Pair of vice presidents announces resignations from Harrah's Entertainment

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Two vice presidents for Harrah's Entertainment have resigned their positions within a week of each other to take similar positions with other companies.

Grant Ashley, vice president of security, gave notice last week that he is taking a similar position with Merck & Co. in New Jersey.

Ashley, a former special agent with the FBI who ran the bureau's Las Vegas office, joined the gaming company in 2006.

Terry Meistering, vice president of design and construction for the western region, gave notice Monday that she would be taking a similar position with the United Auburn Indian Community outside Sacramento, Calif. The tribe owns Thunder Valley Casino, which is operated by Station Casinos, which opened in June 2003.

Meistering first joined Harrah's in 1986 as member of an executive training program. After spending time in Atlantic City at Caesars, she rejoined the company in 1993, joining the construction and design division three years later.

She was promoted to her current position in 2006. Meistering's responsibilities were reduced during the past year as projects in the region were slowed or shelved due to the slowing economy.

Jan Jones, Harrah's senior vice president of communications, said Meistering was not linked to the troubled remodeling work on the Strip or the shuttered subsidiary, Roman Empire Development.

Meistering's departure comes less than five months after Kirk England, vice president of design and construction for the company, left Harrah's Entertainment to join his family in Colorado.

Ashley's and Meistering's departures also come after many executives cashed out lucrative rewards at $90 per share with the company's buyout by TPG Capital and Apollo Management.

Jones said both vice presidents are leaving the company on good terms.