Director of Purchasing Mrs. Nancy Gustitis reminisces about her time working alongside multi-billionaire and Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
From making executive decisions in the elevator of Trump Towers to making strategic marketing changes for Trump Castle, Malvern’s own Nancy Booth (Gustitis) was an integral part of Trump’s success.
In 1987, Director of Purchasing Mrs. Nancy Gustitis began a professional relationship with Donald Trump which evolved into a friendship that would continue for nine years.
Gustitis, whose maiden name and name during her managerial career was Booth, started her management career at the Golden Nugget Hotel Casino, a property owned by Trump’s rival Steve Wynn. She started at Wynn’s company as an Assistant Restaurant Manager and was promoted six months later to Restaurant Manager.
In 1984, Gustitis was promoted to VIP Services Manager in Wynn’s Hotel Division. Her new position tasked her with running 189 hotel suites for the high rollers, handling all the VIP guests, and accommodating entertainers, such as Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and their entourages.
In 1987, Gustitis was a part of a group of executives that left Wynn’s Golden Nugget and went to work for Donald Trump. She took a job at Trump Plaza and became Director of Customer Service – a position that put her in charge of the seven retail stores, limousine operations, bell desk, front desk, health spa, vending, children’s nursery, beach operations, beauty salon, mailroom, and coat check at the hotel.
In the same year, she started her professional relationship with Donald Trump which evolved into a friendship that would continue for nine years.
One of her most treasured memories, an experience she still remembers vividly nearly three decades later, is when she first met Donald Trump.
Since Trump Plaza was under a massive renovation at the time, she temporarily worked out of Trump Towers to redesign all the retail stores with the Vice President of Retail Operations. On the first day of the redesign project, she stepped on the elevator and turned around to see Trump along with his hulking bodyguards boarding behind her.
“I imagine he decided to run because he wants to see some changes in the country. Isn’t that why anyone runs? I don’t think he has any false motives at all.”
“He looked at me and said ‘Hi, who are you,’” Gustitis said. “So I introduced myself and told him my position. He then asked me where I worked before and when I told him the Golden Nugget, he smiled. He and Steve Wynn were always big rivals, so he was extremely happy to know we left to come and work for him.”
A few seconds later, in that elevator, Gustitis would make her first corporate decision under Trump.
“He asked me, ‘What do they have over at Golden Nugget that we don’t have at Trump Plaza?’” Gustitis said. “And at this time we were going through that big renovation but the one thing we weren’t redoing was the health spa. High rollers and entertainers of the day were starting to like them more and more so I told him we needed a better one.”
In the course of an elevator ride, Trump decided to trust Gustitis and gave her permission to start the construction of the new health spa.
“I went back to the president of Trump Plaza and told him the news,” Gustitis said. “They shortly thereafter hired an architect and within six to nine months we closed the old spa and started working on a new $4-5 million health spa.”
This experience stuck with Gustitis. She believes her interactions with Trump are indicative of the kind of man he truly is – not necessarily the man we see on the GOP debates or on The Apprentice.
“He treated us all well,” she said. “I used to sit next to him just like [a student] would sit next to a peer. I worked with him for nine years and he never disrespected anyone nor was he ever disrespectful to me.”
“He promoted women and he always respected everyone’s opinions, never displaying a sense of superiority,” she said.
A promotion would soon come for Gustitis herself. She was moved over to Trump Castle in 1990 where she assumed the role of Director of Retail and Marina Operations. This placed her in charge of the familiar retail stores along with the 729 boat Farley State Marina which was run like a hotel under a 100 year lease agreement with the state of New Jersey.
Her leadership at that marina would result in Gustitis’s favorite memory from her experiences with Trump.
Gustitis worked closely with the state of New Jersey to ensure that the Trump organization was in compliance with the marina’s lease.
With her experience in mind, Trump called her in for a meeting to ask for a favor.
“His bodyguard called me and asked me to come over to talk with Donald,” Gustitis said. “He opened right up by saying ‘I know you’re really close with these guys from the marina and I want you to get them to agree to changing the name to Trump Marina.’”
That was a Sunday, and Trump wanted a call back with good news on Tuesday.
