Jenny Holaday, President of Encore Boston Harbor - Dean's Distinguished Speakers Series

Thank you, Dean, oh, hot mic.

Yes, I played basketball, you know right by looking at me, just under six feet tall. I was a quiet kid, I was a bookworm. So who knew that I would end up having a career that surrounds me with thousands of people every day. Probably because my mom was in the business. I like to say that geography is destiny. And she and my dad unexpectedly divorced when I was six months old. She got a job ringing up checks in a dinner show. Back in the day, used to eat dinner while you watched Sammy Davis Jr. or Frank Sinatra. And she worked her way up in the business. And back then it was just Nevada and New Jersey. So you have to relocate sometimes to get promoted. So we started moving when I was in the eighth grade. And so we went from Reno to Las Vegas to Atlantic City and then back to Reno. By the time I was in college, I went to school at University of Nevada Reno. So I was just around gaming my entire life. I remember my first supervisor, I'm a call center agent. I started out part-time while I was still in high school, and she said that I just had some natural instincts and my mom always had her friends over after work. And here I'm this little kid and these women drinking too much wine. They called themselves the winettes. And I used to just listen to their conversations. So you don't even know what you're absorbing, you know, as a kid. But obviously in hindsight, my career kind of makes perfect sense.

Reno, Vegas, Atlantic City, yeah. It's my first time on the East Coast and now I'm kind of an East Coaster, I've been on the East Coast now for over 20 years.

No, I didn't, no, I didn't work yet in the eighth grade. Listen to you, child labor guy. My actual first job was in high school. I was a waitress at a little tiny restaurant called Scotch Hall that was right on the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey. And I loved it, I loved serving. I say everybody should work in food and beverage, especially if you're gonna have a career in hospitality. It's very helpful just to learn how to manage yourself through emergency situations. How to keep your cool in front of customers. Oh, the woman I worked for was awful. She was so mean, every time she was around, we would hum the Wicked Witch song from Wizard of Oz. So I learned really quickly who I didn't want to be and that was how she treated us. So it was a very formative first job, that's for sure.

That was in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Ocean City, New Jersey. And then from there, my first casino job was as a reservations agent in Atlantic City as well.

No, I'm major in English, I'm supposed to be a writer. Still time, still time.

I write a lot of emails, I used to write memos, remember those? Yeah, wow. Yes, I remember at the time people would make fun of me. What does an English major take as an elective? And I remember my mom telling me, anybody who can effectively communicate, whether verbally or in writing, will always be able to find a job. So she really gave me the assurance that it was okay. And boy did that turn out to be so true. Being able to articulate a vision or inspire employees or write a good email are all skills that come in handy, yes.

Oh, absolutely.

It especially kicks in when I'm reading other people's emails.

Can't help myself.

The Oxford comma people, it makes a difference.

