On April 15th, 2009 Harrah’s casino resort lost another member of their board. With a difficult year in the making, Harrah’s will undoubtedly see many more major changes in the upcoming quarters. Currently Harrah’s faces the reality of a declining economy, where they are running fast to try and escape filing for bankruptcy. And to top it off, Jeanne P. Jackson has notified the company of her resignation. As of yet, there has been no release of why she left the company, only that it was official as of April 15th. Jackson herself also was not available for comment.
On March 4th, Jackson was named President of Direct to Consumer to Nike, Inc. At 57, Jackson was already a board member in good standing with the company since 2001.
Her resume for previous jobs is also one of high profile positions. She was CEO of Walmart.com from March 2000 to January 2002 , president and CEO of Banana Republic (owned by Gap, Inc. ) from 1995-2000, and CEO of Gap Inc. Direct from 1998-2000. Since 1978, she has held various retail management positions with Victoria’s Secret, the Walt Disney Company, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Federated Department Stores.
While with Harrah’s Jackson was a director as well as a member of the Audit committee for Harrah’s Entertainment. In leaving the casino business for the shoe business, Jackson will now be in charge of Nike global retail under Chief Executive Mark Parker.
Harrah’s will continue to try to pick up the pieces and not cause the casino resort to take any more financial hits and keep an even keel until the time that the economy turns around to help it pull further away from filing for bankruptcy.
Another aspect with the economy that has had casinos in a state of panic is the lack of gamblers returning to the casinos. Online casinos may be paving the way for those gamblers who choose to stay at home and gamble, but what does the future hold for the big Las Vegas skyline, and the infamous Strip?
