Wynn wins admiration as savvy hotel executive

      It may be as elusive as a win for Las Vegas' favorite college football team. As difficult to find as a hair on the Minnesota governor's scalp.
      Top gaming executive?
      Sounds like an awfully presumptuous tag. And there's no consensus among our experts called on for the Best of Las Vegas Publisher's Picks for Best Hotel Executive.
      "That's a very, very broad title," says Chuck Mathewson, chairman of slot manufacturer International Game Technology. "When you say, `casino executive,' that could be the guy running the software department or it could be Steve Wynn."
      It's like playing golf, Mathewson continues. Some golfers are good at hitting their woods. Others are strong with their irons, but few are able to put it all together into one "Woodsian" package.
      "If there does exist any one executive who has all those shots, I don't know who he is," Mathewson says.
      But ask a gaming industry boss to identify the honcho of all honchos and one familiar name appears on virtually every list.
      Yup, it's Wynn, the guy who transformed a small downtown gaming company in the early 1980s into one that dominates the entire industry with its upscale Bellagio and its highly themed Treasure Island and The Mirage.
      "He's obviously the visionary," Mathewson says. "Those are great differentiating moves."
      But there are other names that crop up in the golf bag of gaming execs.
      There's the hard-nosed negotiator: Park Place Entertainment Chairman Arthur Goldberg.
      There's the respected: MGM Grand Inc. Chairman J. Terrence Lanni.
      The avuncular: Boyd Gaming Corp. Chairman Bill Boyd.
      "I've always had a high deal of respect for Bill Boyd," says Fiesta Hotel Corp. President George Maloof. "He's always been very positive every time I've been around him. He's always had a good relationship with his employees."
      There's the executive-in-waiting: ex-Caesars Palace President Dan Reichartz, who is currently working as a gaming consultant.
      The highly recruited: MGM Grand hotel President Bill Hornbuckle, a former Caesars Palace president and Mirage Resorts top executive.
      There's the gentlemanly: Caesars World Inc. President Peter Boynton.
      The risk taker: Las Vegas builder Tony Marnell, who developed the Rio.
      The czar of the locals market: Station Casinos Inc. Chairman Frank Fertitta III.
      "The guy's done a great job with Stations," the Fiesta's Maloof says of Fertitta.
      There's the poker champion turned big-time executive: Bellagio President Bobby Baldwin.
      The successful second generation operator: Coast Resorts Inc. Chairman Michael Gaughan.
      The folksy: Las Vegas Hilton President Dean Harrold.
      There's an old story about Lanni from the days when the MGM Grand chairman was the No. 2 guy at Caesars Palace to Reichartz' No. 1.
      The pair were walking through the hotel's corridors when they passed a couple of maintenance workers.
      "How are you Mr. Reichartz?" one worker asked the formal hotelier.
      Reichartz nodded and said he was well.
      "How are you Terry?" the worker quizzed Lanni.
      Lanni said hello and thanked his inquisitor for asking.
      Mr. Reichartz. Terry.
      Distinct greetings for distinct personal styles, but their standards are similar.
      Reichartz has a reputation for possessing an air of European formality. Button your jacket; make eye contact with your guests, Reichartz likes to say.
      Lanni possesses a reputation for Southern California friendliness. But remember to button your jacket; make eye contact with your guests, he'll remind his workers.
      "The No. 1 requirement, and I always put it as No. 1 would be integrity," Lanni says. "I think that's very important in a highly regulated business. It's under so much scrutiny by so many different entities."
      Gaughan's convinced that top gaming executives are made from second- and third-generation Las Vegans. Of course, the Gold Coast, Barbary Coast and Orleans boss is the son of octogenarian casino boss Jackie Gaughan.
      But he believes executives who were raised in the desert city are generally able to withstand the temptations of gambling, drinking and drugs.
      "They don't seem to have as many bad habits," he says. "They seem to be acclimated more."
      So who is ultimately the best? Is it Wynn or Lanni or Marnell or any of several other high-profile casino bosses who have the ability to hire and fire at will, while signing off on plans to build the latest billion-dollar megaresort replete with faux this and knockoff that?
      "It's not what you do as the boss," says IGT's Mathewson. "It's that you really find people who can do the job. You can't do them all unless you're a tiny little place."
      Or as MGM Grand's Lanni says: "The ability to judge and find good talent is very important. You have to give up a little bit of your authority. You have to understand that it's a very detailed business and that you can't handle every single detail."