Feature Stories - April 2004

Best of the Best

Nevada’s Most Respected CEOs

by Kathleen Foley

When Nevada Business Journal asked prominent members of the state’s business community to nominate the CEOs they most respected and admired, our editorial committee was deluged with names and stories of executives throughout the state who deserve recognition. After a difficult judging process, we decided on the eight people currently gracing the cover of the magazine. They have all lived in Nevada for a number of years, are active in the communities they serve and have reputations as efficient managers and fair-minded employers.

"Nevada’s Most Respected CEOs," as nominated by their peers and chosen by our committee, are: Krys T. Bart, Airport Authority of Washoe County; Brent Bell, Whittlesea-Bell Transportation; Jeff Bills, Saint Mary’s Health Network; Lou Emmert, Sprint; Dick Rizzo, Perini Building Company; Richard Robinson, Bank of Commerce; Jim Stuart, CENTRA Properties; and Don White, Pageantry Companies.

We asked each of our CEOs to respond to three standard questions:

How would you describe your management style?

Was there any one period when it was most difficult for you to find the balance between work and home?

In your community involvement or charitable work, what has given you the most satisfaction?

We have condensed their answers here to give readers some insight into their thought processes and attitudes.

Bart is the executive director for the Airport Authority of Washoe County, which operates Reno/Tahoe International and Reno/Stead Airports, with 250 employees and an budget of $36 million.

Management

I have a collaborative style, and I think one of my strengths is the ability to build and maintain a team. I appreciate input from the good people on my team, but at the end of the day, the decision rests with me. I’ve tried to copy the management culture of Southwest Airlines – their team-loving spirit, the way they celebrate success and their formal learning environment. I work hard to communicate with people at all levels, and to relate with them on a one-to-one basis if possible. I’m not the organization – they are, and they’re the ones who move this organization along on a daily basis.

There were two times in my life when it was difficult to find a balance between work and home. When I was a single working mom with three young sons, it was hard to keep up with all their school and sports activities. Later, when I was at San Jose International Airport and my husband was in Fresno, I had a commuting marriage for seven years. We did the things we had to do to keep our marriage together, but it wasn’t easy. My lifestyle now in Reno is the best I’ve ever had, and my husband and I are enjoying being together.

I am serving as chair of the Women of Achievement Luncheon for the Nevada Women’s Fund. Our goal is to clear $100,000 to help women and children in Northern Nevada. On a personal level, I think it’s most exciting to see a young person develop and succeed. When I was in San Jose, I learned of a young man from a large family whose parents were migrant workers. He wanted to be the first in his family to go to college, and I helped him get a scholarship to go to Spain to get an advanced degree. That gave me a real sense of accomplishment.

Bell leads 1,400 employees at Whittlesea-Bell Transportation Companies, composed of five regulated transportation firms in Southern Nevada that provide taxi, limo and bus services.

I have a relaxed and accessible style and an open-door policy. Of my 1,400 employees, I know over 300 by their first names, and they call me by my first name, too. I believe in granting just as much access to a new driver as I do to the company’s general counsel. In our industry, there’s a lot of turnover, and we’re in the process of updating our training system to increase driver safety and retention. If we can keep an employee for a year and make him or her feel like a part of the company, then our turnover is dramatically reduced.

I worked really hard early in my career, but my kids are now four and six years old. My wife has always kept me grounded, and reminds me every day what’s really important. If I sign a big-money contract at work, that doesn’t impress her nearly as much as if I make it to the parent-teacher conference at school. I think I’m getting a handle on it (balancing work and home). If I have to work late one day, I’ll make up for it the next day, and I don’t work weekends anymore.

I am currently coaching basketball for my son’s team in the YMCA, and we were all so happy they won the championship. I’ve also been involved with the Las Vegas Founders for five years. It’s a great feeling when the president of the group announces which local charities received the proceeds from our annual golf tournament. It makes the months of work of planning, organizing and volunteering worthwhile. My company donates the bus service for Project Sunshine, which runs a free summer camp for sick and disadvantaged kids. The first time I went to the camp, I was hooked as soon as I saw the look on the kids’ faces when they got off the bus. This summer, I’m going to be a camp volunteer for a weekend.

