Bio
Betsy has over 30 years of experience working in leadership roles in both the public and private sectors in Southern Nevada. Her wide-ranging experiences as a public-sector CEO/City Manager and as a private sector executive notably position her to provide valuable leadership in a variety of settings. She has a unique understanding of the intersection of government and private sector activities.
Fretwell is currently the Interim President and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA). LVGEA is the regional economic development business attraction and retention public-private non-profit organization. Prior to her current role, Fretwell served as the inaugural Chief Operating Officer for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Betsy also established C4WARD STRATEGIES LTD, an independent consulting firm, specializing in management, government, and technology consulting, executive development, business development, program management and strategic advisory services.
Before starting C4WARD Strategies, she worked for Switch (an IT infrastructure ecosystem and data center company) for over 5 years. Betsy served as Executive Vice President of Strategy leading efforts in government affairs, public sector business development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic initiatives, and emerging technologies. She joined the Switch executive team when the company made its IPO in 2017 with a value of approximately $3.5B serving the company in progressively responsible roles until Switch was taken back private in late 2022 at a valuation of $11B.
Prior to working for Switch, Betsy retired from the City of Las Vegas, the nation’s 25th largest city, after 17 years and served as the second-longest serving City Manager/CEO in the city’s history, from 2009 to 2017. As a nationally recognized leader, she oversaw a complex organization of more than 3,300 employees with a $1.3B annual budget. Fretwell led the city through the Great Recession. She also served as the Executive Director of the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency charged with the economic revitalization of downtown Las Vegas. Under Fretwell’s leadership, the city built a new City Hall, attracted the corporate headquarters of Zappos.com, Inc. to downtown, completed The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, completed the MOB museum, and attracted the new UNLV Medical School to the City’s Medical District.
As a change leader, Betsy developed the Innovation District in downtown Las Vegas to test game-changing technologies in a live environment, hosting the first real-time autonomous shuttle in the U.S. The city also achieved a 4-Star community sustainability ranking by converting all city facilities to 100% renewable energy sources, improved the city’s equality index score to 100, and open data ranking to 1st among the nation’s cities during her time as City Manager.
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