The Nevada Gaming Commission heaped praise on Elaine Wynn as it kicked off its April meeting. Wynn, who helped shape modern-day Las Vegas alongside her former husband with such projects as the trend-setting Mirage, died last week at 82.
Commission Chair Jennifer Togliatti, a former chief judge of the Eighth Judicial District in Nevada, called Wynn a “pioneering force” in the gaming industry and a passionate advocate for education and the arts.
“As a co-founder of Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts, she helped shape the modern landscape and remove barriers in the field long dominated by men,” Togliatti said. “Beyond her business acumen, she was a tireless philanthropist whose commitment to our community, especially to education and the arts, touched countless lives. Her legacy in both gaming and philanthropy will endure.”
Togliatti said it’s not an exaggeration to call Wynn “a trailblazer for women. The path she forged made my journey and that of my two fellow women commissioners much easier. It’s likely the three of us wouldn’t be sitting here, nor would I be the first woman chair of the Commission, if it wasn’t for her.”
The Commission on Thursday also approved licensing for several gaming company executives.
That includes Travis Lunn, president and chief operating officer at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino and the Luxor Hotel and Casino; Sean Lanni as president of international marketing for MGM Resorts International and as president and chief operating officer at The Cosmopolitan; Christopher Foster, senior vice president of technology and chief information officer for Station Casinos; Charles Paelinck, chief information officer at Affinity Interactive; Susan Docherty, a manager with JJVG Holdings; and Rick Goldstein, vice president and general manager of the Suncoast Hotel & Casino.
Foster said he helped Station Casinos establish its cybersecurity posture, saying what they built is industry leading. He moved into the CIO role about 18 months ago and when asked what keeps him up at night, he answered, “Ransomware.
“It’s just impactful to the business,” Foster said. “The thought that there are things out there that can bring our business to its knees and cease it to operate is what keeps me up. It’s why I was so interested in learning cybersecurity and going into that field and had a great time building a cybersecurity stack and how we think about it from a strategic perspective. We have multiple tiers of technology so we gain visibility. When I first started, it would have taken us weeks or months to know if a bad actor was in our environment. We are down to hours or days and where we are headed with our stack it will be minutes so we can react quickly. Cybersecurity doesn’t secure anything. It mitigates risk and readies our team to respond. That’s where we spend our money and time.”
