise and gaming experience, we built a hotel and in doing so created a place where people wanted to come and spend a night or two. “After hiring Ken, we quickly started down on the path to making Tulalip a resort destination. “Our surrounding competition was getting better and we knew we had to elevate ourselves in order to stay at the forefront,” Glen continued. I happened to be on Tribal Council when we interviewed Ken and it was apparent right away that he shared our dream to make Tulalip a true resort complex.

There were a number of growing pains from trying to develop a business that was brand new to us, and going through 13 managers in about as many years was a huge concern. “At that time in 2006, prior to Ken, we were a floundering organization going through managers left and right. Then, from 2006 – 2022, Ken ushered in an era of financial prosperity that resulted in Tulalip’s gaming enterprise growing from infant to powerhouse.Īs long-time, former Board of Director Glen Gobin recalled, the decision to bring Ken on as President of the Tulalip Gaming Organization came in an auspicious time when Tulalip leadership was struggling to find a unified vision for its fledgling Tulalip Casino. He served in a variety of executive and managerial positions with Harrah’s Entertainment for twenty-seven years, before spending the next five years as the General Manager of the Agua Caliente Casino in California. Ken Kettler came to Tulalip in 2006 with over three decades of gaming leadership experience.

Tulalip casino orca ballroom