Yep, so my first job was Harrah's, Atlantic City, part-time reservation agent. My mom was moving back to Reno. I was set to go to school in Florida following my high school sweetheart. And I don't know, at the last minute I got cold feet, I thought, I'm not ready to be that far away from people. So I transferred to the call center in Reno, Nevada, enrolled at UNR and was there, I always say the reservation agent position was my longest job. I was a reservation agent for four and a half years and was getting ready to move to San Francisco. And gaming just got approved outside of Nevada. And I was really lucky 'cause I was with Harrah's at the time, and so they were one of the first ones to really expand nationally. So Illinois was the first one to approve it, but Mississippi was the first one to open. And so there was suddenly so much opportunity because everybody was leaving. And so a position came open in the call center for a head agent position. And I'm like, hmm, it's a lot cheaper to live here, let me go for it. Six months later I get promoted to supervisor. Six months later I get promoted to manager. And by then my career was off and running. I took a sharp right into marketing, which was very wise, didn't know, it was just luck. There's a lot of luck in great careers, I think. And so I was on the player card slash host side of the business and that was when our CEO at the time, Phil Satre, who's now the chairman of our board at Wynn Resorts, had this idea to link all of the activity from, at the time we only had eight locations nationwide. And he had this idea to link them all and they picked six people to be on this task force. And that was probably the best thing that ever happened to me because as I like to say, I suddenly had a front row seat to what would become the backbone for casino marketing and casino strategy across the country. And today, player card programs are the bread and butter of every casino's business database. All the things we do now today with decision science and digital marketing, casinos have been doing that for a very, very long time. So I was very lucky I got to be a part of that team, really learn how the database works on the back end, how the screens work for employees on the front end and how the materials and communication works for the customer all the way through. And so it ended up being a very formative experience. And from there I kind of specialized in loyalty marketing or player marketing. So I got all the way to the top at Harrah's, I was the corporate director of the program. And then Mandalay called and said, come do it for us. And there's something very appealing about telling somebody, you get to do this exact same thing all over again now that you know all of the mistakes not to make. And so it was great. It was the best program I built, MGM bought them. And so it's defunct, but it was the best program, I always thought because it really benefited from that. But then after you've done it twice, you're like, okay, now I'm a little bit bored. So from there I get a call to go to Atlantic City. At the time, Harrah's Atlantic City was 25% of that company's EBITDA. Everybody knows what EBITDA means? I know my team knows what EBITDA means. I'm looking back there. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which is our cash flow, for one property to be 25% of Harrah's cash flow. And now they had like 40 locations. It was a very important job. And that's where I really learned large scale, dynamic retail marketing was in that market. And I ended up getting promoted. I was running marketing for the four locations, had a $200 million budget. We were $2 billion in revenue between the four. Learned a ton about database back there. You know, I sort of understood it from an academic standpoint, building it, but it was something entirely different to then run four locations using it. And then from there I got into operations and people had been tapping me to get into operations for a while, but I was a single working mom for a really long time and I knew operations was a different lifestyle, so I resisted it. But I got an opportunity to go to Detroit as the assistant general manager for a location there. So I took it, and that's really when I got into operations. And I already sort of understood how casino operations and hotel operations worked because of my marketing background. But it's just a whole nother animal managing the day-to-day functions of operations. So I was there for seven years, took a three year sabbatical to work with college students to help them with their professional development and get them ready for the workforce. And that's what I was doing, having a wonderful time in Michigan. I had eight different schools as clients and I got a call from a dear friend of mine who was at Encore Boston Harbor saying, are you out or are you out, out? And I said, if it was anybody else, I would be out out. But I know where you work, that's an important market, that's a very important property. I like to say always go to the dance. So I flew into Boston, Matt Maddox, our former CEO was in town. We had one breakfast and I knew in 20 minutes I was probably gonna be relocating to Boston. And that was five years ago, here I am.

You're right, I guess I've lapped it, okay. I can't say that anymore. This is the longest job I've ever had.

Well, I personally think it's incredibly strategically important. However, you really need to have a solid understanding of how the finances behind it work. And we were really lucky, this goes all the way back to that little task force I was on because some of the smaller locations in the Harrah's umbrella at the time had thrown together a lot of really quick programs. And then they learned some really tough lessons and started pulling it back. And I worked for a brilliant man by the name of Bill Hughes who was just a math genius. And I remember him being terrified of the program, Jenny, this was gonna cost us so much money, it probably took us six or seven months to really do enough number crunching. It's the first time I learned how to really do a deep ROIC, return on invested capital to figure out what was the best way to structure the finances of the program. And a year later our property was the only one that didn't have to change it because we had properly forecasted how much it would cost. Now that's my background to tell you, I very, very firmly believe you cannot change the core components of your program once you introduce them. It drives me bananas, when they get watered down, all you do is end up alienating your customer base and feeling like, you know, they feel like they've been exploited. So one of my favorite things to say to customers, 'cause Wynn Rewards, our loyalty program was just getting set up when I got here. So luckily I got to help craft it. And I love telling customers we have not changed a core function of that program since the day we launched it. And it's still running very, very well. So I learned some really important lessons very early on.

