Golden Tee creators Elaine Hodgson and Richard Ditton were surely a pair of hole-in-ones for the first coin-op Hall of Fame class. The leaders of Incredible Technologies were both on hand at the recent Amusement Expo to be recognized for the honor.
For her part, Hodgson was a co-founder of IT and served as president and CEO since the company’s inception in 1985-2021. She’s now on the board of directors and continues to serve as CEO. Hodgson, a veteran of the entertainment and technical development world, led IT from a $150,000 basement startup to a dominant player in both the amusement and gaming industries.
Her leadership and development of global brands such as Golden Tee Golf, Crazy Money and Money Rainhave earned her a variety of awards and honors in both industries. She currently serves as the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers’ Board Vice President. (Fun fact: Elaine received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Purdue University and began her career as an industrial chemist at the Kennedy Space Center working on the Space Shuttle project.)
Also since 1985, fellow IT co-founder Richard Ditton has used his extensive technical development background to help grow the company to become the amusement and gaming industry leader it is today. A key developer of hardware and software tools since the company’s inception, he is credited with developing the first commercially successful online tournament system for Golden Tee Golf.
His insight into the mathematics and psychology of slot machine players fueled the creation of top-earning products and IT’s continued success in the gaming industry as well. He serves on IT’s board of directors with Hodgson. (Another fun fact: Richard received his B.S. in Theoretical Mathematics and his M.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University. Early in his career, he worked for IBM as a designer of launch software for the Space Shuttle at NASA.)