New Chamber chief prepared to lead in changing political landscape

A longtime executive with Boyd Gaming will serve as chair of the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce — marking the first time this century that someone from a casino-industry background will serve in the position.

Bill Noonan, senior vice president of industry and governmental affairs at Boyd Gaming, will be sworn in at an installation ceremony during a luncheon with area business leaders at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Noonan said he will deliver a speech that lays out several initiatives key to his vision of engaging chamber members about policy matters that affect the Las Vegas business community.

“If we’re creating jobs and making a user-friendly regulatory environment, that will be good for both big businesses and small businesses,” Noonan said. “But it’s critically important to speak with one voice. We’ve got to have everybody rowing in the same direction.”

Noonan spoke optimistically about opportunities and challenges in a changing political landscape — one that includes the arrival of Donald Trump and the departure of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

Noonan, 64, is the first person to come from a gaming background to chair the chamber since the 1990s. “Twenty years ago you didn’t have a lot of the diversity of industries among our membership as we have today,” he said.

He comes to the job with extensive corporate and policy experience. In addition to different roles with Boyd, Noonan served as city manager of Las Vegas between 1991 and 1993 and has held similar city manager positions in Florida.

His experience on government and industry boards includes current seats on the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and the Council for a Better Nevada. He also serves on the executive committee for the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance and as a vice chairman of the Nevada Resort Association.

Noonan said that for big business, advocacy for regional economic interests is the key role the chamber can play. And for small business it offers resources in accounting, human resources services, communications, lobbying and other areas that often are too costly for operations to conduct in-house.

“The lifeblood of the chamber is small business,” he said, noting that 85 percent of chamber members come from small business. “So anything we can do to make them stronger is going to create jobs and help the local economy be better and more vibrant.”

One area that will be getting renewed attention, he said, is health care. The chamber used to offer insurance packages for small businesses before the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and 2011 made them obsolete.

“We’re going to be watching what happens with the Affordable Care Act, with the new administration, to see if it’s viable, to see if the chamber needs to go back and offer health insurance plans to small employers.”

Another key priority federally that stands to have an impact locally will be working with the new White House administration to make sure funding continues for construction of Interstate 11 from Boulder City to Phoenix.

“President-elect (Donald Trump) mentioned in a speech how important it was to get a freeway between these two metropolitan areas,” Noonan said, and he believes it is important to hold him to it, as Las Vegas and Phoenix remain the two largest metropolitan areas in the nation not linked by an interstate.

Other federal interest areas for the chamber include being ready to oppose any efforts to reopen Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal and supporting efforts that minimize travel restrictions that could be impediments to tourism, Noonan said, pointing to a streamlined visa-application process to help the historic Beijing-to-Las Vegas route on Hainan Airlines, which launched Friday.

But perhaps the biggest change for the chamber will be operating without help from Reid, who is retiring at the end of this term after serving in the Senate since 1987, much of that as the most powerful Democrat and Nevada’s most powerful ally.

“No offense to anyone, but we relied heavily on Senator Reid, and with him gone, we will have to do an even better job of making sure congressional leadership is aware of the needs of Southern Nevada,” Noonan said.

In late September, Gov. Brian Sandoval declared that Nevada had recouped the nearly 200,000 jobs lost during the recession — bringing the total number of jobs offered in Nevada to an all-time high of 1.3 million.

“That’s a really good strong sign,” Noonan said. “I hear the optimism when I talk to chamber members. They feel good about the local economy. We’ve come out of the great recession and they feel we’re on the upslope.”