Key Park Place executive leaves in management shuffle

David Strow

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 | 10:45 a.m.

Mark Dodson, executive vice president and co-chief operating officer of casino operator Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas, resigned from the company Tuesday, Park Place announced.

Dodson was the president of Park Place's Western Casino Group, which includes all of Park Place's Nevada properties. But Dodson became a victim of a new corporate structure at Park Place, when Chief Executive Tom Gallagher named Eastern Casino Group President Wally Barr the sole chief operating officer of Park Place Tuesday. Barr will oversee all 29 Park Place properties around the world.

Dodson's departure was abrupt -- on Tuesday morning, Dodson was re-appointed to a two-year term on the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Offering Dodson a lower position within Park Place "just wasn't appropriate," Gallagher said. "I wouldn't do that to anybody."

"Mark and Wally were very much co-equals," Gallagher said. "In all good companies, you hope for situations where you have really talented people, but ultimately, you cannot have a company that has in effect two operating leaders.

"We knew in the long-term, to create a single corporate culture for all Park Place properties, to capture all the potential synergies, we needed to have a unified structure."

Though Gallagher described Dodson's departure as amicable, some sources said Dodson's departure was the result of a clash between Dodson and Gallagher.

"Mark Dodson had his way of doing things, and Tom (Gallagher) had his way of doing things, and they didn't get along," one gaming industry source said.

Dodson is the third top Park Place executive to resign since the death of former chief executive Arthur Goldberg last October. Paul Pusateri resigned as president of Bally's/Paris Las Vegas in October, and Dean Harrold stepped down as president of Caesars Palace in February.

"Mark and I got along very well, and I have tremendous respect for him," Gallagher said. "You don't make a decision like this based on personalities or pop psychology. It's about what's best for this company in the long term, and my view is that the package of skills, talent and experience Wally has is what I thought would be best for the company in the long run."

Gallagher also denied talk he was purging Goldberg partisans from Park Place.

"The guy I picked (Barr) was the guy that taught Arthur Goldberg the gaming business," Gallagher said. "It's got nothing to do with that stuff. That's the craziest thing of all."