A couple of women have a foot in the worlds of both politics and gambling. For instance, former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones is now senior vice president of communications and governmental relations for Harrah’s Entertainment, making her the most visible woman in the casino industry. Harrah’s sent her to Carson City during the last Legislature to put some corporate muscle behind a bill that would grand domestic-partnership benefits to Nevadans.
Nevada GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden is both a casino owner and former state senator (as well as an ex-USO showgirl). She currently sits on the board of Archon Corp., a Lowden-family company that owns the Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall in Laughlin, as well as the former site of the Wet ‘n Wild water park on the Strip, just south of the Sahara. Further down the the Strip, Margaret Elardi owns Casino Royale. Ms. Elardi, however, is more famous for her role as provocateur of the epic strike at the former Frontier, which she eventually sold to Phil Ruffin.
Until her recent defection to NV Energy, Punam Mathur served as a senior vice president of MGM Mirage. In that capacity, she oversaw the company’s industry-leading diversity program, which seeks to broaden the mix of faces not only within the company but among its vendors. Women who run individual casino properties are still comparatively rare but Excalibur President Renée West is one of them.
Others make their presence felt indirectly. Not only does Elaine Wynn sit on Wynn Resorts’ board of directors, she is believed to enjoy widespread loyalty within the company and will continue to be an influence on CEO Steve Wynn even after their divorce is finalized. Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson’s wife, holds no formal role with Las Vegas Sands but has been accused of being the power behind the throne of her frail husband.
But the highest-ranking woman in the casino industry sits not in Vegas but in St. Louis. Virginia McDowell is the chief operating officer of Isle of Capri Casinos. During an eight-year tenure (1997-2005) at Argosy Gaming, she rose through the executive ranks to become senior VP of operations, prior to Argosy’s takeover by Penn National. Following a brief stopover at Trump Entertainment Resorts as chief information officer, McDowell joined other members of the old Argosy team at Isle of Capri, after the previous regime at Isle lost the confidence of shareholders. Under McDowell and CEO James Perry, Isle has been consistently improving its performance, shedding bad investments, and basically turning a tale of decline and fall into the comeback story of 2009.