“Of course I was pushed for time, but I called the state the next day,” Gustitis said. “Like I had thought, they said ‘Nancy, the name will never get changed.’”
Not defeated, Gustitis came up with a plan that required another name change.
“I came up with the idea to change the name of Trump Castle to Trump Marina instead,” she said. “Then by virtue of the fact that it’s right next door, people will start to call the actual marina, Trump marina. It would only make sense.”
Gustitis called Trump. She told him that the state would not let them change the name. Then she told him her idea.
His response? “Perfect, do it.”
According to Gustitis, Trump’s response was reminiscent of the ‘just do it’ attitude Trump possessed— an attitude she first saw in the elevator in Trump Towers.
It was a great idea according to Trump. However, it was also a multi-million dollar idea. The name change required hundreds of intricate changes from the signage to the name on the soap bottles. Despite all of that, Trump once again trusted Gustitis’s plan and within six months the project was completed.
Perhaps that great success prompted Trump’s next decision, to promote Gustitis once again. In 1992, she became the Director of Hotel and Marina Operations and ran the entire hotel including the Retail Operations, Marina, 800 hotel rooms and suites, housekeeping, bell desk, PBX (private branch exchange) operations, and sales and marketing. She was in charge of everything except the casino and food and beverage.
It was during her time running the marina that Gustitis met all of Trump’s children, Donald, Erik, and Ivanka.
“Donny came to work for me the next summer as a dock hand,” she said. “At first I was a bit nervous about my job security because this kid’s father was ultimately my boss. I thought his bodyguards were going to tell me exactly when he was going to work and what he was going to be doing”
Gustitis was soon relieved of her apprehension and pleasantly surprised. Donny was just another teenager whose dad made him work.
“He was incredibly humble. He didn’t want anyone to know his name or who his father was,” Gustitis said. “In fact, he used a fake name on his name tag. He was such a nice kid and never once played the ‘dad’ card. He was treated the same as all the other employees and he liked that.”
Ivanka and Erik were the same, kind and respectful just like their brother.
People may assume Trump’s children are privileged, but Gustitis described them as humble and hardworking. Similarly, people may assume Trump is egotistical and arrogant from some of his television appearances.
However, the personal experiences Gustitis has with Trump may warrant a second look.
“Donald certainly has a showman side to him,” Gustitis said. “But that is all an act. In my nine years working for him, I never saw him talk to anyone like he does on TV. Don’t get me wrong, he is a strong-willed man and won’t take no for an answer, but he is a good man at heart.”
Will Trump’s domineering, ‘get the job done’ attitude work in the political realm? That is for the people to decide.
“He was and still is a very successful business man. But that’s just that – business. I don’t know his political ideologies or whether his business principles would translate well,” Gustitis said. “All I know is he always loved our country and he always will.”
Rumors have been flying around that Trump is not in the election to better the country, but rather to better himself. Gustitis was quick to dismiss that pretense.
“He already has money and fame so I do not think he needs more of that,” she said. “I imagine he decided to run because he wants to see some changes in the country. Isn’t that why anyone runs? I don’t think he has any false motives at all.”
In October 1996, Gustitis met her husband, Gene. His son went to Malvern, so she decided to move to Pennsylvania and get a job at the Malvern campus store.
Next time you stop in to the campus store, rather than just take the free piece of candy, ask Gustitis about her experiences. She certainly has more fascinating stories she’d love to tell.
Matt Magargee (2014) • Feb 22, 2016 at 11:15 am
This is cool.
Just a Concerned Replier • Feb 15, 2016 at 12:13 am
Excuse me, JB Betts (2012), but did it ever occur to you that this piece was not intended to be political? Donald Trump is clearly not the primary subject of this article – Mrs. Gustitis is. Mrs. Gustitis shared with the author her working experience with one of America’s most influential businesspeople (because whether you like him or not, you must admit that Donald Trump and his businesses are a very important piece of the American economy). This woman had a 9 year career-turned-friendship with Trump. Tell me, JB Betts (2012), have you ever had an experience like Mrs. Gustitis’? Probably not, hence the title, “You can’t Trump this experience.” It’s unfair of you to attack the author and Malvern Prep for publishing Trump propaganda when that clearly was not the intent of the piece. Mrs. Gustitis was simply sharing her firsthand experience with Trump and giving her thoughts about him. Last time I checked, there was nothing wrong with that. Next time you read an article, please pay attention to the message the author is trying to convey, not your own prejudices.
