It will take time, but Shawn Cardinal will eventually learn not to rush to answer the telephone.

That's easier said than done for a person who has spent most of the past four decades as the personal assistant to gaming executives and had a private phone line at her home to answer their calls 24/7.

Cardinal, 65, retired this month from a career that included 24 years working for philanthropist and gaming executive Elaine Wynn. She served as an eyewitness to changes in the industry as the company transitioned from the Golden Nugget to Mirage Resorts to Wynn Resorts before embarking on a 16-year journey as the personal assistant to Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta III.

Her reputation was built with two gaming companies: one transformed the Strip’s skyline and the other the locals gaming market. She moved to the casino floor at Wynn Las Vegas as the director of VIP services for the property’s initial three years. 

But her home was always in the executive suite, where she did much more than just scheduling and answering phone calls. During her career, Cardinal was involved in the planning and execution of parties and special events — personal and business-related — on behalf of her bosses and their children, who praised her attention to detail and considered her almost family.

Seven years into her role with Elaine Wynn, her boss suggested Cardinal take on oversight of the growing Golden Nugget Scholarship Foundation, which awarded financial aid packages to hundreds of Southern Nevada students to further their education. 

Her career brought some unwanted attention in 2017 when she was contacted by a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was investigating allegations of sexual abuse by Steve Wynn. On the advice of Elaine Wynn, who suggested first running it by Fertitta, she agreed to let her name be used in the January 2018 article that led to Steve Wynn’s forced exit from the gaming industry. 

Most of the women who described the abuse were not identified, but Cardinal said allowing her name to be used by the reporters helped get the story published because it showed a pattern of abuse going back decades, including what she described as “inappropriate” overtures toward her in the late 1980s from her then-boss’s husband.

During her time at Red Rock, she assisted in the elaborate weddings of Fertitta’s daughters, Kelley in 2018 and Victoria in 2021, which included working with agents on the high-profile performers hired to entertain at the events.

“I literally had just two jobs my entire adult life,” Cardinal said of working for the gaming companies, adding that she clicked early on with both executives.

“For whatever reason, [they] felt they could trust me,” Cardinal said.

She is now looking forward to spending extended periods at an Incline Village home she built with her husband, Tom Jingoli, chief operating officer for gaming equipment provider Konami Gaming. She won’t be absent from Las Vegas, where her two children and grandson reside. 

Cardinal expressed some unease about being the subject of a profile story after decades of just doing her job. However, Fertitta and Elaine Wynn said she deserved the attention.

In an emailed message, Fertitta said he considered Cardinal “an invaluable part of his team” from the moment she joined Red Rock Resorts. 

“Shawn touched all aspects of the business and improved our company in so many ways,” Fertitta said. “What makes Shawn so effective at her job is that she is well-known in the industry, and well liked in the community.”

In an interview, Wynn said Cardinal was one of the many young women she enjoyed mentoring. But Cardinal’s skills and interests stood out and the relationship expanded into additional responsibilities. 

“Over time, I saw Shawn more than I saw my adult daughters,” Wynn said. “She grew into her roles and became part of my interior world when she took on a dimension that's entirely different than just being a secretary. We developed a deep affection and a familial bond.”

A unique job description

Cardinal was 25 when she answered a newspaper job advertisement. Although the position had been filled, the employment agency’s owner sent her to the Golden Nugget because she learned Elaine Wynn was seeking an assistant. The pair hit it off immediately.

Their office was on the casino floor near the hotel elevators. The pair often ate lunch together in the buffet. Golden Nugget was growing as a company and, as Wynn took on more roles, including civic engagement, Cardinal followed along.

“At some point, it transferred into an extended family relationship,” Wynn said.

Cardinal often represented Elaine Wynn and provided remarks on her behalf at business and social functions. She also managed Golden Nugget’s corporate charitable efforts, including the scholarship foundation. The position included outreach to the schools and applicants, speaking at the awards programs and monitoring the students’ progress through college.

Even after the scholarship program ended when the company was sold to MGM Resorts in 2000, Cardinal said she has maintained contact with some of the recipients.

“They’re grown and they have kids in college,” she said. “When you realize how many kids — I still call them my scholarship kids — came through the program, that’s something I’m proud of.”

As the business grew beyond the Golden Nugget and expanded to the Strip through The Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio, Cardinal took on more job duties. She said she especially enjoyed her time helping with The Mirage’s development ahead of its Nov. 22, 1989, opening and grew closer with other executives’ personal assistants in the company.

“When we moved in [it was] a month before it opened, so we had the run of the place,” Cardinal recalled. “It gave you a sense of ownership.”

Following the company’s sale to MGM, she remained with Wynn through the development of Wynn Las Vegas. Before the property’s opening, Cardinal took on the role as the resort’s director of VIP services, managing a staff of 20 employees responsible for handling all high-end casino customers. The division had an operating budget of $1.5 million.

Cardinal said Elaine Wynn suggested the job change.

“I knew she was extremely talented and that she had the capacity for a greater kind of managerial position if she so desired,” Wynn said. “Shawn had an opportunity to get very involved in developing skills that were way beyond the job description of just a personal assistant.”

But she was warned that heading VIP Services was not a normal job. She was constantly on call with customers and management. Cardinal said she enjoyed working with the team she was managing and the experience but after a few years realized that casino operations weren’t the same as overseeing projects and events on behalf of Elaine Wynn and the company.

“There is a beginning, a middle and an end when you do events,” Cardinal said. “There’s an excitement and when it ends, it’s done. Operations never end.”

Joining Red Rock

Cardinal returned to her executive assistant role with Wynn but after a few years, she was getting restless. John Pasqualotto, vice president of regulatory compliance for Red Rock's operating arm Station Casinos — and a friend of her husband — said the company had an opening and asked for her resume.

“I had no idea the job was with Frank,” she said. But after a few interviews, Cardinal said she “found a connection” with the CEO, whose company had emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring.

The hard part was telling Elaine Wynn she was leaving.

“She was very upset,” Cardinal recalled. “But then she went for a walk and calmed down. She told me the Fertittas were her favorite family in town and if I had to go somewhere, then that was the perfect place.”

Wynn also thought the Fertittas — Frank and his brother, company vice chairman Lorenzo Fertitta — “could use some feminine direction in their professional world,” adding, “She does it so tactfully and gracefully, that I did not doubt that she could be perfect for them.”

“I think that everybody has a right to pause and reassess where they are in life,” Wynn said. “She was a mom raising two children. She did have a private life. She did care about going out and being social.” 

Cardinal quickly developed a similar bond with Fertitta and other top executives at Red Rock, who said her “attention to detail set high standards for the company.”

As she heads into retirement, Cardinal said she’ll miss the excitement of the gaming industry.

“I’m ready to retire, but I’ll miss it because the job is part of my identity,” she said. “I’ve never not worked in my entire adult life. My friends always called me ‘Shawn in Mrs. Wynn’s office.’”