2004 GREAT WOMEN OF GAMING
Proven leader

Pam Popielarski

President and General Manager
Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City

 

As President and General Manager of the Tropicana in Atlantic City, Pam Popielarski has defied tradition. In an industry where changing jobs, properties and companies are synonymous with career advancement, Popielarski has stayed put.

She is approaching her 25th anniversary in the gaming business, all of them at the Tropicana. Popielarski epitomizes the employee who has worked her way up the corporate ladder from her original secretarial position.

Popielarski was a paralegal for a major Philadelphia law firm in the late 1970s, but seeking opportunity. In 1980, her carpenter husband Joe encouraged her to explore the new casino industry in Atlantic City.

She landed at the Tropicana, working as an executive secretary. "It was a time of amazing opportunity and growth. I was making $12,000 at a huge law firm in a major city, but I started at the Tropicana making $18,000," says Popielarski.

Popielarski went on a two-week vacation in 1982, and returned to discover her boss gone and her possessions in boxes. She was sure her casino career was over, but Bob Renneisen, Tropicana's then-vice president of marketing, took her under his wing. "Bob was a master who taught me about public relations and marketing. I worked in every facet of marketing, developing drivein, mass marketing, slot and special events programs."

She continued to rise, assuming several titles between 1982 and 1986. Popielarski was appointed vice president of sales and marketing in August 1986. She remained in that position until 1992, when she was promoted to senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Another series of promotions from 1995 to January 1998 took her further up the corporate ladder, culminating in her appointment as president and general manager in January 1998. Popielarski is totally committed to the Tropicana and its staff. "I work six days a week from 9 am to at least 7 or 8 pm. Anything less than that feels like half a day to me," she says.

Popielarski has felt fortunate to have wonderful family influences. She says, "My parents, my husband and my children have had an enormous impact on my personal and spiritual growth."

It has been a fun climb for Popielarski, who is very happy to stay right where she is. "The company has been good to me and has given me so many opportunities. They let me grow in departments that interested me. The thousands of people who work every day at Tropicana have helped me achieve the leadership role I now have in this industry. It is an advantage that I am a woman because it probably makes me a bit more sensitive to our employees' emotions than a male. I tend to be a motherly leader in a sense. Employees know that they can come to me, that I genuinely care about them and they can count on me for support," she says.

Another important reason Popielarski has remained at the Tropicana is the lack of a "boys club" mentality. She is loyal to the senior management of the Aztar Corporation, Tropicana's parent company. She has known Chairman, President and CEO Paul Rubeli from the beginning, because as Popielarski puts it, he "lived in the hotel when it opened in 1981."

Popielarski says, "For some time there was a glass ceiling in the gaming industry in Atlantic City. I never faced any opposition as a woman in management at the Tropicana. Because of leaders like Paul Rubeli and Dennis Gomes, Aztar's president of resort operations, that ceiling has been shattered for women in top management positions on both the gaming and the hotel side of the business. They have had the greatest influence on my career."

However lucky she was to avoid the glass ceiling for women, Popielarski realizes that other women may confront some obstacles to getting ahead. Facing issues straight on is important. "Be professional at all times. Learn the company culture. If you see a problem, own it. If you have an idea, own it," she says.

Historically, Popielarski entered the gaming industry when the gaming customer was typically male, and so were most executives. "The gaming customer is now almost a 50/50 split between male and female. With more women in the workplace, it's clear that there are as many qualified women as men. "What other industry boasts five of 12 properties in one casino area led by women? That's a strong number. At Tropicana, our vice president of casino games is female and is one of the best. I am proud to say that Tropicana has more female vice presidents than any other Atlantic City gaming company," says Popielarski.

There is still plenty of room for growth, however. The opening of The Quarter, the Tropicana's new $280 million retail, dining and entertainment complex, proves that Popielarski is steering an aggressive property on the move. She says, "As we continue to grow in Atlantic City, women will continue to break new barriers in this industry, and at the Tropicana, we'll support them in their endeavors."


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