Casino Enterprise Management

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. The one who strives valiantly, yet errs and comes up short again and again. The one who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The one who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement­–yet also the one who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly–so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt
“Citizenship in a Republic”
Paris, April 23,1910

Christian Johnson is not a critic. He does not point out the failures of other men. He does not sit on the sidelines waiting for others to decide his fate. Instead, he is a man who strives valiantly with great enthusiasm in all that he does. He spends himself only in worthy causes and knows the triumph of great success because he has dared greatly. Christian Johnson is a living testament to his favorite quote, spoken by Theodore Roosevelt nearly a century ago. But, despite these commendable traits that he embodies, Johnson remains about as far from conceited, arrogant or boastful as a man can get. Actually, he’s an extremely nice, down-to-earth guy. And he’s funny, easily laughing at himself and happy to share his story with anyone, including a visiting magazine editor from Fargo, N.D.

Nonetheless, it is impossible to overlook Johnson’s honesty, competence and intelligence. He has spent a lifetime developing these traits while striving for excellence in all that he does—and he has accomplished a whole lot in those years, including joining the gaming industry as the corporate vice president of capital effectiveness for Harrah’s Entertainment. 

It’s a position he never expected to hold, and it wasn’t until Johnson was hired that the position even existed there. “About a year and a half ago, Harrah’s developed the position to help steer the company’s overall capital growth and effectiveness,” Johnson explains.

Put simply, Johnson is in charge of managing the corporate giants’ capital and ensuring that capital has the greatest ROI possible. “I manage the effectiveness of Harrah’s capital budgets, including all growth and maintenance projects,” he says. “I also manage the development of the long-range and operating plans for the capital spent across the entire business.”

With a fleet of more than 50 casinos in six countries (under brands that include Harrah’s, Caesars, Paris, Flamingo and Horseshoe), Johnson has a lot of effectiveness to ensure, so it’s a good thing he’s got the experience to back it up.

Super Experience
Johnson always had high aspirations—“I wanted to be Superman growing up,” he laughs. And one could argue that he met this goal, though in a more readily achievable way, through the armed forces. In 1986, after graduating from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in electrical power engineering, Johnson went to work as a naval super hero of sorts. “I really didn’t have a definite direction in life until I saw the lay of the land that was offered through the Navy,” he says of his four-year ROTC Naval Scholarship to Rensselaer.

It was during his time at Rensselaer that Johnson was introduced to the teachings of Admiral Hyman Rickover, otherwise known as the father of the nuclear Navy, and a person whom Johnson greatly admires. “After reading Rickover, which is a 700-plus page book about the life and naval career of four-star Admiral Hyman Rickover, I was inspired to go into nuclear propulsion,” he says of his early career.
It turned out Johnson had a knack for nuclear physics and engineering. He was one of only 12 chosen nationwide in 1986 to join the 250 full-time nuclear engineers at the naval headquarters in Washington, D.C. “I was responsible for a number of exciting projects, including analyzing and correcting emergency-power system failures and problems in the Navy’s 178 nuclear propulsion plants. I could have chosen a position in the fleet aboard a ship or submarine, but I wanted to be around the ‘really smart people’ designing the submarines with Admiral Rickover’s staff,” he says with a smile.

Over the next five years, Johnson would prove to be one of those “really smart people” himself. He excelled as a nuclear engineer and achieved the rank of Lieutenant, living by Rickover’s leadership philosophies and relishing in each opportunity to learn and serve his country. “I managed the installation of a $2 million emergency-power system for a nuclear power plant in Charleston, S.C.,” he explains. “That electric power plant ended up providing seven days of power to the city of Charleston following Hurricane Hugo in 1989.” This, he says, was a highlight of his career in the U.S. Navy, although he is equally proud to have served during the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. “The work of the U.S. Navy helped our country win the Cold War, and I feel like I had a small part in that,” he says modestly.

Masters Bound
After mastering nuclear science during almost six years in the Navy, Johnson knew he needed a new challenge. “When I decided to leave the Navy, I distinctly remember thinking to myself, why?” he notes. “I honestly felt like I had gotten out of it all that I could—and that new opportunities must lay ahead. I decided to make a change, so I applied at various schools to get an MBA.” One of those schools was Harvard.

“I applied and was accepted,” he remembers with enthusiasm. “I was overjoyed in the confidence Harvard had in me, and I was excited to be a part of its student body.” For the next two years, Johnson feverishly studied international finance. He also met and studied under his future boss Gary Loveman.
“I took a service management course that Gary taught, and it was a very interesting and engaging class,” he says. “It focused on hotel and entertainment industry customer service and the service profit chain. Gary really stood out as a teacher because he was very people orientated. He was always reaching out to his students to ensure their understanding and was willing to explain anything they were confused about.” From that class on, Johnson would follow Loveman’s career until their paths eventually crossed again in 2007.

