Welcome to the Nevada Gaming & Hospitality Association

Welcome to the Nevada Gaming & Hospitality Association!

For nearly fourteen years, the NVGHA has been serving Nevada’s gaming and hospitality industries in various ways. That said, there sure seems to be a lot of buzz about NVGHA lately.

Why the recent buzz? Several reasons:

1. There’s a new program in town – In late 2008, NVGHA entered into an agreement with Nevada’s premier workers’ compensation self-insurance group – NRSIG. As a result of this agreement, members of NVGHA will meet the association requirement for NRSIG membership.

2. There’s a new Board in town – The NVGHA Board of Directors for 2009 is: Rob Cashell, Casino Operator (Reno, NV); Brian Cochran, Director of Operations of Thomas Keller Restaurants West (Las Vegas, NV); Todd MacMillan, McDonald’s Franchisee (Las Vegas, NV); Jim Leftwich, President of CHSI (Las Vegas, NV); and Chairman Thomas Arlt, McDonald’s Franchisee (Las Vegas, NV).

3. There’s a new Director in town – me. My name is Justin Doucette. I am a CPA by trade (focusing on hospitality-related businesses), a Board Member of NRSIG, a former restaurant owner, and a two-term former Chairman of the Nevada Restaurant Association (2004-2006) with over seven years total service to that Association.

4. There’s a “re-newed” Association in town – the NVGHA. More on this below.

If my experience in the hospitality industry has taught me nothing else, it’s that hospitality businesses need to align their interests and their efforts, as best we can, to protect and enhance our industry. This can often be a bit like herding cats, as we hospitality businesspeople tend to keep odd schedules and even odder interests (be honest, how many of you have been skydiving?).

There are other associations out there, to be sure, that do a pretty darn good job of trying to help our industry. NVGHA strives to be different, however, in that we simply wish to accomplish reasonable goals and encourage open communication within the industry. To that end, rather than taking the traditional association view of providing access only to dues-paying members (“pay to play”), NVGHA seeks and encourages involvement in NVGHA by members and non-members alike. We are confident that if a quality product is delivered, the dues and memberships will follow.

In this spirit of open communication, if you have some ideas (such as programs, blogs, website ideas, networking opportunities) that you believe would enhance your membership, your non-membership, or the industry in general, please let me know – I love brainstorming and am very open to fresh ideas. I may be reached at justin@nvgha.com. As we are working in somewhat uncharted territory, please bear with us. Some seemingly easy projects may take a considerable amount of time to assemble, even in a rough draft format. While the process can be arduous, I believe the results will be worth the wait.