AAMA Board Elects Beth Standlee

New President & TrainerTainment Founder Ready to Lead

TrainerTainment’s Beth Standlee was elected president of the AAMA at the association’s recent Annual Meeting in Chicago. She will serve a two-year term.

Standlee, whose TrainerTainment celebrates its 20th anniversary in May 2025, was also chosen as the recipient of the Joseph Robbins Coin-Op Award, which recognizes those “who have demonstrated outstanding participation, contribution and service to the coin-operated amusement industry.”

Pete Gustafson, executive vice president of AAMA, said: “I know Beth to be a person of great character, integrity and humility whose knowledge, passion and energy are as boundless as they are infectious. Her superpower is her ability to inspire those around her, creating a shared belief that ‘we can do this,’ regardless of what ‘this’ might be.”

Get to know Beth by reading the following Q&A. (By the way, she’s also a columnist for this magazine, as you surely already know.)

RePlay: Tell us about your early life and career, and how you got involved in the amusement business.

Beth: I’ve always been a leader. Sophomore class president in high school! [Laughs] I went to college and earned my “MRS.” at the beginning of my sophomore year and then my “MOM.” I had my firstborn just before I turned 20, and then walked on and received a scholarship to play tennis at the University of Texas at San Antonio. I played two years and then had my second daughter – and didn’t finish college until 20 years later.

My career included motherhood. I had my third child four years later. I started selling Tupperware after the birth of my second daughter and was tops in the nation, promoting 23 other Tupperware managers over 11 years – 1984-95.

I fell in love with the game of bowling and wound up addicted to the business. I helped reopen the remodeled Bronco Bowl in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1995. Bruce Springsteen played in the 3,000-seat arena that was part of this neat place. After a few months, I moved over to Fun Fest – Neil Hupfauer’s bowling-anchored entertainment center.

I was part of a great team, and we developed systems that allowed us to hold 75-100 birthday parties a week and 40-70 group events per month. I moved from a single location to being director of sales for a large chain of centers across the South and Southeast. Finally, I sold capital equipment for about five years. I worked for Intercard and Ideal Software before creating TrainerTainment in 2005.

What led you to create Trainer­Tain­ment?

During the five years I sold capital equipment, I realized the consultive nature of the sell was based on my center experience. Folks were purchasing these systems because I was helping them learn to make money by using the cards in their party packages, or for fundraisers and other things. So, I decided I could help people with their businesses and their sales teams and cut out the hardware and software consultation. I had lunch with my husband, told him I thought I could create this company, and he said, “It sounds like a good idea.” I turned in my notice the next day.

 

Talk about your involvement with AAMA and when that started to grow. Out of curiosity, did the Zoom calls you and your team conducted during Covid help spur greater involvement in the industry?

Yes, the Zoom calls during Covid made all the difference. I was not very involved with AAMA. I had spoken at Amusement Expo two or three times over the years. Pete Gustafson started attending the Peer Talk calls we started as a way to help each other through the uncertainty of the pandemic. He and I became fast friends, which really upped my own curiosity about AAMA.

Pete also did a great thing by offering free membership to those on our Peer Talk calls. The exposure was supportive and good for everyone. I then volunteered to be part of the education committee, which helps plan education for Amusement Expo and the gala. I felt like that was a sweet spot for me in that I own a coaching and training company. I don’t do anything halfway. So, when I got in, I spoke up… I asked some ridiculous questions, and I know that I still have a lot to learn about the organization.

I was elected to the board the next year. I applied for the presidency this year because I felt like I was finally ready to help lead in a bigger way. TrainerTainment is in a good position for me to focus much of my time on the association and I’m more recovered in the grief process after losing my husband in 2021 to Covid.

What are some of your main priorities as AAMA president?

I’m very excited about being in this role and my two main priorities are to grow member benefits so that being a part of this organization is a no-brainer and doubling membership (at a minimum). The AAMA has a strong foundation started by the manufacturers in this great industry. Without their innovation, experimentation and willingness to spend millions of dollars on stuff that might fail, there would be no reason for the rest of us.

The legacy of the American Amuse­ment Machine Association is amazing. Today, our reach is all the way to the end user who plays and for me I never want to stop playing. We have so many great suppliers in the industry that expand the entertainment experience with complimentary attractions.

The great distributors help the locations know what to buy, how to lay out the game room, and are obsessed with helping folks make money. My company represents the allied member constituency, which provides professional services to the locations we all serve.

And then finally the locations are a valued member who can benefit because our group is small and intimate. The growth that comes from networking and having the opportunity to participate directly with the association and its members is in many ways immeasurable. My hope is that in the next two years the AAMA will be seen as the “Machine That Drives Amusement!”

How do you see the near- and long-term future of the industry?

Near-term, I think the amusement industry is healthy and although the disposable income of the end user is impacted somewhat by the economy, the numbers post-Covid are still very good. Long-term, people are going to play. I think the isolation of in-home gaming is not emotionally satisfying. I’m fascinated by the fact that so many new places are called “Social this” or “blank Social.” We are humans who need interaction. We love to play and so I think the future of the industry is bright. (Disclaimer: I am not an economist. This is my opinion and I’m wildly optimistic.) I happen to think our future is what we make it – and tough stuff happens sometimes, but we can overcome.

Being president is a commitment in both time and energy, pulling you away from many of your usual company duties. Talk about your Trainer­Tainment team, your confidence in them and how they are already helping support your term in office.

The TrainerTainment team is arguably the best group of people I’ve ever worked with. We have positioned Candi Kelley to be the CEO in the coming months. I will still be involved in the business, primarily speaking and attending shows where I help with the sales of our team. I am still engaged with higher-level strategic planning with some of our clients. However, we are minimizing my day-to-day responsibilities in operations while I focus on sales, writing the next book and speaking.

The coaches on our team are so passionate about helping others grow. We have such a strong “Pro-Series” of coaching and training delivery with business coaching, where we help build and support strategic planning of leadership teams and sales coaching, based on my book, People Buy From People: How to Personally Connect in an Impersonal World.

Is there anything else you’d like to touch on?

I love to cruise and travel. Two of my children live abroad so I am blessed to go to Australia and Madrid from time to time.