Celebrating the community’s Women to Watch

Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 | 7:46 a.m.

Our ninth annual “Women to Watch” section recognizes 12 women whom we believe are going to make a difference in the coming months.

This year’s honorees were chosen by a panel who have a unique perspective on the honor: a group of last year’s Women to Watch reviewed all the nominations and offered their top choices. They chose leaders in business, law and philanthropy. It’s an esteemed group of women that VEGAS INC is honored to profile.

Cindy Ortega

Chief Sustainability Officer, Senior Vice President

MGM Resorts International

As the reigning queen of conservation at MGM Resorts International, Cindy Ortega oversees natural-resource preservation, sustainable new construction and environmentally sensitive operations for the company.

Among her recent coups? The solar array installation and current expansion atop the Mandalay Bay Resort Convention Center. The array will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1,200 homes and has attracted international attention.

Her team’s initiatives have saved 194 million kilowatt hours of energy, but it’s more than just shutting off lights and changing lightbulbs.

“Energy conservation is my biggest initiative in 2016, and because of advancements in technology, we hope to make our buildings the most energy-smart buildings in our sector,” said Ortega, who was also responsible for the LEED certification of the $8.5 billion CityCenter

Ortega also works with Nevada’s Water Center of Excellence to develop water-saving technology. Her practices have led to the conservation of 794 million gallons of water over the past five years.

“(People) think hotels are sucking water out of Lake Mead and giving it to tourists, and that’s not true, so it’s vitally important to understand how our water system works,” she said.

Ortega was also the visionary behind the company’s Green Advantage platform, which was developed to promote a resort-wide holistic view of how to recycle, conserve energy and water, and educate employees about being green at home and work.

— Danielle Birkin
Jennifer Carleton

Shareholder

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Attorney Jennifer Carleton is a champion for children, an advocate for diversity and a role model for women in the gaming arena in which she focuses her legal practice.

A native of England who holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Indiana University and a juris doctorate from University of Wisconsin Law School, Carleton’s philanthropic efforts on behalf of local youth include her involvement as a director with the Public Education Foundation, which supports Clark County students and teachers.

“A well-established organization in its 25th year, the overall goal in 2016 will be to retain teachers and strengthen the schools in Clark County,” said Carleton, whose passion for grassroots nonprofits led her to embrace the Tyler Robinson Foundation, the charitable arm of the rock band Imagine Dragons.

The foundation endeavors to strengthen families financially and emotionally as they cope with a pediatric cancer diagnosis. Recently appointed to the board of the nonprofit, Carleton said 2016 will include public outreach to the philanthropic community and a focus on fundraising to provide more grants.

Carleton also serves on the executive committee of the Gaming Law Section of the State Bar of Nevada and volunteering with Global Gaming Women, which supports women in gaming.

Carleton also helped create the State Bar of Nevada’s Professional Development Fellowship Program to help place law students from diverse backgrounds with Nevada employers.

— Danielle Birkin
Tracee Nalewak

Executive Director of Marketing

Hakkasan Group

Tracee Nalewak has spent more than two decades in the hospitality industry. She has worked for major brands such as MGM Resorts International and even oversaw marketing for CityCenter as it was being built and through its opening. And she, at one time, ran her own event marketing firm. But even after seeing decades of change in the industry, Nalewak can say that one area is the same.

“In our world, the customer is still king. And that’s even more important now than ever,” she said.

As Hakkasan Group’s marketing leader, Nalewak spends a lot of time studying customer types in restaurants and nightclubs to make sure the customer experience is better than ever.

“I really thrive on organizations that want to invent and reinvent themselves from a marketing perspective,” she said.

Nalewak embraces the learning challenges of bettering service and strategies in a world where consumers have plenty of choice and power.

“We can’t have any of this just be transactional. We want an experience they can’t forget,” she said.

Nalewak has also spearheaded Hakkasan Gives Back, which has raised more than $100,000 for charities such as Shade Tree and the Nevada Childhood Cancer Fo undation. She hopes to build on those efforts.

“We’re not a huge company with its own community affairs department,” she explained. “In 2011, we tried to formalize things and created a committee. … I’m so impressed with how much our employees care.”

— Brian Sodoma
Jeanette Schneider

Philanthropic Solutions

U.S. Trust, Bank of America

As an executive in the largely male-dominated financial-services arena, Jeanette Schneider is an advocate for women in business and a devotee of gender equality.

The Florida native also has an affinity for volunteerism, successfully combining these interests in her current position providing philanthropic solutions for the company.

