Kim Van Amburg plans to be chief executive officer of the Casino Del Sol, near Tucson, Arizona until 2020. In the meantime, she is operating a program to prepare members of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe for top positions in the casino—including her own.
Sixteen candidates have expressed a desire to take the training. Which means they are willing to continue executing their current jobs while learning new executive skills. This program is called STEP for (Supporting Tribal Employment Partnership.)
Amburg’s contract with the tribe was recently renewed until 2020. She has been CEO since 2014. She recently told Indian Country Today: “The person chosen to move into the top executive position at the end of this program will be ready, prepared, both technically and on the management side, for whatever might await them. We want our candidate to be technically adroit and heavy on management and people skills and within the next three years, we feel one or more tribal employees will be ready to climb the management ladder.”
Referring to the challenge of holding down one job will training for a higher one, Amburg observed, “It’s called multi-tasking for a reason and these candidates will be kept busy figuring out how to accomplish that. I think seeing how they manage the extra burden will be a good indicator of whether or not they’re capable of rising to the top.”
But all of the candidates, whether they are the crème de la crème or not, will be given opportunities for advancement, she said.
