A Proven Leader for Clark County: Manny Kess

Accountability, Resilience, & Public Service

Manny Kess has spent more than two decades building businesses, navigating adversity, and leading through uncertainty. Now, the longtime entrepreneur and community leader is stepping into public service, running for Clark County Commission, District E, with a focus on accountability, transparency, and practical governance in Nevada’s most populous county.

Raised in New York and shaped early by his time at the U.S. Naval Academy, Kess’s leadership philosophy was forged through discipline, loss, and perseverance. While attending the Academy, he lost his father, an experience that reshaped his understanding of responsibility and service at a young age.

“Leadership is not about titles. It is about taking responsibility when things go wrong and showing up consistently when it matters most.”

Years later, during the Great Recession, Kess faced significant personal and financial setbacks. Rather than retreat, he rebuilt from the ground up. Fourteen years ago, he made Nevada his home, starting over with little more than experience, resolve, and a willingness to work.

That decision led to the creation of The Kess Group, now one of Las Vegas’s most respected hospitality companies, serving local families alongside athletes, entertainers, and business leaders. His entrepreneurial portfolio has since expanded to include restaurants, real estate, a travel startup, a sports memorabilia business, and a responsibly farmed, non-GMO, direct-to-consumer organic chicken operation.

“When you rebuild from nothing, you gain a firsthand understanding of how systems succeed, and where they fail real people.”

Kess credits his setbacks as essential to sharpening his leadership instincts. Rebuilding taught him empathy, discipline, and the importance of sustainable decision-making. These lessons, he says, apply as much to public service as they do to business.

“Businesses do not succeed in isolation,” Kess explains. “They succeed because of employees, customers, suppliers, and communities that support them. The same is true for government.”

Community reinvestment has remained a cornerstone of his work. Across his ventures, Kess has focused on job creation, ethical operations, and long-term value rather than short-term wins.

“Entrepreneurship should solve problems, not create new ones. Long-term value always beats quick gains.”

Fatherhood has further clarified his purpose. Kess describes his daughter as his greatest motivation and the lens through which he evaluates every policy decision.

“When you think about your child’s future, the stakes change,” he says. “Public service becomes about stewardship. The question is whether the decisions we make today still make sense decades from now.”

That belief ultimately led him to seek office.

Clark County, he argues, requires leadership grounded in transparency, fiscal responsibility, and measurable outcomes. As Nevada’s most populous county, decisions made at the commission level affect millions of residents and billions in taxpayer dollars.

“Taxpayers deserve leadership that is transparent, accountable, and focused on outcomes, not optics.”

Kess believes his private-sector experience gives him a practical advantage. He approaches governance the same way he approaches business leadership: listen carefully, measure performance, correct inefficiencies, and remain accountable to the people served.

Looking ahead, he sees alignment as Clark County’s greatest opportunity.

“When government, business, and community move in the same direction, progress accelerates,” he says. “That is how you build safer neighborhoods, sustainable growth, and restored public trust.”

As voters evaluate candidates for District E, Kess hopes they see his campaign not as a political move, but as a continuation of service.

“This campaign is about service, not politics. It is about bringing discipline, integrity, and long-term thinking back into local leadership.”

For Manny Kess, the path from entrepreneur to public servant is less a pivot than an evolution, shaped by adversity, guided by responsibility, and driven by a commitment to protect the future for the next generation of Clark County families.