Vertical 04 · Regulatory Capture

The industries running their own regulators.

Nevada's largest industries — gaming, utilities, insurance, mining, contracting — are governed by boards whose members are appointed by the Governor. We list each board's current membership and, for every member, the public-record prior employment that explains why they were the appointee. Several seats are held by people who, immediately before being appointed, ran the regulated companies themselves.

Methodology Submit a tip

Boards profiled

First-wave boards: utilities + gaming. 7 more in queue.

Seats covered

All members named with prior-employment history.

Direct industry crossover

Members whose immediately prior role was at a regulated company.

Source records

Each board's official commission/membership page.

PUCN

Public Utilities Commission of Nevada

Electricity, natural gas, water, telecommunications, and railroad rates and service standards in Nevada.

Source: https://puc.nv.gov/About/Commission/Commissioners/

Hayley Williamson

Chair

Appointed by Governor Lombardo (reappointed 2023); Governor Sisolak (first appointed 2020) · term began 2020

Prior employment: Senior Assistant General Counsel and Acting General Counsel for the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada; attorney representing the agency before courts and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Capture signal: Career PUCN insider — promoted from staff counsel to Chair.

Sources:

PUCN commissioners page

Tammy Cordova

Commissioner

Appointed by Governor Lombardo (reappointed 2024); Governor Sisolak (first appointed 2020) · term began 2020

Prior employment: Staff counsel at PUCN; assistant staff counsel; administrative attorney; United States Navy officer (1991-1996).

Capture signal: Career PUCN insider — promoted from staff counsel to Commissioner.

Sources:

PUCN commissioners page

Randy J. Brown

Commissioner

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began October 1, 2023 (term ending October 1, 2027)

Prior employment: Most-recent prior role: Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Director for AT&T (as recently as 2023). Earlier led regulatory operations for AT&T in Nevada. Has served on the Nevada Tax Commission since 2017. CPA; B.A. Accounting, University of Nevada, Reno; Reno resident.

Capture signal: Industry incumbent — directed AT&T's regulatory and legislative affairs as recently as the year of his appointment to the body that regulates AT&T. Concurrently served on the Nevada Tax Commission since 2017. Brown's first test as a commissioner was an October 17, 2023 motion to reconsider an NV Energy ratepayer-subsidy ruling. Notable PUCN action since appointment: led a February 2024 decision making NV Energy ratepayers, rather than shareholders, pay for employee bonuses. Per Nevada Current (Sept 29, 2023): when asked about Brown's AT&T background, Lombardo's spokeswoman Elizabeth Ray told the Current that AT&T "is not regulated" — a characterisation publicly contradicted by PUC spokesman Peter Kostes, who confirmed the Commission regulates AT&T's services for "enforcement of provider of last resort obligations and compliance with requirements for interconnection between AT&T and its competitors."

Sources:

GCB

Nevada Gaming Control Board

Investigations, enforcement, audits, taxation, and licensing recommendations for Nevada's gaming industry.

Source: https://gaming.nv.gov/about-us/about-the-gcb-members/

Mike Dreitzer

Chair

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began June 2025

Prior employment: Deputy Attorney General (Nevada); Progressive Gaming; BMM Testlabs; Ainsworth Game Technology; CEO of Gaming Arts (slot-machine manufacturer).

Capture signal: Industry executive — was CEO of a slot-machine manufacturer (Gaming Arts) immediately before appointment to the body that regulates slot-machine licensing.

Sources:

GCB members page

Judge George Assad (Ret.)

Member

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began January 29, 2023

Prior employment: Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge (2002-2011); Clark County District Attorney prosecutor; private practice attorney; Nevada Transportation Authority Commissioner; casino-industry roles.

Capture signal: Mixed background — judiciary plus prior casino-industry roles.

Sources:

GCB members page

Chandeni K. Sendall

Member

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began January 2025

Prior employment: Deputy city attorney at Reno City Attorney's Office; law firms (Lionel Sawyer & Collins, McDonald Carano); law clerk to a Nevada Supreme Court Justice; Internal Auditor at Caesars Entertainment.

Capture signal: Former Caesars Entertainment internal auditor — left a regulated casino operator to regulate the industry that includes her former employer.

Sources:

GCB members page

NGC

Nevada Gaming Commission

Final-call regulator above the Gaming Control Board; issues licenses, hears appeals, sets gaming policy.

Source: https://gaming.nv.gov/gaming-commission/about-the-commission-members/

Jennifer Togliatti

Chair

Appointed by Governor Steve Sisolak · term began October 2021

Prior employment: Deputy District Attorney (Clark County DA); Justice of the Peace; Chief Judge (Eighth Judicial District Court); private alternative-dispute-resolution practice.

Capture signal: Career judiciary — no direct gaming-industry employment on record.

Sources:

NGC members page

Richard A. Schonfeld

Commissioner

Appointed by Not specified in commission bio · term began Not specified

Prior employment: Attorney; named partner at Chesnoff & Schonfeld law firm; corporate litigation counsel.

Capture signal: Private-practice attorney; firm client list (gaming-industry representation, if any) requires direct review.

