Pat Mulroy quits Nevada Gaming Commission, joins Wynn board

From staff and wire reports

Published Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015 | 3:30 p.m.

Updated Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015 | 4:19 p.m.

CARSON CITY — Nevada Gaming Commission member Pat Mulroy has resigned that post and joined the board of directors for Wynn Resorts.

Mulroy submitted her resignation to Gov. Brian Sandoval on Thursday morning, a few hours before the casino company announced her new post.

Mulroy was appointed to the state board in July 2014, after then-chairman Pete Bernhard resigned. She was widely praised for her work in her prior career leading the water authority that encompasses Las Vegas.

Mulroy’s appointment is significant because it gives Wynn Resorts a female board member, which was a key issue in Elaine Wynn’s fight to stay on the board earlier this year. After the board did not renominate her, Wynn campaigned to keep her seat in large part on the fact that she was the company’s sole female director. She ultimately lost, and the company promised to name “one or more” diverse directors to the board by the end of this year.

Mulroy said in a letter today to Gov. Brian Sandoval, who appoints members of the gaming commission, that she was leaving her regulatory post immediately.

"I know this is unexpected, but an opportunity has been presented to me that requires my resignation," Mulroy wrote. She said she "weighed this decision very carefully" and called her appointment on the commission "one of the greatest honors of my professional career."

Las Vegas Sun reporter J.D. Morris and the Associated Press contributed to this report.