Bills has been president and CEO of Saint Mary’s Health Network in Reno since 1994. Saint Mary’s, with over 1,700 full-time employees, provides hospital services, healthcare services and health plan products to Northern Nevada and Northern California.

My management style is open and straightforward. A CEO has to set a good personal example, and there can be no compromise when it comes to honesty, and to treating people with respect. My father, who was a schoolteacher and a coach, taught me the importance of communicating clearly, focusing on the task on hand and keeping emotionally stable.

A good marriage and strong religious beliefs keep you in balance, when it might be easy to get carried away with concerns about work. I remind my team members that it isn’t necessary to work 100 hours a week to be good employees. They need to make sure their families are taken care of and that they are okay spiritually. One of the biggest reasons for my success is my wife, who was willing to be there for the kids early in my career when I was working to move up.

What I like the most is church service, which includes helping Boy Scouts in the church achieve their Eagle Scout rank and helping young people get scholarships to attend college. I’m active in the March of Dimes and also the BYU Alumni Association. But it isn’t necessary to join a group in order to make a difference. Just take a few minutes to help someone you know. You can make a difference through personal acts of service and kindness. I’m amazed every day how many people at Saint Mary’s have embraced the same concept.

Emmert is the vice president and general manager for Sprint of Nevada, the primary local telephone provider for Clark County. She has worked for Sprint for 32 years and currently supervises 1,700 employees.

I would call my leadership style "participatory." I like to get input from stakeholders, evaluate their opinions and then come to a decision. I think the best decisions are made when you have accumulated as much input as possible. At the same time, a CEO can’t hold up an important decision waiting for somebody else to respond. I believe you can’t over-communicate. If people know why you’re doing something and what’s going on, they can respond better and everything runs more smoothly.

The toughest time for me was when my children were about 8, 10 and 12. I wanted them to be involved in school activities and sports, but it was difficult to arrange everyone’s schedules. There was also a period in my career when I was obliged to travel a lot, and that caused scheduling problems, too. My husband Jerry was very helpful and took charge when I had to be away from home.

I served as president of the Girls Scouts of Frontier Council for four years, and am especially pleased that they have finally opened their new service center. Working with Ronald McDonald House has been personally satisfying, and it was a real eye-opener to see all the services they provide for families of sick or injured children. I also enjoy working with the Foundation for an Independent Tomorrow. They work with people on public assistance to help them become self-sufficient. It’s very inspirational to see people finally able to support themselves and their families.

Twenty-four years ago, Rizzo started his career with Perini Building Company, and now serves as chairman of the company, a leading builder of hotels and resort properties with --- employees across the nation. He was awarded the 2002 Humanitarian of the Year award from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

Perini started out as a family-owned company, and its management style is based on that history. We have a horizontal structure without a lot of hierarchy. Because customer relationships are built and maintained at the field level, our project managers are given a lot of responsibility and are compensated accordingly. We may ask our employees to do more than another company might, but we support them and pay them well.

I was the busiest and most challenged when my two daughters were young. My supportive wife took on more than her share of the burden. I made commitments to the job, but I come from a tight-knit Italian family tradition, and I had to keep my commitments to the family at the same time. One of the key questions we ask new hires is, "Do you understand the pressures that will be put on you, and does your significant other understand?" Because we fast-track our projects, it can’t be a 9-to-5 job, especially on large gaming projects. It requires a huge commitment until the job is completed.

Perini supports substantial projects helping women and children. Once we decide on a charity, we help raise money for it through a golf tournament and we also do construction for the group at reduced cost, and encourage subcontractors and unions to do the same. Our most significant project to date has been the Shade Tree Shelter for homeless women and children in downtown Las Vegas, and we just completed the new headquarters for the Girl Scouts. We helped the Womens Development Center for many years. Working with these groups has made me realize the demand for services – there are a lot of needy people in the community.

