03/08/2010 3:00 am
Sheconomics
The Power Women on the Vegas Strip, by Sue Carswell
Our writer journeys to Las Vegas to interview MegaWomen Elaine Wynn, Ivanka Trump and more about their MegaCareers.
Editor’s Note: 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.
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.
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."
Photo Courtesy of The Trump Organization
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.
- Email this Post
- login or register to post comments
10 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
I loved this piece. Im fascinated by the "business" of the casinos. Repulsed by the psychology of it (sorry ladies) but fascinated by the business. the logistics of it! That kind of stuff always fascinates me… from movie making to putting on a big event to the mother of all events… casinos!
Ironically…the two best places i’ve ever stayed on vacation were 1) the Encore and 2) the Trump in NYC. I don’t know WHO manages to make those places run like they do but I for one… was IMPRESSED. And i’m critical! The attention to detail at the Encore was mind blowing. I don’t see how you can run that many people through a resort and have it be such a good experience? seriously.. how do they figure that shit out? from the minute we walked up to check in, to every single place we ate or gambled or just sitting by the pool… the service was impeccable. The decor was beautiful and even a simple Club Sandwich was to die for. At the Trump… it was the staff. My husband still talks about the door man!
Personally… I think it’s the women who make the difference :)