Rossi Ralenkotter, former longtime Las Vegas tourism chief, dies at 78

Longtime tourism leader Rossi Ralenkotter, who led an extensive effort to turn Las Vegas into the world’s top visitor destination and was the coordinator of the iconic “What happens here, stays here” advertising campaign, has died, officials announced Friday. He was 78.

As CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Ralenkotter became the face of tourism in Southern Nevada and one of the state’s most dynamic and powerful figures until his abrupt departure from public life under the weight of scandal.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Jo; five children, Tami, Tiffy, Kathy, Robyn and Todd; and 11 grandchildren ranging in age from 2 to 17: Caroline, Bridget, Austin, Alexa, Ashton, Jaxon, Mia, Michael, Ryan, Kamryn and Macey.

Ralenkotter died after a 16-year battle with cancer.

Services will be held at St. Viator Catholic Church and Palm Mortuary at a future date.

When Ralenkotter sat down with the Review-Journal in March 2013 to discuss his 40-year employment anniversary with the tax-funded LVCVA, he was upbeat and quick to point out the city’s appeal in the tourism market.

“They want the excitement of the brand of Las Vegas,” he said. “No one is ever going to be able to duplicate that. And that will be part of our success as we go into the future.”

Ralenkotter marveled at how fast time had passed during his long association with the LVCVA.

“I consider myself to be extremely lucky to be here all those years,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like 40. I always tell people I’ll be here another 40.”

Gift card scandal

But he made it only another five years, until September 2018, when he retired amid a criminal investigation into the misuse of Southwest Airlines gift cards provided to the LVCVA to help promote Las Vegas. Ralenkotter himself had used $17,000 in gift cards on personal travel that he ended up paying back. The allegations surfaced amid a yearslong Review-Journal investigation into the agency’s excessive spending of tax dollars.

Despite his tarnished reputation, LVCVA board members gave him roaring applause, a video tribute and a $455,000 financial package when they voted to approve his retirement. Some members had trouble accepting that he was leaving. At the time of his departure, his public annual salary approached nearly $1 million with benefits and other perks.

“I think it’s time for me to move on,” Ralenkotter told the board. “We (should) stop criticizing the LVCVA in this community and we (should) start celebrating the LVCVA in this community.”

A year after his retirement, Ralenkotter was charged criminally with two other LVCVA executives in the Southwest Airlines gift card case. Felony charges were dropped and he ended up pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of violation by a public officer.

He did not serve any prison time, but agreed to pay the state in a separate ethics case more than $24,000 in fines for using his position to enrich himself.

Held many roles at LVCVA

Yet throughout his 45-year career at the LVCVA, Ralenkotter was known for working tirelessly to promote Las Vegas, from his early days as a research analyst in 1973, through his years as chief marketing officer and then while at the helm of the agency for 14 years beginning in 2004. During his tenure, Las Vegas attracted a record 42.9 million visitors in 2016.

He was part of the original group of community leaders that helped convince the National Finals Rodeo to move to Las Vegas in 1985, and he persuaded the International CES trade show and other major conventions to hold their events in Las Vegas, which propelled Las Vegas to the No. 1 trade show destination in North America for more than 25 years – a streak that is ongoing.

Among those community leaders was Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point resort, who spent time with Ralenkotter in some of his final hours of life. Gaughan said he visited with Ralenkotter over the weekend and watched a football game with him after he had been placed in hospice care.

In addition to keeping the rodeo in Las Vegas, Ralenkotter helped build the convention industry. Gaughan said when Ralenkotter sold the destination as a home for conventions, several resorts, including his, built their own convention and meeting facilities.

“Rossi Ralenkotter is a giant of the meetings and conventions world,” said Gary Shapiro, CEO and vice chair of the Consumer Technology Association, which owns and produces International CES. “Rossi transformed Las Vegas as the world’s leading travel and convention destination. He raised the convention industry and made Las Vegas the global focal point for both entertainment and exhibitions. He not only catalyzed Las Vegas and CES success, he made the world better.”

The U.S. Travel Association elected him to its Hall of Fame Leaders in 2014, joining the likes of Walt Disney, J.W. Marriott, Jr., Roger Dow, and Jonathan Tisch, among others. As chair of U.S. Travel, he established and presented to Congress a strategy of connecting America through travel or CATT.

“Rossi Ralenkotter changed the game. His audacious, data-driven marketing campaigns raised the bar for destinations around the globe,” said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. “His warmth and kindness made him a trusted partner not just to his colleagues in Las Vegas, but to travel professionals from coast to coast. The entire travel industry mourns his loss and is better off for every day we had together.”

He was media savvy and keenly aware of the value of a good pitch. During his tenure, the convention authority cemented its ties to the state’s top marketing firm, R&R Advertising (now R&R Partners), run by his good friend, political guru Billy Vassiliadis.

As Las Vegas thrust itself into the forefront of tourism, Ralenkotter became more powerful in the political arena. He used his access to large sums of public tourism funding, connections with the LVCVA’s board members — who were local elected officials and business executives — and relationships with major casinos to give the LVCVA unprecedented government influence. At same time, he became a player on the national tourism scene, serving on the boards of several prestigious travel industry groups.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Ralenkotter and his family moved to Las Vegas in 1951 from Newport, Kentucky, which is near Cincinnati. He was a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan and played baseball at Bishop Gorman High School, where he graduated. He received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Arizona State University in 1969 and a master’s degree in business administration at UNLV in 1973.

