Aria President, COO Bill McBeath resigns

Aria President and Chief Operating Officer Bill McBeath, who has been with the CityCenter flagship resort through its construction phase and opening, resigned Monday.

MGM Resorts International, which owns 50 percent of CityCenter and operates the Strip development, released a memo announcing McBeath's resignation.

MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren said McBeath, three years after opening Aria, "notified me of his intent to step back to reassess his career goals, which I understand and respect."

Added Murren, "We have all benefited from Bill's long and storied career with our company and we will always be grateful for his steady hand and leadership in the opening and operation of CityCenter."

CityCenter Chief Executive Officer Bobby Baldwin will replace McBeath and oversee Aria, the nongaming Vdara, and Mandarin Oriental hotels, CityCenter's residential division, and the Crystals retail center.

McBeath, 49, a Las Vegas native, has been president of several different MGM-owned Strip resorts since 1997, including Treasure Island, The Mirage and Bellagio.

He joined the $8.5 billion CityCenter development in 2007 with a focus on Aria, the development's 4,004-room hotel-casino.

McBeath worked closely with Baldwin from their days at Mirage Resorts, which merged with the then-MGM Grand Corp., in 1999. Baldwin brought him aboard early and McBeath actually held two jobs, serving for two years as president of Bellagio.

"Instead of taking over a property that someone else designed and built, Bobby gave me a chance to do (Aria) from the ground up," McBeath said in a 2009 interview before the Aria opening. "I was in all the presentations for the selection of the architect. That helped us in terms of design and operational support."

He is a graduate of Clark High School and a 1986 graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

After school, he entered a yearlong casino management-training program with Michael Gaughan in which he learned aspects of casino life including dealing cards, the cashiers' cage, and the race and sports book.

A year later, he joined Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget Corp., where he met Baldwin, one of the company's top executives. McBeath and Baldwin connected, beginning a 23-year working association. The pair also shared a love of poker. Baldwin is the 1978 World Series of Poker champion.

McBeath was marketing director for the 1989 opening of The Mirage. Nearly a decade later, he helped Baldwin open Bellagio.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.
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