In July 2010, Donald D. Snyder was appointed interim dean of the UNLV William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration.

Snyder retired from Boyd Gaming in 2005. He first joined the company as a member of the board of directors in April 1996 and was later named president of the company on Jan. 1, 1997, a post he held until his retirement.

Snyder was previously the president and chief executive officer of the Fremont Street Experience, where he held the chairman's post on its governing board until August 2006. He served from 1987 through 1991 as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of First Interstate Bank of Nevada, the state's largest full-service bank at the time.

Snyder has been actively involved in numerous business, charitable, and civic activities in Southern Nevada. He has served on the boards of several gaming and non-gaming companies, including current service on the boards of Bank of Nevada, which he co-founded, and its parent, Western Alliance Bancorporation; NV Energy; Tutor Perini Corporation; and Switch Communications Group, LLC.

As chairman of the board of directors, Snyder has played an integral role in The Smith Center for the Performing Arts since the incorporation of its charitable foundation, the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation, in 1996.

Snyder is a cum laude graduate of the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He completed the Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management at Stanford University and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by UNLV in 2001. Snyder and his wife, Dee, have been married for 39 years and have three children and one grandchild.