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William P. Weidner
President and Chief Operating Officer
Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Mr. Weidner has served as president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) since December of 1995. A veteran hospitality industry executive, Mr. Weidner's responsibilities include directing all development activities of the company, including the planning, financing, construction and implementation stages.
Mr. Weidner entered the industry after graduating from Michigan State University with an M.B.A. and serving as Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Hotel Management at Paul Smith's College. He then spent eight years in various positions with the Marriott Hotel Group, receiving its prestigious "Man of the Year" award in 1975.
In 1978, Mr. Weidner joined Caesars in Atlantic City as vice president of hotel operations and was named vice president of marketing a year later. Recruited by the Pratt Organization in 1981, he went on to serve as executive vice president of the Greate Bay Casino Corporation, owner of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. In 1983, he was elected president of Greate Bay and, in 1985, president of the Pratt Hotel Corporation, Greate Bay's publicly- traded corporate parent.
He also served as president of Pratt's Hollywood Casino Corporation subsidiary and sat on the Boards of Pratt Hotel Corporation and Hollywood Casino Corporation. He directed the opening of one of Chicago's first riverboat casino operations in Aurora, Illinois.
Mr. Weidner has been instrumental in the planning, creation, and operation of all Las Vegas Sands Corp. properties, including The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and the Sands Macao, located in Macao on the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China. The Sands Macao, Las Vegas Sands' newest property, hosts approximately 163,000 square feet of gaming facilities, luxury suites, specialty restaurants and an International VIP club.
The next phase of development in Macao will include The Venetian Macao, a luxury resort hotel casino similar to The Venetian in Las Vegas. It will anchor the "Cotai Strip" mega-tourism development, an unparalleled master plan that will become the Las Vegas strip of Asia. With up to 25 hotel developments and over 60,000 rooms managed by the most famous hospitality operators from around the world, the Cotai Strip will bring forward the critical mass of hospitality experiences necessary to brand Macao as the entertainment and gaming capital of Asia.
In Las Vegas, the next phase of development includes the construction of The Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino. The Palazzo will take its place on the Las Vegas Strip skyline in 2007 and in addition to its elegant 3,000 suites, The Palazzo will continue Las Vegas Sands' tradition of raising the bar in Las Vegas by offering its guests the world's very finest in dining, shopping, and entertainment. At completion, the combined Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo Center will be the largest resort and hotel complex in the world with more than 7,000 suites and two million square feet of meeting and convention space.
Mr. Weidner also played a primary role in one of 2004's most anticipated initial public offerings, when shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. On opening day, the price of the Sands stock rose 61 percent, becoming the largest opening day of any American-based initial public offering in the last two years.
Prior to moving to Las Vegas, Mr. Weidner had been active in various regional, local civic and charitable organizations in New Jersey. He is a past Co-Chairman of the United Negro College Fund - Atlantic City Chapter, Vice-Chairman of the New Jersey Casino Association and served on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Casino Association, the Atlantic City Medical Center, the Atlantic City L.P.G.A. Charity Golf Classic and the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Weidner also served on the Board of Directors of Shorewood Packaging Corporation, a specialty packaging company traded on the NASDAQ.
Mr. Weidner is presently a member of the Board of Directors for several Las Vegas Sands entities as well as a member of the Board for Clark County Public Education Foundation and the Dr. Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research.
A native of Northville, Michigan, Mr. Weidner has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Hotel Administration from Michigan State University. He is married to the former Lynn Hackerman of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey and they now reside at Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada. | 