Renee West spent much of her life making a difference in the casino world. She truly blazed a trail for others to follow, having the distinction of being the first woman ever named president of a Las Vegas Strip resort.
For West, her interest in the field wasn’t so less about gaming and more about interacting with, and developing, people. She discovered this about herself when she worked with Caesars Palace as a training specialist with human resources. She ended up integrating into organizational development, learning how training and creating an organization work together.
“That’s probably what I’m most passionate about—developing people to line up behind a strategy, and making sure that you have the right strategy in place,” she said in an interview with career education website Pursue the Passion. “It’s kind of like a big chess game. So that’s fun for me.”
After three years at Caesars Palace, West spent some time with Station Casinos, branding their employee culture. Her career path to being a true game-changer began in 2000, when she joined MGM Resorts International (Then MGM Mirage) as vice president of human resources at Primm Valley Resorts. It didn’t take long for her skill-set to be recognized; she soon after became president of all the Primm Valley Resorts casinos, making her the first woman in the company’s history to oversee a property.
Her move to the Las Vegas Strip came in 2005, when she was promoted to president at Excalibur, the first woman ever named president of a Strip resort, and four years later she took over as president of Mandalay Bay. In 2010, she became president of both Luxor and Excalibur, and retired in 2015. Renee’s legacy of success at every level of Nevada’s gaming industry is why she’s this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Hall of Fame honorees from 2020
Hall of Fame honorees from 2021
Hall of Fame honorees from 2022
Hall of Fame honorees from 2023
Hall of Fame honorees from 2024
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