Sources:

NGC members page

Brian Krolicki

Commissioner

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began February 2023

Prior employment: Wall Street banking career — Smith Barney and Bankers Trust Company. Per Faraday Future's 2020 board-appointment release: "over 20 years working with government and business in China" alongside the banking work. 24 years in Nevada public service: Nevada State Treasurer (1999-2007, two terms); Lieutenant Governor of Nevada (33rd, 2007-2015, two terms). As Lt. Governor: Chairman of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, Chairman of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, Vice Chairman of the Nevada Department of Transportation, and President of the Nevada State Senate. First person in Nevada history to be term-limited twice. April 23, 2020: appointed as Faraday Future's first Independent Board Member (5-person board), nominated by FF Global Partners. Per FF: "currently serves on multiple corporate and non-profit boards." Stanford University graduate.

Capture signal: Multi-decade revolving career: Wall Street → State Treasurer → Lt. Governor (chair of Tourism + Economic Development commissions) → Faraday Future board → NV Gaming Commission. The Nevada Commission on Tourism he chaired is one of the bodies overseen by gaming-industry-adjacent policy.

Sources:

George Markantonis

Commissioner

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began April 27, 2023 (term ending April 2027)

Prior employment: Hospitality career began in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the Carlton Hotel under Westin Hotels and Resorts (17 years across the U.S. and Canada). Joined Caesars Palace, Las Vegas as Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations in 2000 — oversaw hotels, entertainment, banquet/convention facilities, and 30+ food and beverage outlets at the 4,000-room megaresort. In 2004 became Chief Executive Officer of Kerzner International's Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai. Subsequently President of Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas (awarded the Bahamas "Cacique Hotelier of The Year" 2011). In March 2015, named President & Chief Operating Officer of The Venetian, The Palazzo, and the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas (Las Vegas Sands Corporation). After Apollo Global Management acquired the Vegas Sands properties in 2021, Markantonis served as CEO of the entity through the acquisition transition.

Capture signal: Textbook captured regulator — Markantonis ran top operations at Caesars Palace, The Venetian, The Palazzo, and Sands Expo (three of the largest licensees in Nevada) before being appointed to the body that regulates them. Per Nevada Independent coverage of the appointment, he is "only the second gaming industry executive appointed to the Nevada Gaming Commission."

Sources:

Abbi Silver

Commissioner

Appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo · term began April 2024

Prior employment: Nevada Supreme Court Justice; Nevada Court of Appeals Chief Judge; District Attorney prosecutor; municipal and justice court judge.

Capture signal: Career judiciary — no direct gaming-industry employment on record.

Sources:

NGC members page

What "capture" means here

Regulatory capture is the condition where the people regulating an industry are drawn predominantly from that industry, and where the regulator's positions consistently align with the regulated parties' positions. We document the membership and prior employment; readers can assess the alignment by reading the regulators' decisions.

Capture is rarely overt. It looks like:

Seats consistently filled with former industry executives.
Recommendations that quietly mirror trade-group positions.
Revolving-door flows where former regulators turn up as the same industry's lobbyists or in-house counsel within a year of stepping down.

For documented revolving-door cases that cross our datasets, see /revolving-door.

Lobbyist-as-own-client-officer pattern

One of the strongest regulatory-capture-by-design patterns in our data: the same person registers as a lobbyist for a private client AND simultaneously serves as a NVSOS-registered corporate officer of that same client’s NV business entity. NRS 218H requires lobbyist disclosure of compensation; NRS 281A.420 prohibits public officers from acting on matters in which they have a conflicting pecuniary interest. The combination creates a structural alignment problem distinct from one-off contributions.

Our auditor flags 171 such relationships across 117 lobbyists (149 of the underlying NVSOS corporations are currently Active). Full set on the auditor portfolio at /anomalies/; per-lobbyist detail surfaces on the lobbyist’s own profile page (the affected corporate relationships are listed under "NVSOS-registered officer-of" entries).

Boards in the queue

The next wave of profiles is being assembled. Each board will publish as a unit, once every seat has a verifiable career history. We don't ship half-built rosters.

Nevada Division of Insurance — Insurance licensing, rate filings, market conduct. Roster pending verification.
Nevada Tax Commission — State tax policy administration. Roster pending verification — note that PUCN Commissioner Randy J. Brown has also served on this body since 2017.
Nevada State Contractors Board — Contractor licensing and discipline. Roster pending verification.
Nevada Mining Oversight and Accountability Commission — Mining-industry oversight. Roster pending verification.
Nevada State Board of Health — Public-health rulemaking. Roster pending verification.
Public Employees' Retirement Board (PERS) — State pension fund management. Roster pending verification.
Nevada Commission on Tourism — Tourism strategy, marketing, and Travel Nevada operations. Composed of the lieutenant governor (chair), the LVCVA + RSCVA chief administrative officers, and eight gubernatorial appointees. Berry has flagged — ChatGPT cited Travel Nevada commissioner bio claiming Shelly Capurro (Tom Clark Solutions) was appointed June 2024; Travel Nevada page returned 403 on direct fetch. Need authoritative Lombardo press release.

Tip us

If you served on one of these boards, worked an issue before one, or have meeting records that show capture in motion, the SecureDrop on /tips is the safest channel.

Sat on one of these boards? Worked an issue before one?

If you have meeting records, internal correspondence, or industry-side documents that show capture in motion, the most secure way to share them is the SecureDrop on Nevada Whistleblowers.

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