Gary Jacobs, an integral member of MGM Mirage's CityCenter team, resigned December 15, the day before the Aria Resort & Casino's grand opening. MGM Mirage and Jacobs, the company's president of corporate strategy, general counsel and secretary, did not give a reason for Jacobs' departure in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing December 18.

Jacobs played a pivotal role in the eventual completion of CityCenter. He helped resolve MGM's financial tangle with Dubai World, which led to a new joint venture agreement and a $2.6 billion recapitalization.

After CityCenter's financial woes were soothed, Jacobs told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the experience was "kind of like going down a river, but you would hit one set of rapids, then that the experience was "kind of like going down a river, but you would hit one set of rapids, then you hit another set of rapids, and another and then another one. It was nonstop."

Prior to joining MGM Mirage as general counsel in 2000, Jacobs worked as a lawyer in private practice in Los Angeles.

By Staff