The Las Vegas Strip has undergone a complete transformation over the past three decades, with bargain-centric properties giving way to luxury megaresorts. And nobody has had a better view of it than Bill McBeath.

McBeath was just a year removed from college when he landed at MGM Mirage, where he learned under hotel-casino icons Steve Wynn and Bobby Baldwin just as they were launching the megaresort era. A decade later, Wynn handed McBeath the keys to Treasure Island, thus beginning a leadership run in which McBeath subsequently presided over The Mirage, Bellagio, Aria/City Center and, today, president and CEO of the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas.

Given his career track and the fact that he’s a lifelong Las Vegan, one might assume McBeath was born to be a hospitality power player. Not exactly.

“No one in my family is in this industry,” McBeath said. “But growing up in Las Vegas and watching the growth of hospitality within the city created a desire to [follow] in the footsteps of some of the great visionaries, including Benny Binion and Steve Wynn.”

Once he zeroed in on a career path, McBeath knew the best place to begin his journey was at his hometown university’s renowned hospitality program, which he said “provided the foundation [for] my career and instilled in me a fundamental understanding of hospitality and, more importantly, gaming hospitality.

“I take great pride in graduating from the Hotel School, knowing that some of the world’s most outstanding hospitality leaders took the first steps in their career as a result of being shaped by their time and education at UNLV.”