Former Reid staffer turned Las Vegas casino boss up for gaming license

A former congressional staffer who made a career pivot to the casino industry and now oversees two of the Las Vegas Strip’s most posh hotels is up for a gaming license next week.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board will consider the key casino executive licensure of Ayesha Molino at the board’s next public meeting on Oct. 9.

Molino, 44, is the president and chief operating officer of Aria casino-hotel and its sister non-gaming hotel Vdara. She also serves as the chief public affairs officer for MGM Resorts International, which operates both hotel properties on the Strip.

According to MGM reports, Molino has been in her current executive-level positions since November.

Before joining MGM, Molino worked for the late Sen. Harry Reid, serving as a policy advisor and chief counsel from 2011 until Reid’s departure in 2017. She also worked as international trade counsel on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for former Montana Sen. Max Baucus between 2007 and 2011.

Following Reid’s retirement from the U.S. Senate, she stayed in Washington, D.C. and took on a lobbying role as senior vice president of government affairs for MGM Resorts.

Her MGM bio states that she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics, history and religious studies from the University of California, Riverside, and holds a law degree from the George Washington University Law School.

Molino is a member of MGM’s audit committee and sits on the company’s nomination, environmental, social and governance committee.

David Danzis can be contacted at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0378. Follow AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.