Tuesday, February 18, 2025

‘Sometimes in life, you must go out to go up’

January 26, 2025 by  
Filed under Cover Story, Feature

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: ALEX DIXON

The history-making new CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas, Alex Dixon is a hometown inspiration who brings a pedigree of excellence and shares the extraordinary story behind his career journey.

Las Vegas was widely considered a bastion of racial segregation and discrimination for most of the 20th century — a history well-documented by William H. “Bob” Bailey when he served as Nevada’s Equal Rights Commissioner in the early 1960s. He uncovered rampant injustice within hotel and casino properties, and those reports helped lead the federal government to put its weight behind a statewide fight for fair housing, employment, and equal access in public places. 

Those advancements also helped bring about a wealth of opportunity across the decades since, and few embody that progress more directly than Alex Dixon — a Las Vegas native who has been named chief executive officer for Resorts World Las Vegas, a post he will officially assume on Jan. 16. Dixon’s extraordinary record in finance, management, and executive leadership has catapulted him into the most rarefied heights of the gaming industry. 

A former investment banker with Goldman Sachs, Dixon possesses deep expertise in mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, financial management, and IPOs. His strategic governance experience spans major markets such as New York, London, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Massachusetts, Iowa, and Las Vegas, where he has constantly driven clarity of purpose from the boardroom to front-line operations. 

Dixon’s previous roles include President & COO of MGM’s Circus-Circus Hotel & Casino, where he provided strategic oversight for one of the largest hotel resorts in the U.S. and led the successful sale of the property for $825 million. As General Manager of MGM’s Springfield Casino, he scaled the resort to a $960 million operation. At Caesars, he played a pivotal role in establishing and scaling the Baltimore Casino, securing $442 million in funding from Wall Street while navigating the complexities of corporate restructuring during the company’s ownership by TPG and Apollo. 

A graduate of Howard University, Dixon sat down with Las Vegas Black Image for this exclusive interview — the first since his historic appointment. The wide-ranging conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. 

What are some of your key highlights to your personal backstory? 

The heart of my story can be currently captured by one line: “I’m coming home.” One point that I am very proud of is that I was born and raised in Las Vegas, and I represent a third generation of my family in the casino industry. My grandmother left the plantation in Tallulah, Louisiana and came to Las Vegas in 1953. My father was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, and he came to Las Vegas from LaFayette, Alabama. I attended Matt Kelly Sixth Grade Center and other Las Vegas public schools until I graduated from Durango High School. 

Some of the pivotal programs that positively contributed to my upbringing included Dr. Trotman’s National Youth Sports Program and UNLV’s Upward Bound program managed by Dr. Sullivan. The exposure I received from Pastor Kelcey West’s HBCU College Tour was a deciding factor in picking Howard University as my higher education of choice. 

Also, Dr. Lawrence Weekly took me to the state capitol to speak on MLK Day when I was 16 years of age. And attorney Uri Clinton, who I met when I was 14, still serves as one of my longtime mentors. I am grateful to my village and many more who have played a part in bringing me to where I stand today. 

Alex Dixon and his family

How did your background and education in finance play a part in your success? 

While I was attending Howard and studying finance, the J.P. Morgan Company came to the university for a career recruitment day. I was recruited by J.P. Morgan and then later went on to Goldman Sachs. Howard gave me a great education, exposed me to great books, and I made lifelong connections. I worked in investment banking and focused on mergers and acquisitions. 

During my initial career after graduating from Howard, I traveled and worked all around the world — in London, New York, and many other places. While at Goldman Sachs in Los Angeles I worked as a financial analyst, where we advised Disney when they bought Pixar. I finished up my career at Goldman Sachs and met my wife, Yindra, then we moved back to Las Vegas to start our family. 

I started to work at a boutique investment bank, where we were raising capital for developers who wanted to build master plan communities in 2006. Vegas was growing like crazy at the time, and you know the federal government owns most of the land in Nevada. So, the federal government would auction off big parcels of the land — and the company I worked for would advise companies who wanted to purchase the land to build casinos. 

I was in my late twenties when I came back to Las Vegas — and once I met some of the folks who were running casino properties as general managers, a light bulb went off, and I said, “I would love to go and do that.” 

What were some of the professional milestones that propelled you into executive leadership in the casino industry? 

