Invited by PokerStars.net to attend the North American Poker Tour at the luxurious Venetian Resort, Hotel and Casino, I wondered to myself as I looked around the majestic Las Vegas Strip for the very first time: How were women faring, employment wise, in the top ranks of these mega-resorts. Also, how in the world were they keeping this luxurious destination that screams wealth alive during these financially doomsville times? 

There was a period back in the day when The Strip was exactly that — where young starlets dreamed of making it big and ended up as showgirls performing in cigar-filled casinos, or individually for gentlemen inside their hotel rooms. Men ran the joints and the town. It was all Sinatra-esque and not really a place for the dames, even if Shirley MacLaine made (to her laurels) inroads with the Rat Pack.

Reprinted with permission from http://www.wowowow.com. Source:   The Women on the Web

What I discovered today was that, in Vegas, well, you’ve come a long way ladies! Women are ascending the ranks considerably on the vice-president level and even higher. Renee West is now the president, general manager and chief operating officer of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. She was formerly in human resources, as was Cynthia Kiser Murphey, now the president and chief operating officer of New York-New York Hotel and Casino. Kiser Murphey has said that women — as far as going where they want in this industry — "they’re only limited by what they believe and what they imagine." Adding to the roster, Marilyn Winn is the president of the Rio, Bally’s and Paris hotels. And Jan Jones, mayor of Vegas through the ’90s, is a powerful woman at Harrah’s, traveling nonstop as its ambassador. Jones is known for working 70 hours a week. Even Ivanka Trump as executive vice president of development and acquisition for the glamorous Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which rises 64 stories and offers sweeping panoramic views of the city against a majestic backdrop of surrounding mountains, says this town is just as much meant for women, to enjoy and work.

As Ivanka says, "Typically the real-estate industry has been a male-dominated field, and females are still a minority, but women are certainly breaking into the business more and more and changing that stereotype. Fortunately in recent decades, women have become much more assertive and have broken down some of the barriers that existed in the workplace. That is not true across the globe but here in the United States, we are very fortunate to be on a much more level playing field with our male counterparts."

Doors for women eventually opened widely when the king and queen of The Strip, Steve and Elaine Wynn, came to town 40 years ago. They turned hotels and gambling casinos into exquisite miniature towns of their own, complete with expensive shops, at Elaine’s pristine insistence. Married in 1963, Steve has always relied on his now (and recently divorced) former wife’s tasteful opinions since he revamped the Golden Nugget from a gambling facility to a world-renowned resort hotel and casino. Elaine’s imprint and that special touch that defines a Wynn property has been evident throughout all of the couple’s creations, even if she downplays her role. Elaine Wynn is the single most powerful woman in Las Vegas. Her hard work and thoughts were evident in the Mirage, which opened in 1989, then with the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, where the first permanent Cirque de Soleil show began in Las Vegas, and then there was the Bellagio, a $1.6 billion resort with an artificial lake and mini-Louvre-like museum. The year 2005 brought Wynn Las Vegas, and finally, 2008 saw the creation of the next-door Wynn Encore. The Wynns have been putting their stamp on the newly defined Vegas for decades. That said, even the Elaine Wynn Elementary School was named after her.

I leave my comfy suite at the Venetian and take a short taxi ride over to the Wynn to pay a visit to Elaine, who is director of the Wynn Resorts and a prominent member of the board, ever since the Wynns started building. (And to boot, she is the most beautiful and welcoming of women. Strike that – individuals! She is completely understated about her role, and is a joy to speak with about what it’s like to be a part of an enormous complex day to day.) Wynn, as it turns out, is a big fan of wowOwow, and after a butler escorts me up to the villa, she proudly shows me all of the books she’s been ordering per the advice of the wOw website. Elaine, or "Miss Wynn" as the butler addresses her, offers me anything I want to drink. (Can you imagine the cost of a bottle of red wine she might serve? Oh, what if I spill it? The horror! I don’t think I’ve ever even been around anyone this rich, except for maybe Oprah.) We both go for bottled water and sit down in her luxurious home high atop the Wynn, and talk about the power women of The Strip. "Las Vegas has a mixed record," Elaine admits as we sit and I take a peek at the Lucian Freud self-portrait hanging to the immediate right of us. She speaks in a most enunciated manner. "My mentor was Claudine Williams, the queen gaming woman (of her day). She was also married to a gamer and they were here when Steve and I arrived. They owned The Silver Slipper, and the Holiday Casino. When her husband got ill and died, Claudine became the chairman. Harrah’s bought the Holiday Casino, and they made her chairman of Harrah’s. She was a real Texan all bedecked in diamonds and was a fabulous woman."

