Maggie Arias-Petrel is a successful businessperson and philanthropist. Born in Quito, Ecuador in 1966, Maggie grew up during the Space Age, meeting astronauts through her father’s work as a NASA engineer. Her mother worked as a teacher in an all-girls school. When she was a teenager, Maggie visited her aunt in California and decided to stay in the U.S. She eventually returned to Ecuador and helped her mother run her toy store business, helping her manage multiple locations. Her entrepreneurship flourished as she helped the family business grow into a successful enterprise. Despite the success in her home country, Maggie always dreamed of coming back and living in the U.S. When her family returned, they settled in Las Vegas in 1991. Through her entrepreneurship, Maggie helped many doctors set up their practices, and began her own consulting business, Global Professional Consulting. Today, her expertise includes over 20 years of medical practice management, marketing and advertising for medical and legal, business development and consulting experience. Maggie is also the Chairwoman of the Executive Board of Directors of the Latin Chamber of Commerce of Nevada. She is responsible for changing the direction of the Chamber and helping it become what it is today. She is also the director of the Señoras of Excellence, a philanthropic organization that focuses on raising funds to help Latino students attend college. They have awarded thousands of dollars in scholarship funds to students across the Las Vegas Valley. Because of her work in the medical field, Maggie understands the importance of affordable health care and accessibility. During the Obama Administration, she was part of Senator Harry Reid’s promotion team for the Affordable Health Care Act. She also worked with Governor Jim Gibbons doing international research work in Mexico, and was invited to the White House for the Cinco de Mayo celebration through the U.S. Hispanic Chamber and the Latino Coalition. Maggie is also responsible for the partnership between the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, one of the most prestigious and accomplished institutions of higher education in Mexico, St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, and the Nevada System of Higher Education to develop nursing programs with direct collaboration from UAG to increase the number of bilingual-bicultural medical professionals in Nevada. She is the director for the Workforce Connections of Nevada Board and the Dignity HealthCare - St. Rose Dominican Hospital Board of Directors. Maggie has also received numerous accolades and awards such as the Community Service Award from the Latin Chamber of Commerce, Señoras of Excellence Award given to woman who excel in their professions, the Excellence in Advocacy Award by The Colors of Lupus Foundation, and the “Woman in Business” Award by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. In 2011, she was named one of the ten most influential Hispanics in the city by the Las Vegas Business Press. She is also one of the community leaders featured in the Las Vegas Latino Leaders Inaugural Edition Book. Maggie attended Los Angeles Mission College and Central University of Ecuador. She lives in Green Valley with her two sons.
The Dunes Hotel Photographs (1950-1993) consist of administrative, publicity and entertainment images documenting the history of the Dunes Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to materials focusing on day-to-day activities at the hotel (correspondence, contracts, personnel, budgets, etc.) the collection provides insight into the hotel’s entertainment and public relations activities. Although there are chronological gaps in the collection, particularly during the later years of the Dunes (1970s-1990s), it provides a significant amount of historical documentation on the famed Strip hotel that was long known to tourists and residents alike as the “the Miracle in the Desert.”
The Dunes Hotel and Casino Records are comprised of administrative, publicity, and entertainment materials documenting the history of the Dunes Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada from the years 1954 to 1992. Included are correspondence, contracts, photographs, hotel budgets, and an early aerial photograph of the property. The material provides a significant amount of historical documentation of the hotel that was long known to tourists and residents as the "the Miracle in the Desert."
Rough-draft versions of letters written by William Feldman, Executive Director of the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA), and Barry D. Eisen, President of the Jewish Family Service Agency, to Norman Kaufman, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation, and Paul Eisenberg, Chairman of the Endowment Committee, requesting financial aid from the Jewish Federation Foundation endowment fund to support the Jewish Family Service Agency's Elderly Services program. (Original order of pages is unclear, some pages may have been lost prior to donation.)