Well, I'll answer the first part first. My mom's first big move, we moved to Las Vegas. She was gonna be the hotel manager for the Sahara, and I was a total mommy's girl. So I moved with her, my brother and sister stayed behind with my grandparents to finish their semester of high school. And so I used to, I felt like Eloise, I used to sit on the balcony and watch all the lights come up on the strip. It's the first time I ever had a Monte Cristo sandwich. People don't even know what that is anymore 'cause they don't make 'em. My brother got a job as a lifeguard at the pool. So in some ways it felt, and they didn't have the movie "Casino" back then. I think this was probably 1980 or '81. So a very long time ago. Our business, I wouldn't say glitz and glamor is a part of it, at least not here in Boston. But it is a very exciting industry. I say all the time, I cannot even imagine, and I'm sure I speak for my whole team doing anything else for a living, selling insurance or making widgets. I mean, I just can't, every day is different. Every day is challenging. So it's just a very high energy, intense, really, really fun business. But it's not like you see in the movies, no. And it's incredibly regulated. I was joking with the photographer about, you know, my application to get my job. I'm not exaggerating, kids, this thick, every single address you've ever lived your entire life, every single bank statement, every dollar you've ever made, every job you've ever had, every friend you know, the background and the regulation is very, very intense. We're actually regulated like banks are. So if you're gonna be in this business as long as me, I am the squarest person in the room. I guarantee you, because of what it takes to get licensed at that level, you know, over a 35 year period.

Dully noted.

I don't really think of the outside pressure. I definitely think of the pressure I put on myself, the pressure I put on our team to perform. And we really serve two masters, right? We serve our shareholders for our financial performance and we serve our guests and our communities for the experiences that we create. So I'm very aware of those, I take that very seriously. But it's funny, you don't, I guess if I ever spent too long thinking about it, I would probably freak myself out. But even as you were saying it, like I was adding in my head last night was a slow Tuesday night, you know, and over $20 million went through our table games and slot operation last night. So we are very, very, very good at cash handling. We're very good at systems, we're very good at regulatory compliance. All of sort of the nuts and bolts of the business are sort of the givens, but then we know we're doing well when nobody has to think about that, right? It just happens. The customers are there enjoying themselves. We'll take care of all of those nuts and bolts. You just make sure you're here to have a good time. I think that's sort of the experience that we try to create.

Oh yes, absolutely. I mean, we have to keep our nose very clean as you can imagine. I mean, it's a vice industry, I'll be candid. And so we don't want anything bad to happen in our place because then that's a wide open invitation for somebody to say, see I told you so, those casinos are so evil. So how does that manifest itself? I am super conservative when it comes to problem gaming. I don't want anybody to gamble beyond their means. I want everybody to enjoy it. You go in, I love to gamble myself so I can really relate. I have a gambling budget, I love to play slots. Hopefully it's not gone, but when it's gone, it's gone. That's very, very important to me, especially in a local market. People can behave differently when they're on vacation, but when we're right around the corner, it's very important that we are a form of entertainment and not predatory or exploitive in any way. So I take that pressure very seriously and I do understand how important we are to the community. We weren't the first, Plain Ridge was actually the first, we were the last to open. But we are by far the largest, we're the single largest taxpayer in the Commonwealth. I think our construction project was the single largest standalone construction project in the Commonwealth. So I know there's a lot of expectation of us, but I don't dwell on it or worry about it because I know we're up for it. You know, we are a top shelf organization filled with amazing people. It's a beautiful facility. We're really supported by the community. So it's a good spot to be.

Well, obviously our tax dollars go a very long way. And so it's important that we contribute and pay our freight for being here. But, and I like to say one of the benefits of living in a lot of places is you can pretty quickly figure out what's true of us everywhere and what's unique to a specific market. And it didn't take me very long to figure out that community engagement, nonprofit support was very, very important in this market. So before we even opened, we had set up sort of a pretty generous community grant fund, over $5 million dedicated to a whole selection of nonprofits in the first three years. But then once that was fulfilled, it was up to me to figure out, now what does the new portfolio look like? In fact, the woman who helps me with all of that, Beth Gibbons is here today. It's challenging 'cause everybody knows the pockets are deep. So what you really want to do is support your community in ways that you think give back in the most ways. So you mentioned some of them. I mean, Pack Shack is so near and dear to my heart and everybody here we are absolutely crazy, type A hyper competitive bananas group of people when it's time to do our Feed the Funnel event, because food insecurity in this market is real. I also sit on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. They have a economic advisory committee that I'm allowed to participate on. And they always talk about how here it's called housing inflation. The amount of homes that, or people who pay more than 40% of their take home pay to afford their living is more than 70% in this market. So when you're doing that, obviously then being able to buy food becomes challenging. So we even see it in our employee cafeteria where we provide unlimited access to the food as much as you need because it's a real issue in this town. So that's just an example, you know, you have to know where you are. You have to know what tools and resources do we have that can help address needs that are here.