Elaine says that women rising in gaming has really occurred in the last two decades. "I think it’s a tough world because it’s a 24-hour-a-day one. So if a woman wants to have multiple paths — you know how we’re supposed to be it all — it’s tough if she wants a family, and wants a schedule that has some form of normalcy to it. If she gets involved in a prominent management position in a casino company, they are on call. It’s like being a doctor."   

As for her role at the Wynn properties, Elaine says, "I’m the whipped-cream-and-cherry girl. I would take care of doing things that sort of had a feminine twist to them. Steve would always show me the designs, and the team would show me the looks of things they were going to propose as well. If I felt like editing and making suggestions before they brought it to Steve I would … but you can’t have two doing both. It’s like a husband and a wife building a house. You would kill each other."

Elaine is the master of the "finishing touch," and involved from "soup to nuts" at the resorts. Although she is quick to praise her ex-husband in all ventures, many credit her with the look of the place, especially the horticulture, floral and uniform designs, and that touch that defines Wynn. Just recently while in Sun Valley, she had her 11-year-old granddaughter try on the new uniforms for the nightclubs that are opening up.

"I’ll inject my opinion," she says. "I’m involved in the look, and the choice of retailers." Oscar de la Renta, at Elaine’s suggestion, opened up his first boutique at the Wynn in 2005, as would Manolo Blahnik and Alexander McQueen. Says Elaine about the designers whose stores she has chosen to have at their properties, "Steve did not know who Manolo Blahnik was … I have a definite opinion about the cachet about who we choose." (Previously, she helped bring Chanel and Hermès to the Bellagio.)

She’s also heavily involved with the conceptualization, quality of talents, entertainment, and the newbies on staff. "I’m involved in some key personnel hirings. If they’re hiring new hotel managers and key department heads, they always like to bring them by me to get my read."

The people of the Wynn know who to go to when in doubt or questioning their decisions. "People come to me and seek my advice and that has worked out beautifully because they know it comes from a good place and I imagine it’s valued because they still ask."

Back to the subject at hand, Wynn says that there are a lot of "fantastic women in the industry. And there are a lot in this company." She compliments Steve again. "Steve loves woman. He truly values and appreciates that women are very effective because they’re team builders. They work in a collegial way, which is the way of the world today … Our vice president of sales is a woman, our corporate counsel is a woman as is our head of advertising and public relations, and human resources. Even half of the dealers are women now. That’s true all around town. I could read a list of many more women in positions at the company."

It seems that the new women presidents are coming and rising from within, so I decide to speak with a few who see the sky as limitless now in Vegas. Vice President of Sales Chandra Allison (pictured above) of the Venetian says, when I ask her if The Strip is still a man’s world, "In the last ten years, I have seen more women move into high-level positions. This trend has benefited me tremendously as women did not previously hold these types of positions." It seems men have realized the valuable contributions that women can make in this industry and career opportunities have increased for women initially because companies realized they needed diversity in the workplace. "Since that time women have been recognized as being very qualified, capable and successful in these roles," says Allison, adding, "I have not been held back because I am a woman."  

