By JAMES FINK
Business First

From her sixth-floor office in the Seneca Niagara Building, Cathy Walker has a picturesque view of Niagara Falls, including the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.

It is appropriate that Walker is sitting in that top-floor office. While she eschews accolades, she has broken through the glass ceiling.

As chief operating officer and principal executive officer of Seneca Gaming Corp., Walker is the company's highest-ranking female executive. That's highest ever.

Walker is a rarity in an industry that is decidedly male-oriented, especially in the executive suites.

"I don't see it that way," said Barry Snyder Sr., Seneca Nation of Indians president. "I see someone who was recruited to work here because she has the credentials, the knowledge and great leadership qualities. I don't see gender."

Seneca Gaming Corp., the casino operations arm of the Seneca Nation of Indians, oversees three local casino operations - the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in downtown Buffalo and Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel.

It is an organization with 4,009 employees and revenues in the 2008 fiscal year of $749.6 million. It is a highly visible corporate entity, and one that frequently works under a high-powered microscope.

The irony is that the soft-spoken Walker, 54, comes across more like one's sister or aunt than a Rutgers University law-school graduate who happens to lead one of the region's largest employers.

She was recruited to Seneca Gaming to be its chief operating officer, sort of a second-in-command to Brian Hansberry, the corporation's immediate past president and CEO. When he resigned earlier this year, Walker was named to the top post; she continues as COO and is also principal executive officer.

"Cathy knows the business," Snyder said. "She is just so well-informed."

Walker insists that she has not broken any glass ceiling.

"Seneca Gaming has always believed in promoting people on their achievements and abilities," she said. "If anything, I use my own experience as a teaching tool and guide for all of the workers here. I firmly believe (that) training people to advance is a big part of our mission."

A New Jersey native, Walker graduated from the Rutgers University School of Law and immediately went to work as a clerk for Hon. Lawrence Lasser, chief judge for the New Jersey Tax Court. Her clerkship led to a job with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, where Walker focused on education and election-law cases.

Walker's work with that office led to her being recruited by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, where she was named assistant general counsel - a post she held for 13 years.

"I really hadn't given gaming much of a thought until then," Walker said. "To me, it was new, (an) emerging industry and a challenge. I like to be challenged."

Walker's work caught the attention of the private sector, and she was recruited to work for Harrah's Entertainment and, later, for Players Island Hotel Casino operations in Louisiana and Indiana.

Walker joined Seneca Gaming in early 2008.

Walker has quickly become a "Buffalo kind of person," she says.

"This is a region that's loaded with tremendous opportunities," Walker said. "There's a lot of upside."

Far from being isolated inside her office, Walker has become quite familiar with the region - mainly from her drives to Salamanca or downtown Buffalo. Walker visits Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel at least one day a week, and sometimes two or three days. She makes at least one stop a month at Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, but that will likely become more frequent as Seneca Gaming begins an $8 million expansion of the Perry Street complex later this month. The expansion will allow Seneca Gaming to virtually double the size of the venue's slot-machine operations - from 244 currently to more than 450 slot machines. The expansion should be completed by next spring.

At some point, plans for a $333 million permanent Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino & Hotel may be revived. The project remains in a holding pattern, the Senecas say, until the national economy stabilizes.

Walker said she sees evidence that Seneca Gaming is having a positive impact on the region. At a time when many industries are shedding workers, the company has added more than 4,000 workers to its payroll since 2002. Still, the economy has been cited as the reason for sporadic layoffs of employees, including slightly more than 200 Seneca Gaming workers who lost their jobs in December.

Off the job, Walker sits on the board of the Western New York Foundation and plays an active role in its Success by Six program, which works with underprivileged youth on social and educational issues.

"If you can make a difference, you are helping everyone," Walker said. "The Senecas may be a sovereign nation, but we are still very much part of this community."

Cathy Walker snapshot
Name: Cathy Walker
Title: Chief operating officer/principal executive officer
Company: Seneca Gaming Corp.
Age: 54
Residence: Lewiston
Employees: 4,009 (12th-largest area employer)
Revenues: $749.6 million last fiscal year.
Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration and JD, both from Rutgers University
What she says: "Having a law degree makes you think differently and analyze things in a different way. You learn not to jump to conclusions. You also learn to be always thinking ahead and know how to react, but not overreact."