New York’s Seneca Gaming Corp. has named industry veteran Holly Gagnon as president and CEO of the company’s resort operations in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca.
Seneca Gaming is owned by the state’s powerful Seneca Indian Nation, whose gaming portfolio includes Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino in Niagara Falls, Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino in Salamanca, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in downtown Buffalo and an employee base of some 4,000 people.
Gagnon, who was hired after a national search, is the third executive to lead the Seneca casinos in little more than two years. She is scheduled to take up her new responsibilities later this month.
Barry E. Snyder, Sr., chairman of Seneca Gaming’s board of directors, said the board was “thoroughly impressed with Holly and her record throughout the search process. We look forward to working with her”.
Gagnon most recently served as CEO of Chumash Enterprises in Santa Barbara, Calif., where she oversaw the operations of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ Chumash River Resort.
She is a former president and CEO of the Pearl River Resort in Mississippi, owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
She also held positions with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe’s Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut and with Harrah’s and Caesars Entertainment.
She is a founding board member and Mentorship Committee chair of Global Gaming Women, an organization dedicated to helping women in the gaming industry around the world develop professionally.
In 2016, she was honored by the Native American Finance Officers Association as their “Executive of the Year”.
