VEGAS INC Magazine - Latest Las Vegas business news, features and commentaries about gaming, tourism, real estate and more
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COVER STORY SMARTEST DUDE IN TOWN HONORABLE MENTIONS In our long discussions about who to select as The Smartest Dude In Town, several tempting names came up. Here are our four runners up. Best of luck next year, guys, and kudos for making our elite list. —Erin Dostal Robert Bigelow CEO, Bigelow Aerospace Robert Bigelow is building a burgeoning space station business in North Las Vegas—the city in the country hardest hit by the Great Recession—and succeeding. Big time. His company developed a low-cost, lightweight space station prototype that could become an orbiting laboratory for scientists, or become a cool activity for space tourists. Bigelow just might be the smartest dude in town with the lowest profile, too. This guy is building the stuff of legend in our own backyards, and few people even know it's there. Lorenzo Fertitta CEO, Zuffa LLC As owner of Ultimate Fighting Championship—a subsidiary of his sports-promotion company Zuffa LLC—alongside UFC President Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta has helped shape Las Vegas' new home sport. Long gone are the days of boxing greats Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, but here to stay are the days of Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva. Exploding in popularity each year, Fertitta and his cohorts have a big, moneymaking entertainment venture on their hands. Michael Gaughan President and CEO, South Point Hotel Casino Michael Gaughan has blinders on. Who cares what's trendy when you know what works? The people want rodeos. They want fun. They want to feel comfortable in their hometown casino. While other casino moguls were opening barely sold high-end condo towers, Gaughan was putting a Steak 'n' Shake—a legendary Midwestern shakes and burgers joint—next to the movie theater at his down-Strip property. Gaughan knows his customers, and capitalizes on his adeptness. Phil Ruffin CEO, Treasure Island Like most Nevadans, Phil Ruffin doesn't have a college degree. Yet, he's still become a huge success. Ruffin bought Treasure Island from MGM Resorts International in 2009 for the mind-bogglingly low sum of $775 million—and it appears he'll see a return on his investment. Treasure Island was once a high-end hotel and casino. Ruffin's changing all that by putting in a Gilley's and marketing toward the everyman. Ruffin is a guy who knows how to buy when the getting's good, and how to renovate effectively during an economic downturn. RIGHT STUFF "Tony Hsieh is someone with the will, the vision, the connections and the capital to get stuff done." all things high tech is exceedingly valuable to a city that woefully lacks diversity in its business portfolio. Hsieh says he wants downtown Las Vegas to become an incubator for high-tech firms. Unlike city officials, Hsieh has successfully sought Bay Area tech firms who might be interested in relocating. Hsieh closed a deal, to be announced mid-September, for a project that would fly small jets back and forth from the Bay Area to Las Vegas to get more educated, innovative, smart-dude, techie-types in Vegas more often. It's happening, folks. Hsieh and his tech-exec buddies just might become the silver bullet that nudges Las Vegas out of this Great Recession. Because, as we've already seen, our key industries of gaming, tourism and real estate aren't going to do the trick on their own. At least not in the immediate future. British author and TechCrunch columnist Paul Carr says of Hsieh's grand, social experiment: "Tony Hsieh is someone with the will, the vision, the connections and the capital to get stuff done. He's clearly decided this is his next big project—and the one that defines him as an entrepreneur for social good. If he fails, it won't be for lack of trying. The role of Zappos is hugely important. Unlike most revitalization projects, there's no need to hope that if you build it, they will come. Tony is both building it, and bringing the people to make it work." So perhaps the city is right to rely so heavily on such a smart dude for something like its current downtown redevelopment. Hsieh already has a number of what were once pie-in-the-sky projects lined up for the already-hip area, including a charter school, gym, dog park, urban garden, bike sharing programs, tech library, community kitchen with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and much more. "With all of these projects, it's asking people: What are you passionate about that can help build this community and make this a place where people want to live and work?" Hsieh asks logically. "It's kind of like trying to do 50 start-up projects at once. I mean, selfishly, if I'm going to live here, then I want all of these things to be here." Even if a certain Zappos (and Tony Hsieh) fatigue has set in in some Las Vegas circles—yes, he's a genius, we get it—there's no denying that he is, right now, the smartest dude in town. And in a city full of gargantuan egos, this particular smart dude is somebody who would never, ever dream of calling himself that. Not even close. How smart is that? "It's kind of like trying to do 50 start-up projects at once. I mean, selfishly, if I'm going to live here, then I want all of these things to be here." 26 | 5 SEPTEMBER 2011 | &