Three months after MGM Mirage completed its $7.9 billion acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group in 2005, Rose McKinney-James received an invitation from Kirk Kerkorian – the gaming company’s founder and controlling shareholder – to join the board of directors.
McKinney-James was the only former Mandalay board member asked to joined the combined company’s panel.
Rose McKinney-James
But Kerkorian, the billionaire developer, had a reason he reached out to McKinney-James – his interest in renewable energy and sustainable development.
“He was intrigued with the work I was doing on solar energy,” recalled McKinney-James. She first became involved solar technology as a Nevada public utilities regulator during the 1990s and has been a renewable energy technology advocate for almost three decades.
“When I look back on the interview with him, that’s what he wanted to talk about,” McKinney-James said. “Kirk was already thinking about the future.”
Now in her 14th year on the MGM Resorts International board, McKinney-James is one of five African American women involved in the energy industry who were asked to author chapters in a book on their experiences. “The Energy Within Us: An Illuminating Perspective From Five Trailblazers,” provides the authors’ views on ascending to executive positions when the industry’s leadership was all white and all male.
“Interestingly, I’m the only one of the five who comes from the renewable and sustainability side,” said McKinney-James, 67, who is the managing principal of Energy Works Consulting and McKinney James & Associates. The two companies provide consulting services regarding public affairs in the areas of energy, education, and environmental policy.
The book was released in May at the American Association of Blacks in Energy’s national conference in Indianapolis. Book sales will fund scholarships for black female students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.
In her chapter, McKinney-James recounts her upbringing in Michigan, her involvement in politics and public policy, and the path that led her to Nevada. She advanced in key management positions at the City of Las Vegas before Governor Bob Miller appointed her to the Public Services Commission.
In the mid-1990s, Nevada’s two U.S. senators struck a deal with the Department of Energy to explore options for the Nevada Test Site, the 1,360-square mile area 65 miles north of Las Vegas where nuclear devices were detonated in the 1950s.
Senator Richard Bryan asked James to head a public private partnership that evolved into the Corporation for Solar Technology and Renewable Resources (CSTARR). As CEO, James led a statewide policy and education effort on renewable energy technology.
“It became clear that economics drive customers and customers drive markets,’ McKinney-James wrote in her chapter. “But first, they had to be informed, educated and challenged.”
She wrote that CSTARR “represented an extraordinary era of pioneering and ground-breaking advocacy.” McKinney-James said Nevada’s first renewable portfolio standards adopted in 1997 “continues to anchor renewable energy development in the state today.”
McKinney-James joined the Mandalay Resort Group’s board in 1999, becoming the gaming industry’s first female African American board member. At MGM, she was is one four women on the company’s 11-person board.
McKinney-James hopes her continued advocacy for renewable energy resources has played a role in MGM Resorts efforts at sustainability in the company’s newest projects.
The $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor in Maryland was constructed under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification while the $960 million MGM Springfield in Massachusetts earned the gaming industry’s first Platinum certification.
At Mandalay Bay’s convention center, MGM installed the second largest rooftop solar array in the world with 21,325 modules that cover 11 acres, allowing for peak energy production throughout the day.
McKinney-James said the gaming company “was already on the path” toward creating projects focused on energy conservation and renewable consumption when she joined board. The massive CityCenter complex was under construction and the 18 million-square-foot development earned six LEED Gold certifications.
“(MGM CEO) Jim Murren and (CityCenter CEO) Bobby Baldwin had a vision for CityCenter and I guess it helped to have someone on the board who shares that passion,” McKinney-James said.
The goal over the past few years has been bringing areas of sustainability to older MGM properties.
“I believe the gaming industry as a whole has embraced this idea,” she said.
McKinney-James also believes the company’s focus on sustainability could help in its efforts to land a Japanese integrated resort project in Osaka.
“There is an opportunity to really focus because (in Japan) there is a huge appetite for sustainability and diversity, principally in gender diversity,” McKinney-James said. “So many of the things the company has focused on over the years are very attractive and will go into making the decision.”
“The Energy Within Us: An Illuminating Perspective From Five Trailblazers” can be obtained on Amazon
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
