Feature
Aron Ezra
Wizard of Apps
January 26th, 2012
If you’ve got a smartphone, you’ve probably come to rely on apps to help you navigate, make plans and entertain yourself. What you might not know is that, thanks to Aron Ezra, the venerable Las Vegas slot manufacturer Bally Technologies has become a powerhouse in the app-making world. Read more »
Henry Weinacker III
Resident Foodie
January 26th, 2012
Selecting the handful of restaurants that will appear in his forthcoming book, Casino Eating: Your 21 Best Bets in Las Vegas Dining, wasn’t as difficult a task for Henry Weinacker III as it might be for the rest of us—he lives in the casinos. Full time, actually. As in he collects his mail at the front desk. Read more »
Shawn Gerstenberger
The Mussel Man
January 26th, 2012
You may know UNLV’s Shawn Gerstenberger from such public-health hits as high levels of mercury in canned tuna, lead in hot sauce and unsafe toys in day-care centers. He has built a department and a career making our part of the world healthier. There was no School of Community Health Sciences before he started it in 2004. “We put this beast together,” says the 43-year-old Wisconsin native. “We went from nobody to 17 faculty and 250 grad students. It has really blown up.” Read more »
Joe Asher
The Odds Ambassador
January 26th, 2012
Sports betting in Nevada is in the midst of a British invasion, and a Las Vegan is going to be leading the next wave. Joe Asher is slated to become the CEO of William Hill United States as soon as the British sports-betting giant’s acquisition of three Nevada books—Cal Neva, American Wagering (Leroy’s) and Brandywine (Lucky’s)—wends its way through regulatory approval. It’s a job he’s been waiting for all of his life. Read more »
Jenn O. Cide
The Freak Show Artist
January 26th, 2012
Most everybody’s got an answer handy to the question, “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?” For Jenn Neal, however, this takes some time. There are just too many moments to sort through. Read more »
Chris Julian
Vintage Visionary
January 26th, 2012
In 2005, Chris Julian was double-majoring in business and medicine at UNLV while running two clothing companies when he decided to ditch the conventional methods of education to chase his newly forming dream. The Bishop Gorman graduate and his business partner, Samantha Jo Alonso, gathered the last of their money to open a clothing store that showcased archival and artisanal one-offs from different eras of street-wear culture. Read more »
Reindell Cole
The Secret Weapon
January 26th, 2012
Reindell Cole is keenly aware that there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and the 23-year-old deftly straddles that line during a long conversation in which he reveals his many goals for 2012 and beyond, one seemingly more outrageous than the next. Read more »
Michael Murphy
The Reality Coroner
January 26th, 2012
The longtime success of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been both positive and negative for Clark County coroner Michael Murphy. On one hand, he’s thankful for the interest and exposure the TV drama has brought to his profession and the science behind it; on the other, the show has created unreasonable expectations about the time frame in which his office can investigate an unnatural death. Read more »
Sherrie Gahn
Principal of Change
January 26th, 2012
Why did Justin Bieber end up performing in the multipurpose room of a Las Vegas elementary school? Because somebody reached out, again and again, on behalf of underprivileged kids. The pop idol not only sang at Whitney Elementary School in December—causing little girls to swoon and cry—he also donated $100,000. Read more »
Miles Dickson
The Connector
January 26th, 2012
When Miles Dickson was 16 years old, he got a job answering phones for Billy Walters’ small empire of Las Vegas golf courses. By the time he was 20, he had made himself into the company’s resident specialist in revenue management, developing customer profiles, creating special pricing programs and figuring out “how to make more money by doing what we were doing anyway.” At 23, he was making $80,000 a year. Then he quit to go to law school. Read more »