Michelle Knoll (pictured below) is the senior vice president of advertising and public relations at Treasure Island. At 56, she’s seeing a rise of women at a younger age at the director level. "For women in my age group it’s really tough. I started as an advertising manager and as I worked my way up I was always the only woman in the room. But I was really fortunate because I worked for smart men." The reason the younger women are filling important positions, says Knoll, is because "it’s generational. The younger men are used to having successful women around them. Still, at the senior level, you’re working 50 hours-plus. It’s tough."  

Not all is bliss and equal in Vegas though for all women. As Knoll says, "The gaming side has always been challenging for women. The hospitality side somewhat less so."

I ask Chandra Allison and Knoll what piece of advice they have for younger women who aspire to join the ranks of Vegas corporations and rise to the top as they have. Allison says, "Young women who want to rise to the top need to have a strong work ethic, be dependable, dress for success, be professional and maintain integrity in any given situation." 

As more and more conferences head to Vegas, Knoll says, "Gaming has become more corporate. You get more educated people and with more education there tends to be more of an open mind toward an individual as opposed to what they look like, male or female." Adds Wynn, "I think it’s not about the glass ceiling here … For young women who want to get into this, I would say don’t be all starry eyed! Understand that it’s a real profession. The hospitality business is just that — hospitality. If you’re not feeling hospitable don’t get anywhere near this place. It is filled with minutiae."

Right now, Vegas is the top U.S. travel destination with four-day vacations at the resorts named here going between $400 to $600, including travel. Las Vegas is truly a unique place to visit. It’s not just about the casinos, but also offers world-class dining with the ranks of Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud and Mario Batali busily opening up restaurants, as well as Emeril. As Elaine Wynn says, "It’s a fantastic travel value. The dollar goes a lot further and people can now stay at glamorous places … Everything is pumped up here." Ivanka Trump agrees: "Las Vegas is the most exciting city in the country, especially for a visitor who wants to compress a wide array of experiences into a limited amount of time. Among the great hotels, spas, restaurants, shopping, shows, casinos, etc., there is definitely something for everyone. No other city offers the same electricity and kinetic energy, so it’s not surprising that Vegas is still a favorite destination for people from around the country and across the globe. It’s certainly one of mine!"

Last year, during a town-hall event in Indiana, President Obama stirred the Vegas industry when he suggested that bailed-out executives didn’t deserve to go to Las Vegas for retreats. Then just recently, he was in New Hampshire and said that during a recession, "You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas." To say he slighted Vegas (and Nevada) would be a vast understatement. He came for a so-called apology visit in late February. One of his main supporters called what he did a big "no-no." A lifelong Republican, Elaine Wynn says, "Steve and I split this time. I was probably the only gaming person that was for Obama initially. Two hours after meeting Michelle I just fell in love with her. I thought any guy who could get this woman to marry him is a heck of a guy." That said, she offers, "When he made the first crack about Las Vegas and TARP money, I understood the point he was making. I’m a taxpayer too. But that last slip? He knew ten minutes after he said it what he had done. I didn’t need to call."

Photo by Robert Miller

Before leaving Elaine Wynn’s exclusive villa, I ask her what she thinks about coming home to the emblazoned WYNN sign on top of the resort. She says at first, "I didn’t like the idea at all. I did not want it to be called ‘Wynn.’ I especially feel awkward because it now is a standard that you can’t separate from your names. Before with the Bellagio, if you sold the company and the Bellagio didn’t maintain its standards, you didn’t care. I mean you did care — you had a proprietary interest — but it’s not connected to your name. This is in blazing lights and it is your identity. It’s much more meaningful. So when you walk through the place and there’s paper on the floor, you lean down and pick up the paper."

Hospitable, that’s Vegas for you, for both the women and men working there.

Sue Carswell is a reporter/researcher at Vanity Fair. She is also a ghostwriter and speechwriter. She has worked as an executive editor at Random House, Inc., and is a former senior producer for "Good Morning America." She was a contributing launch editor at O: The Oprah Magazine, and is a former People Magazine correspondent.

Reprinted with permission from http://www.wowowow.com. Source:   The Women on the Web