Steve Hill, president and CEO of the LVCVA, said Ralenkotter started several traditions with his leadership.

Hill, who grew up 60 miles away from where Ralenkotter was from, said LVCVA staff would honor him Friday night at an LVCVA “Bash” at Las Vegas Ballpark.

“He was one of those leaders who knew everybody who worked here, and knew your family, and would stop and talk to them on the way in,” Hill said. “Rossi had a remarkable career, and virtually all of it here at the LVCVA.”

Hill said the LVCVA bash is a social event for LVCVA employees that Ralenkotter started.

“We go to the ballpark and play kickball at the venue we wouldn’t have had without him. We will certainly dedicate tonight’s event to Rossi.”

Multiple honors

Ralenkotter was honored locally and nationally for his work in tourism.

On Sept. 19, 2025, the Las Vegas Aviators gave out a Ralenkotter bobblehead in honor of his support for Triple-A baseball, both at the then-LVCVA-operated Cashman Field, now the home of the Las Vegas Lights FC soccer team, and at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, home of the Las Vegas Aviators. Ralenkotter was instrumental in getting the Summerlin ballpark built and opened in 2019.

On March 24, 2016, at a time when he was inducted into the Nevada Business Hall of Fame at UNLV, then-Gov. Brian Sandoval issued a proclamation declaring the day in honor of Ralenkotter.

The proclamation said it was made “with deep appreciation and respect for his leadership and lasting contributions to Las Vegas and to the Silver State, whose story he has helped write.”

He was recognized as UNLV’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2008. The next year, UNLV honored Ralenkotter as a Distinguished Nevadan.

In his LVCVA marketing roles, he drafted research reports that continue to be issued today. In 1973, he debuted the LVCVA Marketing Bulletin that collects and organizes comprehensive travel data for Las Vegas visitation, and in 1975 he first presented the annual Visitor Profile Survey that provides information on visitors’ length of stay, purpose of trip, gaming budget and overall experience.

Throughout the years, Ralenkotter received many honors.

After the debut in 2003 of “What happens here, stays here” — a series of humorous ads that encouraged visitation to Las Vegas — he and the LVCVA were widely recognized.

In 2004, Brand Week Magazine named him Grand Marketer of the Year.

Billy Vassiliadis, who recently retired from day-to-day operations at R&R Partners, which developed “What happens here, stays here,” said Ralenkotter worked behind the scenes on a number of projects.

“When the convention center expansion was proposed it also included what is now known as Allegiant Stadium that became the home of the Raiders,” he said.

“He also brought the (National Hockey League) here for events and I think that eventually led to having the (Vegas) Golden Knights here,” he said.

Trade publication Travel Weekly awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award to him in 2013; he was recognized for 40 years of tourism leadership by the Nevada Commission on Tourism in 2013; the U.S. Travel Association Hall of Leaders and the Professional Management Association Leadership Award in 2016; and the Nevada Broadcasters Association President’s Award and was inducted into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Sports Hall of Fame

“Las Vegas lost a true icon and visionary today,” said Mike Lubbe, chairman of the Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. “Rossi’s impact on the Las Vegas community will be felt for generations to come. Rossi wasn’t just a member of the Nevada Sports Hall of Fame, he was someone who helped shape the Hall from the very beginning. Our prayers go out to his wife, Mary Jo, and the rest of his extended family.”

It was in 2010 that he first proposed a major expansion to the Las Vegas Convention Center and after several delays, the project is nearing completion by early 2026.

Other tributes for Ralenkotter have come in from across the nation.

MGM Resorts International President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle posted a tribute to Ralenkotter on his LinkedIn social media page.

“Rossi Ralenkotter and I knew each other for over three decades,” Hornbuckle said. “In that time and throughout his career at the LVCVA, Rossi worked and advocated for the benefit of Las Vegas, a city he loved passionately and was proud to represent.

“Rossi’s leadership elevated the economic value of travel and tourism and led to the advancement of policies that remain important today. As we mourn his passing, our industry will celebrate his leadership and remember his legacy of service. I – along with my colleagues at MGM Resorts and across the travel and tourism industry – offer the deepest condolences to Mary Jo and the Ralenkotter family.”

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., whose father, Manny Cortez, preceded Ralenkotter as president and CEO of the LVCVA, said Ralenkotter and her father put Las Vegas on the map.

“(Husband) Paul and I are heartbroken by the loss of Rossi, a true Nevadan whose love of Las Vegas helped propel the city to the travel and tourism capital it is today,” she said. “Rossi was a friend of my father’s and it’s no exaggeration to say that their vision of Southern Nevada as a convention, hospitality and sports destination truly put us on the map. My thoughts are with Rossi’s family, friends, and loved ones.”

Tributes from mayors

The mayor of Las Vegas serves on the LVCVA board of directors and current and past mayors paid tribute to Ralenkotter.

“He was a Las Vegas original and contributed greatly to the growth of the meeting and convention business – and had the vision to expand the convention center — at a time when people thought it would never work in Las Vegas,” said Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley.

“What a beautiful man he was,” said former Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. “It was a joy to see how much he cared for Las Vegas as he worked.”

Her husband, former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, said when he accompanied Ralenkotter to London on a Las Vegas sales trip, he marveled at how hard he worked and he was saddened by how his career was hurt in the end.

“It ended on a sour note, but he found out who his friends were, which is good. He was a remarkable guy and was protective of the city. He was such a tireless worker.”

Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German contributed to this report before he was murdered in 2022.