Thank you.

Yeah, well first of all, it's the large operation that deserves credit for that, I mean, I say all the time, our team is so dedicated. I don't think I know where it comes from. I'm gonna be honest, I think part of it is it's hard to not feel proud walking into that building every day. So I think that's part of it. I think part of it is COVID and, you know, nothing bonds like a tragedy. And our team really went through that together. We hit almost 6,000 people at our resort when COVID hit and when we reopened, we only brought back initially 1,700, we're back to 3,300. But still, I think it's definitely been an experience that sort of defined our existence 'cause it happened so soon. And I think that brought everybody together. Another really unique thing about us, we have this thing called reportable relationships. So a reportable relationship is my children, my parents, my spouse, or if I have a roommate, if I can check any of those boxes with another employee in the building, we have to report that relationship. Of 3,300 employees, we have almost 1,500 reportable relationships, which means almost half of our people work with friends or family, which I think also contributes a lot to job satisfaction. And all of these things work together to create what I call discretionary effort. Five star service, five star experiences only happen when you have a team of people who will do whatever it takes to go above and beyond, that's the secret sauce. So the key is how do you instill that in people? And it's lots and lots and lots of things. Our VP of HR is smiling as I say that because it's part of everything we do. I mean, I love just looking at everybody. I've got Erica there who's in charge of making sure that the rooms look fantastic. And Diane, who makes sure that our casino staff and Wynn Rewards, we're just as friendly as the people who check us in as Michael is handling them. And Cameron from, like everybody knows, we get choked up, the level of effort that it takes has to come from all of us and we have to live it. We have to genuinely care. And so I think it's a combination of things. I wish I knew, if I knew I would go become a consultant and show everybody how to go become five star. I just think at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I think we're really special.

My joke is, I lead with den mother style leadership.

Probably haven't heard about that one yet, huh? I worked for a guy who told me once, great leadership is about love and discipline. I have to genuinely care and love every one of these people and want them to deliver their absolute best. But I also have to be really clear on expectations and boundaries and when we fall short. And I have to be tough when that happens. And nobody wants to disappoint me, I know that. And sometimes I do get disappointed. I like to say we fail as a team. We succeed as a team. But I'm very, I definitely come at it with my heart. That's for sure.

I can say that one too.

Oh, yeah.

So many, oh my gosh, so many. I think the one that prepared me the most for this job was a woman by the name of Marian Ilitch. They're one of the richest families in America. They own Little Caesars Pizza and the Detroit Tigers, and the Detroit Red Wings and one little casino in Detroit, Michigan. And so I worked directly for her for six and a half years. And she was the one who really helped me understand if you're going to lead, then what you're really doing is serving, right. This job is about me putting myself in service to others, whether that's the employees or the guests. That's what my role is. And I said earlier, we serve shareholders and sometimes people think that when you talk a lot about making money, which my team will tell you that's probably what I talk about 80% of the time. But us making money is what creates livelihoods. And Marian is the one that taught me that my primary role as a leader is to create as many livelihoods as I can. That's how a great leader performs. That's what a great leader thinks about. So our success means their success. So she was a really important one. The man who I mentioned who really helped me understand casino math very, very early in my career, he taught me so much that I lean on day after day. But there have been so many mentors, I think, and students used to ask me this a lot, you know, what's a great mentor relationship look like? How do you find one, and I really think that the responsibility is on the protege. I have to know what gap it is I'm trying to fill. I have to understand what skill it is I'm trying to develop. And then I have to be thoughtful about who I choose and select and quite frankly, court to help be my mentor so that I can get better at those skills that I'm pursuing. And I was always a student, always a very hungry, curious person. And so I did a lot of seeking out of great mentors and luckily found some really generous people who helped me along the way, we all need them.

