Argelia Medina adds 1000 to her oversight at Desert Diamond Casino & Entertainment

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Argelia Medina keeps upping the ante on what it means to be a people leader at Desert Diamond Casinos & Entertainment. The chief human resources officer (whom we last spoke to in 2023) has dramatically increased her headcount by 1,000 at the Tohono O’odham Nation-owned enterprise, owed largely to a fifth new property, Desert Diamond Casino White Tanks in Arizona’s West Valley.

The $450 million, 184,000 square-foot facility broke ground in 2023 and opened its doors in December 2024. The new build features 900 Class III slot machines, an expansive poker room, a retail sportsbook, thirty-six table games, and Morton’s The Steakhouse restaurant.

For Medina, it was a lot of late nights.

“It was all hands-on deck for such a large project that had so many moving parts,” the CHRO explains. “The job fair events alone were a considerable amount of effort, and that’s just the first step. At our grand opening, we got to take a short moment to celebrate, but you have to remember that we were working on this project while maintaining continuity for our four other properties. There just wasn’t much time to pat ourselves on the back because the gaming world just doesn’t stop.”

There are particularities to the gaming world that Medina has learned to prepare for. The first year of a new property sees a significant amount of turnover. The CHRO says she’s learned over her extensive career that the gaming world just isn’t for everyone, and that is okay. It is a highly regulated industry where taking the job half-seriously just isn’t an option. So while the property may have opened in December 2024, the CHRO is only now, some eight months later, starting to feel hiring and onboarding efforts begin to cool down.

Medina’s time in gaming has offered her a far wider perspective on what it means to be a people leader, and what it means to empower employees. Over the past year, she was able to expand tuition assistance programs to cover both full- and part-time employees, now covering any degree or certification. Employees don’t have to be working in a field that applies to gaming. And that’s intentional, the CHRO says.

“Part of working in the gaming industry comes with the recognition that we need to be good neighbors and community members,” Medina explains. “When we develop our team members so that they can be successful in their lives, whatever that means, we’re positively contributing to our communities. If that means going to trucking school or opening your own business, we’re going to help you get there while you work for us.”

Part of that community focus comes from Medina having a community-focused boss, the Tohono O’odham Nation. The CHRO is not working for shareholders or some billionaire, she’s working to support a way of life. Revenues from Desert Diamond have opened nursing homes, dialysis centers, recreation centers, and supported critical services and infrastructure.

“It’s important for us to demonstrate the progress we’re able to bring to the tribe, and I also think it’s important for people to understand that there is a lot of progress that needs to happen,” Medina says. “We bring director-level employees to the reservation to see it in person, because it’s important. Did you think there were places in this country that don’t have running water? There are, and our revenues go to helping create better lives for these communities.”

Creating that revenue means taking care of employees, Medina says. With nearly 4,000 team members under her guidance, the CHRO says the majority of her time is spent in employee relations, guiding people through life’s highs and lows with leadership focused on empathy and countering burnout that is common to the 24/7 gaming world.

“If we want our employees to be healthy and happy, that messaging starts with me,” the CHRO says. “While the idea of a ‘normal’ schedule isn’t very translatable to the gaming world, we do try hard to create some flexibility and work-life balance for our people. Otherwise, the grind will inevitably wear you down. If I hadn’t created that for myself, I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago.”

At this point in her career, Medina is starting to think about the next generation of leaders that will take over her job someday, and how to best prepare them. She thinks of her own daughters, who both pursued medical careers, and how proud she is of the people they have become. She thinks of what she always told them, “If it were easy, everyone would do it,” and how the life she’s chosen wasn’t meant for everyone.

As Desert Diamond continues to expand, so too is the prowess of the company’s CHRO. Medina says the company’s appetite for growth seems to be accelerating, and she’ll be there to empower it for the betterment of her people and her community.

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