JB Betz (2012) • Feb 15, 2016 at 1:23 pm
Hey there Concerned Replier~
I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite concepts…CONTEXT! Right now we are in election season and Donald Trump is the Republican front runner. This article is written during that point in time AND even talks about how Mrs. Gustitis feels his political intentions HAVE to be pure because he’s already got SO MUCH MONEY! I mean, come on! Not political? I don’t think so. And citing Donald Trump as an important part of the american economy is laughable. Dressing up selfish pursuit and delusions of grandeur as beneficial to the american populous is silly. ESPECIALLY since Trump had to be bailed out in the 90’s when he was in 5 BILLION (8.8 billion by some estimates) dollars worth of debt. He certainly isn’t the financial genius he boasts to be. The only reason he’s worth anything is because of his father’s successes and riches. That’s the REAL Donald Trump story. But back to the intent of this article, which I have apparently missed! If this article was meant to only tell about Mrs. Gustitis’ experience then I find the inclusion of her thoughts on current events involving Mr. Trump to be quite confusing. If you wanna talk about biases let talk about how biased that whole part of the article is. Biases in journalism can be a slippery slope but are more acceptable if they’re backed with facts at least (then they aren’t biases as much as they are informed opinions). Unfortunately this obvious endorsement of Trump is based in nothing but bias. No hard facts, no critical thought into his policies. This is a dangerous thing, especially since the bulk of the audience is young developing Americans. If Mrs. Gustitis want’s to use Malvern’s journalistic tools to share her life experiences then by all means go for it. Hell, if she wants to endorse Trump publicly, go for it. But don’t put out some wishy washy combination of the two, be responsible about it. Understand that your audience is younger than you and is going to be influenced by what you say. Coming out publicly and endorsing a candidate (which knowingly or not, is what Mrs. Gustits did) and citing only personal bias as the reason is irresponsible. Personally, I would question the character of anyone who would want to associate themselves with such an obviously hateful man, but to each their own. At the end of the day, Concerned Replier, you have to understand that intention is irrelevant when you put something out into the world. Critical thought often reveals that what a piece is actually doing does not match up with the intent. The job of those who wish to put their voice out is to make sure they do so in a responsible manner that conveys what they desire in a clear and legitimate way. So, Concerned Replier, I implore you to take up the mantle of concerned READER as I have, and to think critically.
An even more concerned replier • Feb 28, 2016 at 9:47 pm
JB Betts, while everyone is clearly entitled to their own opinion, and you certainly have a very strong one, the purpose of journalism is to report on specific perspectives and cannot always reflect 100% of every viewpoint out there. This article offers a personal perspective of a personal relationship. I would highly suggest reading Hunter Peck’s “I’m Offended that you’re offended” piece in this publication, it does a very good job countering your belief that just because you disagree with an opinion doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be presented for discussion.
JB Betz (2012) • Feb 6, 2016 at 7:56 pm
Too many kids these days don’t care about learning the facts. easier to stay ignorant and hate. So of course it’s the job of the older generations to inform and guide. I really worry for the 18 and below crowd, especially at places like Malvern. A piece like this has no place getting published in any format in my opinion. It holds no actual weight and doesn’t talk about facts or even the policies Trump has proposed (all of which are egregious, outlandish, and fatally reactionary) Certainly not a critical look, it just reads like propaganda. “I knew trump for years and he was a nice guy!” It just doesn’t add anything to the conversation. Just a distraction that contradicts his public mode (which is the mode of the president) He’s a dangerous man and what he stands for is dangerous. He has normalized OVERT radical racism in politics. Even if he isn’t elected, his damage is done. He is certainly not a character worth defending and it is absolutely unbecoming of a CATHOLIC institution such as Malvern Prep to discuss him in any other way than that of an evil man who represents the worst side of our country.