Bank of Commerce is a community bank with three branches in Southern Nevada and almost 40 employees. Richard Robinson, as bank president, has turned the once-struggling savings bank into a successful institution in five years.

I believe in hiring the best people, making sure they thoroughly understand their duties and our expectations, and then giving them the opportunity to perform. The best people thrive in that type of environment and don’t do well being micro-managed. The second component is to treat people the way I’d like to be treated, and that includes both respect and dignity. I don’t believe in management through fear or intimidation.

Like most people, the most difficult time for me was when I was just starting out and also raising a young family. It was a tough time – it’s a good thing I was young, because it was very stressful. I was fortunate to find outdoor activities I could enjoy with my three children on weekends. My kids and I sailed, skied and hunted ducks together, and that was quality time we all enjoyed.

I was involved for many years in the Nevada Ballet Theater, and I enjoyed that tremendously. I was also active in the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, which is a great organization. Our company is a supporter of the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and we encourage our employees to become involved in that.

CENTRA Properties is a commercial developer planning 2 million square feet of industrial and retail space in Southern Nevada during the next two years. Although the company was founded just two years by Jim Stuart and Ken Sullivan, both have been Las Vegas residents and community supporters for many years.

First, I want to say that my partner, Kenny Sullivan, should share in this honor with me, because he’s just as important to the company as I am. But, for my own personal style, I think my job every day is to remove the barriers for my team members so they can do their jobs. I try to hire motivated, passionate and skilled people, then make sure they have the resources they need. I believe the key to success is finding and correcting mistakes and learning from them, so in our company, you are celebrated for bringing mistakes to the forefront. Each day we start with the premise that we are wrong (or maybe just ignorant) and work on improving.

The most important lesson I’ve learned is to focus on family first. I shuttle my kids to school every morning and have dinner with them every night. My most sacred priority is my wife and family, and I try to make sure my employees know it. It’s considered shameful here to work late or on weekends, because it means your priorities aren’t right.

I serve as chairman of the board for Project Sunshine, which provides camping experiences for children who are critically ill or have life-altering situations. We are entering our fourth camp season, and will serve over 700 children this year. I’d like to say my motivation for volunteering at the camp is pure and honest, but I do it for selfish reasons as well, because whatever I give, I get back tenfold in satisfaction. Businesses need to figure out what’s important and to get involved in creating a legacy for their communities and invest in the social infrastructure.

With 80 employees in two locations (Las Vegas and Seattle), Pageantry Companies is a residential and commercial builder, developer and general contractor. Don White founded the company in 1994.

I hire the best people I can, put procedures in place and then try to leave them alone and let them manage their area. Of course, you have to monitor their progress as you go along. I’m very tenacious in trying to get things accomplished and reach goals, but I’m not afraid of people making mistakes, as long as they do learn and don’t repeat the mistake.

When you own your own business, it’s a 24/7 job. The business provides security, so you have to work 8 to 5 on that, and after the kids are in bed, you might work some more at home. It’s a juggling act. My most difficult period was 10 years ago, when I was going through a divorce and also starting up a business. For many years, my children lived in San Diego with their mother, but I did my best to spend time with them. My oldest son now works for Pageantry in Seattle, and my second son works for us in Las Vegas.

I feel like we’ve taken a lot from the communities we serve and we owe something back. Both our offices work with social service agencies around the holidays to adopt needy families and provide necessities and holiday gifts for them. I’ve always required my kids to be involved in this, too, so they can see how others live and get a taste of reality.

Congratulations to all those nominated, and especially to these eight individuals, who are making important contributions to Nevada’s economy, while serving as role models for others who hope somebody to lead large companies and become influential community leaders.

Kathleen Foley
Kathleen Foley is a freelance writer based in Southern Nevada.