The Las Vegas Grand Prix has employed Betsy Fretwell, who served as Las Vegas metropolis supervisor for eight years, as its new chief working officer.
Betsy Fretwell, who additionally labored as Swap’s govt vp of technique, chairs the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce’s board of trustees and sits on the boards of Las Vegas Occasions and the Las Vegas International Financial Alliance. (Picture: YouTube/Las Vegas International Alliance)
“We’re excited so as to add a seasoned skilled of Betsy’s caliber to our crew,” mentioned a press release from Renee Wilm, Las Vegas Grand Prix’s CEO. “She brings in depth govt expertise working in the private and non-private sectors and will likely be a direct asset to our group.”
As metropolis supervisor from 2009 via 2017, Fretwell oversaw 3,300 workers and a $1.3B annual price range.
Tough Highway to Pave Over
Hiring a former metropolis supervisor could also be a part of F1 proprietor Liberty Media’s strategic response to harsh criticism leveled on the Grand Prix from Las Vegas companies, residents, and vacationers. Fretwell’s duties embody supervising the race’s group relations, that are at a extreme low level.
The 9 months of highway closures and building delays it triggered decimated many small companies, and drastically inconvenienced on line casino employees and vacationers alike. However multibillion-dollar on line casino companies declare the race inaugural race resulted of their highest-grossing weekend ever.
Final week, Gino Ferraro, proprietor of Ferraro’s Ristorante on Paradise Highway, wrote a letter to Clark County Commissioners, who accepted the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix’s annual reconfiguration of the Las Vegas Strip for 9 extra years, claiming that the race price him $2.5M in revenues and $500K in income.
We heard from numerous vacationers that they won’t return to Vegas throughout that point of the yr,” Ferraro wrote, including: “Who profited? Just a few inns … How do we all know what the ROI is with all the cash that was spent to destroy the Strip, its environment, and finally, individuals’s lives?”
Not one of the negatively impacted companies, employees, or vacationers are identified to have been compensated in any approach by Liberty Media.
“I strongly consider we have to rethink the technique of how we are able to accommodate our guests previous to the race and through,” Ferraro continued. “We are able to’t destroy town for one weekend.”