An unshakeable value. Gosh, that's a good question, I don't know. I'm always available, accessibility, I think is really important. See, it has to be something I do every single day. Warmth, warmth also relates to approachability. I think I always, I mean, it's really annoying to walk with me because I will make sure that I say hello and good morning or good afternoon to every single person who comes by. That's important, so that's probably unshakeable. I do like to communicate. I like to set clear expectations and make sure everybody's on the same page with them. People probably sometimes think I over communicate, but I'm big on that. I'm really big, one of my favorite sayings is, do what you say you will do. I guess I would probably have to say that's my most unshakeable, it's amazing to me how often people do not do what they say they will do. And I learned really early on, if I make sure everything I say I am going to do, I actually do, it makes such a difference to my boss. They start giving me more work. They start taking me under their wing. They start giving me more opportunities. I might be considered first for the next promotion. It's a little thing, but it establishes trust, credibility so fast. Because it's very rare to find people who will do what they say they will do every single time. In fact, I always give a hack, one of the things I do, I have an email folder called pending. Poor Laurie, I did this to her this morning on a request I had on Friday. If I ask you for something, I don't forget about it and assume you're going to follow up with me, it goes in my pending file. And then two or three times a day, everybody's nodding. I browse my pending file for things that I've asked for that I've not yet gotten. And then I will ping on where is this, can I get this? That's a really effective hack because people will not always come back to you before you've had to follow up on what you've asked them to do. So that one, I think can be a game changer for your career development. And it helps me a lot with my productivity and making sure that I'm delivering the results I need to do 'cause I'm pretty ruthless on following up.

It's fine.

One of the, and I read this before I was in a number one or number two spot. I was, you know, at the director or VP level for a very long time. And one of the things that I read about, I think I read about it in the Wall Street Journal, they called it the paradox of power. This is a fascinating topic. I've spent a lot of time researching this. Basically really nice, warm and popular people get promoted and then they all turn into jackwagons because power corrupts. In fact, it's one of my favorite quotes, Abraham Lincoln, if you want to test a man's character, don't give him adversity, give him power. And so I remember the first time I read that, it scared me because I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm different than everybody else who got corrupted by power. And I was still rising at the time. And I don't know, there was just something about it that really struck a chord in me. And so I pay very close attention to that. Number one, I don't ever want to become a jackwagon and I know there are things I can do that sometimes feel that way, but I'm very aware of it and I'm always trying to be as warm and accessible as possible. But it's amazing to me. And I have witnessed firsthand from people who I really liked and respected and I watched them become really unlikeable people over the course of their senior careers. It's human nature. So we are all susceptible to it. But that's one thing that I'm very sensitive to, that I don't ever want to fall victim to.

So let me frame that. How do I actually deploy effective collaboration?

And the answer is sometimes, you can't do it always. So we have what we call an executive committee. There are five of us on it. Really big property wide decisions get made in that forum. There are very few large far reaching decisions that I will make alone because we have an amazing team. It would be idiotic of me to not use those resources. So I would say 95% of what we do at that resort, it is decided in this very effective group forum. Some things where I might have very deep expertise, I will be more likely to mandate what needs to be done. And I have a great example. And again, it's just, you know, subject matter expertise is a real thing. And we have amazing people on our team who have all kinds of subject matter expertise in spaces that I don't. Player card program, that's my wheelhouse. And we just had this big debate last Thursday because our tier program renews February 1st and now everybody uses the phone. And so the tier flag that tells you your status gets pushed straight to the phone. And I said last Thursday, oh my gosh, the tier flags are gonna get pushed on Saturday. People can't find out they got demoted by the phone. That's horrible, we have VIP parking for our top tier. We have a beautiful lounge where you get free alcohol and free food for the top tier. So losing status is a really big deal. And there were, I don't know, 200 or so people who were gonna lose status and there are several people who were responsible and I could tell there was just, oh the hosts are all over it. We got this, it was not the level of urgency or precision that I would've liked and I just had a feeling. So I made sure we had a very long, I kind of hijacked the staff meeting to make sure everybody understood how important this was and we had to take the right notice. Sure enough, 8:00 AM, I woke up to a text message from a customer 'cause yes, some customers have my cell phone number with a picture of her tier flag and a text message saying what, I've been demoted, what happened? I was coming in today, does this mean I don't get VIP parking? Does my card not work? So you don't wanna say I told you so, but you wanna say there's this one part of the business I've been doing for a really long time. And so that's my subject matter expertise. So that's, I think that's how I thread it. When I know it's not mine, and I love to say part of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at. If it's not my level of expertise, I'm not gonna pretend it is. But when it is, I'm gonna be a little bit more forceful.