Shawn Willis (1972 - ) grew up in a culturally diverse area outside of Detroit, Michigan. She has made Las Vegas her home since 2004. Since moving to Nevada, she ?acknowledged? her Judaism and built a robust network within the Jewish community as an entrepreneur and tireless leader. From 2015 ? 2017, she held the position of Director of the Jewish National Fund of Las Vegas. The Jewish National Fund is a worldwide organization that was founded in 1901 to meet the strategic challenges of building in Israel and developing the infrastructure for ecology, special needs and heritage preservation. Among the local initiatives that Shawn led was a program on water conservation. In this oral history, Shawn candidly speaks of being a convert to Judaism. She also shares how she introduced herself into the Las Vegas community in a vibrant way through her marketing expertise and business. Shawn currently serves on the UNLV Foundation?s President?s Associates Council and is an active person in the Las Vegas community. Shawn is a graduate of University of Detroit Mercy.

Amber Allan grew up in West Virginia and moved to Las Vegas at the age of 16. She entered the gaming industry in 2000 as a change person at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder where she later held the positions of floorperson and assistant shift manager. Allan would eventually move to Santa Fe Station in 2005 as relief shift manager, later to the Texas Station as a shift manager, and then to Palace Station in 2008 into the slot operations and technical manager role. She then returned to Texas Station at the end of 2008 as director of slot operations and then moved to Aliante Station into the same role in 2009. Allan started at Konami Gaming, Inc. in 2012 where she has worked as an analyst, product specialist, and, currently, as technical sales executive. The interview with Allan begins with her discussion of moving to Las Vegas and the experiences and roles she held as she started in the gaming industry. She discusses the various responsibilities she had in those roles, the types of skills required for them, and the kinds of disputes that are handled in certain supervisory positions. Allan also mentions and discusses the topic of hold percentage as it relates to slot and video poker players. She later describes her philosophy on what makes a good slot floor and also what customers are looking for in slots. Allan then provides the details of her move to the manufacturing side of the slot industry, and she gives her thoughts on what makes both a good and bad slot manager. The interview then shifts to the discussion of free slot play; ticket-in, ticket-out; changes in slot management; and the future of slot machines. The interview concludes with Allan’s discussion of her personal gambling as well as her advice for young people who want to go into the slot industry.

Interviewed by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez. Barbara Tabach also participates in the questioning. Valorie J Vega was born in raised in Los Angeles County. Her father, Fred Vega, was one of the first firefighters hired in the Los Angeles County area. Vega was one of three children, and remembers spending her childhood surrounded by family. In college, Vega began studying biology only to realize that she was better suited studying Spanish. Upon completion of her undergrad, Vega went on to earn a Master's in Spanish interpretation. As a result of her studies, Vega was able to secure a job in the Court Interpreter program in Las Vegas, moving here in 1978. Her position in the interpreter program, led her to pursue a degree in law which in turn led to a successful career as a lawyer and a judge.

Kevin T. Orrock, president of Summerlin and vice president of Master Planned Communities for The Howard Hughes Corp., has come full circle. Born in Pioche, Nevada, he spent his early years in the San Francisco Bay area and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Graduating from a small liberal arts college, he arrived in Las Vegas in 1974 with a degree in accounting and a teaching credential, finding work in the Desert Inn accounting department. Howard Hughes owned the Desert Inn, so from 1974 Orrock has consistently been in the employ of Howard Hughes, Summa Corporation, and Howard Hughes Corporation. Orrock later earned his M.B.A. at UNLV. In this interview, Orrock focuses on Summerlin, the 22,000-acre, award-winning, master-planned community on the west side of the Las Vegas Valley. He discusses Summerlin’s physical layout, its history, its development, and its future. He specifically credits Summa Corporation’s early visionaries John Goolsby and Will Lummis for having the foresight to sell some of the company’s land in order to build the financial foundation that, in turn, permitted Summerlin’s fifty-year development plan. He also talks about the development and future of Downtown Summerlin; its balance of private, charter, and public schools; and the ways the company selects its residential builders.

Interviewed by Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez. John Pacheco's father, Francisco, arrived in Las Vegas in 1942. John was born in 1947 and raised mostly on 27th Street. He is a graduate of Rancho High School and UNLV. He is a retired artist known for hand-painting signage for many local businesses. As a very civic minded person, John has received many local awards and served on committees for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, East Las Vegas community, and much more.