Elaine Farrell Wynn ( Pascal; born April 28, 1942) is an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businesswoman, philanthropist and art collector. She co-founded

Mirage Resorts Mirage Resorts (formerly Golden Nugget Companies) was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International). History Golden Nugget Companies Inc. ...

and

Wynn Resorts Wynn or wyn (; also spelled wen, ƿynn, and ƿen) is a letter of the Old English alphabet, where it is used to represent the sound . History The letter "W" While the earliest Old English texts represent this phoneme with the digraph , ...

with her former husband,

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

. She has supported education causes, the performing arts and the visual arts.

Early life

Wynn was born to a middle-class Jewish family on April 28, 1942, in New York City. She graduated from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, where she received a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science in 1964.

Business career

Wynn co-founded the

with her former husband in 1976. They also co-founded

in 2000. She served on its board of directors. She played a pivotal role in the resurgence and expansion of the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

with her former husband. In 2015, she nominated herself to the board, but she was not confirmed. Wynn is the company's largest shareholder, with a 9% stake valued in May 2018 at nearly $2 billion. In 2018, after revelations of Steve Wynn's reported sexual harassment of multiple Wynn employees, and payments to cover up those allegations that were kept secret from the board of directors, he sold his 12% share of the company and agreed to return voting rights to Elaine Wynn (which she had signed away during their 2010 divorce agreement). In June 2018, Wynn successfully led a shareholder proxy campaign to remove John Hagenbuch from the board, due to his conflict of interest created by ties to the company's former CEO.

Philanthropy and art collection

Wynn serves on the board of trustees of the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation. She served as the chair of the UNLV Foundation, a fundraising organization for the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. She also served on the executive board of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education. She serves on the national board of directors of

Communities In Schools Communities In Schools (CIS) is a non-profit organization based in America. CIS works within public and charter schools to help at-risk students. CIS works with schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia. In In February 2020, CIS announce ...

, a non-profit organization which supports financially disadvantaged schoolchildren. She was appointed to Nevada's Blue Ribbon Education Reform Task Force in 2011, and on Nevada's State Board of Education in 2013 and 2015. She was appointed to the board of trustees of the

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

by President Barack Obama in 2011. She serves as the co-chair of the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

(LACMA). Wynn is an avid art collector. In 2013, she acquired

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

's ''

Three Studies of Lucian Freud ''Three Studies of Lucian Freud'' is a 1969 oil painting, oil-on-canvas triptych by the Irish-born British painter Francis Bacon (artist), Francis Bacon, depicting artist Lucian Freud. It was sold in November 2013 for 142.4 million, which at th ...

'' for a US$142.4 million, and loaned it to the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum becam ...

Personal life

Wynn married businessman

in 1963. They divorced in 1986, remarried in 1991, and divorced again in 2010. Wynn resides in the couple's mansion inside

Southern Highlands Golf Club Southern Highlands Golf Club is a private club with a championship 18-hole golf course and a highly affluent neighborhood located in the Southern Highlands area of the Las Vegas Valley. The golf course was co-designed by Robert Trent Jones and hi ...

.Is Steve and Elaine Wynn's Relationship Now Strictly Business?
HotelChatter (January 28, 2009).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynn, Elaine 1942 births Living people American art collectors American billionaires American company founders American women company founders American corporate directors Philanthropists from New York (state) Female billionaires Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni Jewish American philanthropists Businesspeople from New York City Steve Wynn