Government Relations Profile: Napoleon McCallum

As a responsible corporate citizen, Las Vegas Sands aims to produce positive change in the local communities in which it operates. For the past 12 years, Napoleon McCallum, director of community development for government relations at Las Vegas Sands, has helped connect the company and the communities together to facilitate effective collaboration for its properties in the United States.

“Having a gaming license is a privilege and I try to ensure that we, as a company, are involved and finding synergy where we can be a driving force to make these communities better,” McCallum said.

Community involvement and a great working relationship with stakeholders in the community is key to establishing good standing. McCallum’s support for the community exceeds the borders of his office as he has sat on several organizational boards including the Urban League, Minority Supplier Development Council, Urban Chamber of Commerce, 100 Academy of Excellence Charter School, Andson Foundation, and Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Some of his work includes providing support and access to educational opportunities. He has served on the Clark County School District (CCSD) Superintendents Opportunity Advisory Council, Hope for Prisoners Advisory Council, and the Las Vegas Bowl Committee. He helped develop the relationship between the Public Education Foundation (PEF) and Las Vegas Sands by hosting their Scholarship Luncheons at The Venetian for the past ten years. It gave an opportunity for businesses and organizations, who believed in creating a brighter future by encouraging an education, to come and meet with those they had granted scholarships. The Foundation has awarded more than 6,100 scholarships totaling to nearly $12 million, McCallum said. The Teacher Exchange is another program in Las Vegas through PEF that McCallum played a role in supporting this initiative with the company. This program is set up for The Venetian, The Palazzo, and the Sands Expo Center to donate products and supplies they are no longer using to teachers who will give them to their students who are unable to afford these items.

“I get touched when I receive reports from organizations like the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) that their Young Executive Scholars program, which started in 2017, had a 100 percent success rate of their high school students going to college. And these students will be the first generation of their families that go to college,” he said.

McCallum believes his previous work experience has helped him through his success at Las Vegas Sands. As a Naval Academy graduate, he is especially moved by veterans and their causes. The company committed to housing homeless veterans through Veterans Village and its upcoming housing village. His experience playing professional football in the NFL gave him the opportunity to support many charitable organizations, something he continues to do in his current role. As a business owner, McCallum empathizes with small business owners and understands what it takes to keep their doors open and to provide jobs for the people who work for them.

“I enjoy working with different organizations who believe they can make our community better by affecting one aspect of life that will make a difference in people’s lives and discovering how our company can partner with them and help them help even more people and do an even better job at it,” he said.