Schneider recently brought together U.S. Trust, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to start a local chapter of Women LEAD, a professional and leadership-development organization, and created an external women’s advocacy group to support nonprofits that promote female mentorship and equality.

“We’re excited about making our advocacy group more formal this year and are working in the Clark County School District and the Naked City to go after a couple of issues,” she said.

Schneider’s blog, Lore And Little Things, focuses on issues relevant to professional women and mothers. Its “Love Letters” features missives from successful women.

“The blog just grew organically, and Love Letters inspires viral connectivity and mentorship opportunities for women in the community,” said Schneider.

Schneider is also active in the gender lens investing movement, which uses gender and women’s empowerment as a basis of analysis for making investment decisions

— Danielle Birkin
Bethany Khan

Director of Communications & Digital Strategy

Culinary Union

Growing up in Minnesota, Bethany Khan saw her parents work jobs without union representation. Her mom, in particular, she recalls, worked as a server for years, with no pension and other benefits. It certainly shaped her career.

After college she spent time working on digital strategies for President Barrack Obama’s campaign.

She also did similar work with Unite Here! Landing in Nevada four years ago, she turned to the local culinary union to reach out to members, their families and the public about working class issues.

“I’m proud to work for an organization that supports workers with good jobs that help them retire with dignity, buy homes and stay strong during recessions,” she said.

The local culinary union is 57,000 members strong; this year, Khan will focus on informing union members and their families about voter registration. She will also provides information about presidential candidates whose agendas will protect working class jobs, she said.

Khan is also proud of the Culinary Union’s citizenship program, which started in 2001 and has helped 11,000 residents become citizens for free.

“It’s important that we move legal, permanent residents who are eligible to become citizens through that process,” she added.

— Brian Sodoma
Jerrie Merritt

Senior Vice President Community Development Manager

Bank of Nevada

Jerrie Merritt epitomizes community involvement. Since 2000, she has taken time to mentor several high school students who are at risk of not graduating.

Merritt and her colleagues regularly travel to local schools to help students develop their financial literacy.

She also oversees the involvement of Bank of Nevada as it relates to organizations and nonprofits. Colleagues donate more than a combined 2,000 hours each year to nonprofits. Beyond that, Merritt keeps a running list of nonprofit activities available to all her fellow employees. Also, she conducts seminars at the Urban Chamber for those who are starting small businesses, offering the basics on what to expect.

Merritt’s plans for the year ahead are ambitious. “Looking forward to the next 12 months, I want to stay just as involved, not only personally but in my position here at the bank, with the nonprofits to make this community a better place.”

One of her continuing focuses will be education. “I feel that here in Clark County we are very challenged when it comes to education,” she said. “The only way that our education system can change is by all of us getting involved professionally and personally.”

— Howard Riell
Amanda Connor

Partner

Connor & Connor PLLC

Amanda Connor didn’t plan to become a major player in helping an emerging industry, but her genuine curiosity and a shift in career focus made that happen.

In 2013, when medical marijuana laws were being established, she began to study the industry and its evolving regulations.

“This area changes almost every day, which is one of the things I love about it. I like to learn and grow as an individual and this is not a simple or straightforward area of law at all,” she said.

Connor is also co-chair of the Las Vegas Women Grow chapter, where she advocates for women in leadership roles in the medical marijuana industry. The chapter’s 2016 goals include boosting membership and educating community members about the opportunities available to women in the new industry.

“My main goal is to have an impact, to make a difference in a person’s life,” the one-time schoolteacher said.

Connor’s drive to help children hasn’t diminished; she also works with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s Children’s Attorney Project where she represents children in foster care.

— Brian Sodoma
Paula Lawrence

Executive Director

Dress for Success Southern Nevada

Paula Lawrence wears lots of hats in keeping her nonprofit organization operating smoothly.

Dress for Success Southern Nevada provides interview suits to women looking to restart or begin their careers. It also empowers women with the tools they need to land a job and succeed in their new career, which ultimately enables them to achieve economic independence.

Currently, the organization struggles with limited space for donations in its inaugural boutique, which opened a few years ago. Executives hope to find a solution in 2016.

Lawrence calls it “very satisfying” to look back at last year’s strategic plan and see how on target it was. “In 2015, we tripled the number of referral partners we work with and increased the number of women we served since 2013 by 200 percent. We expanded the reach of an operation that is 99 percent run by volunteers.”

In this new year, Lawrence has her eyes set on finding the group’s boutique operation a suitable and permanent home. “We need a location convenient for our clients, volunteers and donors, as well as a larger space that can accommodate our career center, job training classes, and of course our unique suiting experiences.”