Before the financial crisis hit in 2008, I joined Harrah’s Entertainment as a director of planning and analysis. I had to drive to Laughlin, and report on casino properties that included Imperial Palace, Bill’s Gambling Saloon, Planet Hollywood, Paris, and Bally’s. I was coached by top casino chief financial officers and then was appointed as Chief of Staff for the Shared Services division of Caesars Entertainment. One key moment was when I raised my hand to work in upper management as the gaming industry spread all over the country. I remember saying, “I want to be in general management.” So, my family and I moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 2013 where I took the position as an assistant general manager for a would-be new casino facility. I worked with the state of Maryland to pursue the license, we raised $442 million in project debt, and hired 2,200 people. We interacted with the mayor, and I was 32 years of age and the first to receive a 24-hour liquor license in the city of Baltimore for the new casino property. That was my first big operating job. It really helped me to build my leadership, development, and management style. 

One day while in Baltimore, in 2017, I received a call from MGM, and I left Caesars to join MGM as General Manager for the MGM Springfield Massachusetts casino property. It was a new development and working there was like my experience in Baltimore. Later, MGM Resorts was going through a big shakeup at the time, but I landed the position as Chief Operating Officer at Circus Circus Hotel and Casino back in Las Vegas in 2019 — the 11th largest hotel in North America — I witnessed the Vegas growth. Shortly after working at Circus Circus, MGM decided to sell the property and I stayed there until handing over the keys to the new property owners in December 2019. That was a difficult time, and I thought my days in the casino and gaming business were over. Nonetheless, I stayed in touch with a friend I met while working at Goldman Sachs, who bought a company called Brady Linen in Las Vegas. I think many see their big trucks all over the Vegas streets. I didn’t know much about the laundry business, but my friend said, “I’m sure you will figure it out.” So, I served as the president of the company that did most of the laundry for the major Vegas hotel and casino properties. 

Business was going great, but like all businesses affected by COVID we went from 1,200 employees to 45. It was heartbreaking, but we quickly came back. During that time, I was asked by Jim Murren, former CEO and Chairman of MGM, if I could work with him on a COVID 19 Task Force as a volunteer — and that’s when I really got to know my now Chairman of Resorts World Las Vegas. I got to know him well because we partnered together to help Nevada residents. We raised needed money — but more importantly, we galvanized the public-private partnerships that it took to rebuild confidence in Nevada’s public health system. 

It was amazing to work with people supporting the task force — like Raiders President Sandra Douglas Morgan, who was on the Nevada Gaming Control Board at the time, and many others. Vegas opened back up, and then I received a call from Dubuque, Iowa about a non-profit casino. We took a vacation to learn more about it, and we fell in love with the community of Dubuque. I quickly realized that there were very few chief executive officer roles in the broader commercial gaming industry. So I took the position as CEO for the non-profit gaming property in Iowa. I had no idea that three-and-a-half years later, I would be moving back to Las Vegas as CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas. It is an honor and a privilege.

Do you believe your relationship with former MGM CEO and now Resorts World Las Vegas Chairman, Jim Murren, served as the game-changer in becoming the new CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas? 

My relationship with Jim has been a game-changer in my career and development — from learning how to become a CEO and getting exposed to the gaming industry. I am blessed to have been coached and mentored by someone who truly helped shape modern Las Vegas. 

Also, Uri Clinton was a game-changer contributing to my development and made me believe when I was 14 years of age that there was a leadership pathway. I stand on the shoulders of giants. It is amazing how God works and the way that a village works. 

Jim Murren is a game-changer not only in my career, but he also sits on the board of directors at Howard University and has been on the board for seven years — even after he left MGM as CEO and Chairman of the Board. Jim’s legacy is yet to be written. Our volunteer work together on the COVID 19 Task force developed our personal relationship, and it was his passion to help the people of our Las Vegas community. That is the kind of person and human being Jim is. 

What do you say to the question that you know many will ask: “What will he do as CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas that will help the Black community?” 

The impact in the Black community is me being of the community. There is a separation. Yes, I’m a Black man and I am the CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas. I’m responsible for 5,000 employees. Now, as a member of the community of Las Vegas is where I feel a responsibility lies to help advance the community. But my family doesn’t host Kwanzaa celebrations for people because I’m a CEO — it’s because my ancestors did. That’s not because of my job, that is because I’m a member of the community. It’s more about how our Black community can be uplifted by having a CEO amongst our community. 

What do you attribute to ultimately bringing you to the place as CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas? 

The biggest element to my pathway to CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas is that I left Las Vegas three times to advance my skills and experiences. My skill set has very little to do with my time in Las Vegas; what I mean is that I am rooted here in the culture, but my investment banking experience, opening a casino in Maryland and in Massachusetts, and becoming a CEO of a casino in Iowa, prepared me to come back home to Las Vegas and take on a leadership role as CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas. Sometimes in life, you must go out to go up!

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!

Comment moderation is in use. Please do not submit your comment twice -- it will appear shortly.