Wendeen H. Eolis was born October 13, 1944 and is the Chairwoman of Wendeen Eolis Enterprises, Inc. which includes Eolis International Group, a legal/government affairs consultancy, Eolis People Reading Strategies, an executive leadership consultancy, and Eolis Institute for Leadership, a specialized learning center, that applies poker principles for use in business, politics and cardrooms. She is also Task Force Commander of Hope's Champion, a post 9.11 disaster counseling program. Eolis has previously served as a special advisor to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and as first assistant and senior advisor to Governor George E. Pataki (NY). Eolis has been a pioneer for women in major poker competition and a leader in the poker industry. In 2007 Eolis was elected to the Board of Trustees of the World Poker Association, initially serving as vice-chair; in 2008 she was elected as Chairman of the WPA. During the summer of 2008 she accepted a role as a legal consultant in the upcoming presidential elections and left her post as Chairman of the WPA to the organization's founder Jesse Jones. She is a member of the Players Advisory Council of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and Chair of the WSOP International Players Advisory Council.

Born in New York City, Eolis was graduated from New York University with a B.A. in philosophy (1967). In 1969 she founded Eolis, Inc., the first placement and consulting firm strictly for "practicing lawyers." She specializes in counseling lawyers, executives, and "specialized talent" in law, business, government affairs, management issues, regarding counsel selection, attorney staffing, career transitions, negotiation strategies, and media relations and advises companies in post-disaster personnel initiatives.

Eolis heads a network of affiliates that do partner searches, law firm mergers and various legal consulting, including legal practice management, legal affairs, crisis counseling, law department evaluations, and legal fee reviews. She also counsels and coaches lawyers, politicians and clients of legal services.

In 1974 she became the first woman president and in 1975 was elected to the board of directors of the Association of Personnel Consultants of New York (APCNY). In 1984, she founded and served as the first president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants (NALSC).

In 2006 she added an executive leadership consultancy, People Reading Strategies and founded Eolis Institute for Leadership, which teach 12 Steps to "People Reading Excellence". She lectures on negotiation and presentation techniques, often using her experience gained at poker tables.

Eolis has been involved in politics since the 70's; initially as president of APCNY, in the development of updated legislation regarding the executive recruiting industry. While president of APCNY, Ms. Eolis was recognized with a "special citation" by the New York State Senate for her contribution to the modernization of employment agency laws in New York State. In the late 80's she was involved in Giuliani's initial Mayoral campaign, then, after his first election on his transition team, and later as an advisor in City Hall operations, including: communications, law department, and personnel matters. Eolis served in the Pataki Administration (appointment 1995) as first assistant to the governor and senior advisor on "special projects" which included rent deregulation and gaming issues. Since 9.11 she has overseen Hope’s Champion Task Force, which works with government representatives and others on emergency preparedness personnel policies and counseling programs for disaster recovery.

Eolis provides specialized consulting services to casinos, gaming properties, and tournament organizing companies with regard to event contracts, regulatory affairs, counsel selection, and tournament consulting, among her various natters. She also does special reports related to the operations of offline and online gaming companies in connection with government affairs assignments. She analyses and writes periodically on online gaming matters including the impact of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and casino regulations in Nevada and other states.

Eolis has "cashed" a total of seven times at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and was appointed to the World Series of Poker Players Advisory Council (PAC) in 2006. She was the first woman to cash in the main event of the WSOP (1986) and the first one to do it twice (1993). She has since cashed at the WSOP in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009. The WSOP issued a commemorative chip for her "milestone" for women (1996) and in 2007, Commissioner of the WSOP, Jeffrey Pollack, dubbed Eolis the "grand dame of poker". Eolis also won the European Open No Limit Hold'em Tournament in 1990 and has cashed in the World Poker Tour, and the United States Poker Championship.Eolis was elected to the Professional Poker Tour (2004-05).

Eolis’ published writings include articles for the New York Law Journal, Women’s Business of New York, Poker Player Newspaper, and Bluff Magazine, among others. Eolis has written numerous articles on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) and subsequent congressional proposals to reverse the UIGEA legislation. She is the author of Power Poker Dame, and People Reading Secrets.

Articles that feature Eolis have appeared in a wide range of publications including: The New York Times (February 6, 1989, January 6, 1991, November 20, 2000, February 9, 2003, GQ Magazine, Women’s business, NY Daily News, and The National Enquirer among others. She has been featured on A&E Biography, the BBC Documentary, Rudy: Mayor of America , Court TV,and various televised poker shows including: the World Poker Tour’s Ladies Night II and GSN’s series Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages. She is also featured in Playing with the Big Boys (Van Vleet and Norris, 2002, Ecw) and WSOP Ladies Champion Susie Isaacs' book, Queens Can Beat Kings (Lyle Stuart, 2007).

All information provided above is available on the Internet and Nexis news searches and also is included on the official website (that contain press clips, links and/or summaries).

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