— Howard Riell
Melissa Arias

Executive Director

Epicurean Charitable Foundation

Melissa Arias has a front-row seat as local students take their first steps in becoming the future leaders of the Las Vegas hospitality industry. The Epicurean Charitable Foundation provides full scholarships and mentorship opportunities to students interested in hospitality or culinary careers.

Every spring, ECF awards four local students with college scholarships that pay for their complete education. The students who receive these scholarships are passionate, intelligent and extremely motivated, but are in need of the financial backing. Arias oversees every donation and fundraising event that makes the scholarships possible.

The year ahead should be a good one, she said. “Selecting our scholarship recipients is always the hardest part of our job because there are so many bright, deserving students in the Las Vegas Valley. Therefore, my goal this year is to increase our fundraising efforts so that we can reward more scholarships.”

To do so, she would like to continue to diversify the revenue streams and create a new signature fundraising event. “I also strive to make our annual fundraising, MENUS, the best yet in 2016.

“Personally, I plan to work on sharpening my personal development skills to become a more effective leader,” she said. “I have also enrolled at UNLV’s graduate certification program and plan to take the first steps toward my ultimate goal, a doctorate in public administration.”

— Howard Riell
Anna Robins

Senior Director

Keep Memory Alive

Twenty years ago, the “Power of Love” gala was established to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research. In two decades the event has grown from having the attendance of a handful of locals into a star-studded affair that raises about $8 million in one night for Keep Memory Alive, the fundraising arm of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

Anna Robins has helped organize Power of Love since those early days. The gala has raised more than $200 million. This year, the event celebrates its 20th year and honors Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday. Robins says the singing legend couldn’t be a more fitting tribute.

“He’s really a great representative of healthy aging,” she said.

For the coming year, Robins will also expand an effort initiated last year, titled: Penny for Your Thoughts. The fundraiser has Clark County School District middle schools competing to raise funds by contributing spare change toward Keep Memory Alive.

“I really enjoyed watching how engaged the students were and how interested they were in learning about Alzheimer’s disease,” she said.

This year, Robins will also organize the Shakespeare Ranch Summer Social and Rodeo fundraiser.

“Events are perfect for someone like me who enjoys multi-tasking, pressure, and having that culmination of months of work … it’s very rewarding,” she said.

— Brian Sodoma
Daniele Dreitzer

Executive Director

The Rape Crisis Center

Daniele Dreitzer is leading the charge to end sexual violence in Southern Nevada while providing greater access to services for victims, educating vulnerable target markets such as the nightclub industry on how to prevent sexual assault, and advocating for victims while promoting common-sense policies.

These efforts include bringing the Enough Abuse Campaign to Las Vegas in partnership with Prevent Child Abuse Nevada. This national initiative to end child sex abuse takes a comprehensive public-health approach with a goal to educate, communicate and advocate.

“If sex abuse were a physical disease where an estimated 1 in 4 girls and

1 in 6 boys have been abused as children, we as a country would be going ballistic,” said Dreitzer, who is also the visionary behind the Party Smart campaign, with the Rape Crisis Center working in partnership with Caesars Entertainment and Tao Cares to ensure partygoers remain safe.

“On the back end, we work with nightclub staff to recognize and prevent predatory behavior, and on the patron end, our message is ‘arrive together, stick together, leave together’,” said Dreitzer.

This year, Dreitzer is also working closely with Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Metro Police to end the backlog of DNA testing of sexual assault kits in Nevada, an effort expected to have regional and national implications.

— Danielle Birkin
Sen. Patricia Farley

CEO

Southwest Specialties

Sen. Patricia Farley’s work is just beginning.

Transformed in less than a year from a mom and businesswoman with no political experience to a statewide leader, Farley knows things can happen fast in Nevada — and that she needs to continue listening and learning to justify the faith shown in her.

The construction company CEO frequently makes this analogy: “The building, not the blueprint, is what matters, and legislation is like a blueprint. It needs good implementation and a willingness to hear and address concerns.

“I believe that my personal and professional accomplishments have proven that Nevada is a place where women can succeed in their professional aspirations, while making a contribution and impact on our communities,” said Farley. “I learned that past winners selected this year’s honorees, which made the recognition even more special. It humbles me to have been selected by such amazing women who are making Nevada better.”

As a state legislator, the needs of her constituents in Senate District 8 “are always a top priority,” she said, “but my work on the Blue Ribbon Commission for Kids is close to my heart. We need to find ways to improve our support of the child-welfare/foster-care system and ensure programs that work to the betterment of these children and their families are funded — and that our state can attract the best professionals to ensure a world class system of care.”

— Howard Riell