Worldly Ways
After graduating with his MBA from Harvard, Johnson went on to spend more than 15 years working in international finance, traveling the world to advise foreign governments on financial and economics issues. He worked for some of the world’s most respected international financial companies, including UBS Securities, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Booz Allen Hamilton and BearingPoint. “I found myself very successful at international finance,” he says. “I was able to tour the world, learning about many different cultures and ways of life. I also was able to positively and directly impact the lives of people enduring the challenges associated with rapidly changing economic systems.”

Those 15 years afforded him many unique experiences. He was an economic advisor to governments in China, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Philippines, France, Spain, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and countless other countries. He ran with the bulls in Spain. He ran marathons in four different cities. He learned how to speak French and Spanish and is conversant in Russian as well. He published a book and lectured at prominent universities and the United Nations. He even had the opportunity to meet his economic idol, Warren Buffett. “I have a picture with him framed in my office,” he says with pride.

But most importantly, he met and fell in love with his wife. “She was a Russian fashion designer from Kyrgyzstan,” he says with adoration. “While advising the Kyrgyz SEC and working to grow the country’s stock exchange, I met my future wife Dina. We dated, fell in love, and started a family.”

But after 15 years in international finance and having started a family, Johnson began to reconsider his career choice. “I realized that I had a daughter starting kindergarten and I was spending more than 80 percent of my time traveling,” he explains. “Plus, the world economy was changing. I was seeing more short-term advisory work, and I made a personal decision that I wanted to have a more normal career while my daughter was in elementary school.”

When Johnson began looking for other opportunities that fit his skill set he remembered one from his past. “I had followed Harrah’s ever since I graduated from Harvard, especially after Gary Loveman joined them,” he notes. “It was an exciting company and an exciting industry, so I decided to see if they had any career opportunities I was interested in. I first applied for an international development position, which I figured would be perfect because I could leverage my broad overseas experience to help Harrah’s expand internationally. But I applied and never heard anything back.”

But like the true leader he is, that didn’t stop him. “I followed up with Harrah’s and found out that the position had been filled internally. Although disappointed, I said thank you and asked that my resume be kept on file in case something else comes up,” he says. A short while later, Johnson got a call. “Heather O’Green called me in late February of 2007 and said they were hiring for a newly created position that fit my experience. And that’s how I got to Harrah’s.”

Having traveled to nearly every corner of the world, you’d think it might be tough living in Las Vegas for Johnson, but he says it’s his favorite place on earth. “I find that I’ve traveled so many different places, that it’s better to focus on the advantages of where I am presently rather than where I’ve been,” he says.

Looking Ahead at Harrah’s
Now with a home base inside Harrah’s corporate offices at Caesar’s Las Vegas, a typical day for Johnson involves working on capital requests, budgeting, and driving value throughout the enterprise. “Our capital approvals go through a five-member capital committee, and I’m responsible for reviewing every capital request that comes through on both a monthly and annual basis,” he says. “I review the strategy, the models, and the input assumptions to ensure validity and challenge where appropriate.”

While some colleagues might refer to Johnson as the “No” man when it comes to asking for capital, Johnson insists he is the “Yes” man. He works with corporate, division and property leadership to build sustainable financial and strategic cases for capital projects. “If the case falls short, it is better to know before a project is funded rather than afterward,” he explains. 

Although Johnson hasn’t yet been with Harrah’s for two years, he’s already made quite a mark. “Besides directing capital toward the highest value projects, one of the notable things I accomplished recently was developing a lease analysis tool, which incorporates the effects of our Total Rewards program on our third-party leases,” he explains. “I also was responsible for selling two of our corporate aircrafts during the most challenging economic times in aviation history. I was able to sell them both for more than their book value.”

And that isn’t the only tight-economy challenge he has faced at Harrah’s. “I don’t think it’s a corporate secret, but I’m trying to securitize our casino credit,” he says. “It’s been a very interesting and challenging 18 months.”

While Johnson has affected much change already, he’s not even close to finished. “I love the people I work with and I hope to stay with Harrah’s for a very long time,” he says. That should be easy to do, considering his unique view on gaming: “People thought I was crazy when I told them a year ago this economic downturn could be the best thing that ever happened to the gaming industry. First, the downturn will help us to improve our cost structure and make us more efficient. Second, governments in the U.S. and globally will need revenues to supplement their budgets. This will cause gaming to grow at a more rapid pace around the world, and Harrah’s is in a prime position to realize the benefits from that expansion. I think it’s really important to be a believer in your industry, to have a path for growth, and a path for success.” Paths that Johnson has already been walking for a very long time.

Krista Reiner is the Managing Editor of Casino Enterprise Management Magazine. She can be reached at (701) 293-7775 or editor1@aceme.org.