The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s top executive is getting an 8 percent pay increase and a 40 percent bonus that will take his annual cash compensation to $409,704 a year.
The LVCVA’s board of directors unanimously approved the pay increase for President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter today, acknowledging that it was still below the average compensation for a destination management organization chief executive.
Mark Olson, vice president of human resources for the LVCVA, said a survey of the nation’s destination management organizations determined that the average pay for a top executive is $466,720 and the 75th percentile level is $516,800.
The LVCVA is considered one of the top convention and visitors bureaus in the country and is one of the few organizations that not only markets the destination, but manages convention facilities. In most locations, those responsibilities are split.
While the LVCVA board approved one other pay increase — LVCVA legal counsel Luke Puschnig — the organization’s contract with employees represented by the Service Employees International Union was postponed to give members of the compensation committee more time to review the agreement.
Puschnig will receive a 6 percent pay increase and a 25 percent bonus, putting his annual compensation at $186,252 a year.
The LVCVA’s compensation committee was scheduled to review a collective bargaining agreement with the SEIU Local 1107, but the meeting was postponed to June 27.
Olson, who serves as chief negotiator for the LVCVA, said discussions on the new five-year agreement with the union began in February. The union negotiating committee ratified a tentative agreement and the union’s membership approved it with a 95 percent of the vote. The current contract is set to expire June 30.
The full board is expected to consider the agreement at its July meeting and the current contract is expected to be extended until final approval.