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After Irene Porter's father's retirement from the Air Force, the family moved to Las Vegas where her aunt and uncle were involved in the gaming industry. After she married, she and her husband Dick moved to Boston. They moved back to Las Vegas due to the bad economy in Boston. Irene worked for the Clark County Planning Department as a secretary but moved up to doing the work of the director, but without the title nor the pay of that position, so she went to work in the planning department of the city of North Las Vegas and became its director of planning. She was one of only five female planning directors in the country. Next Irene began lobbying at the Nevada legislature and became the first female full-time lobbyist in Nevada. She was fired from North Las Vegas following a secret meeting, and her subsequent lawsuit led directly to the first open meeting law in the state of Nevada. Irene then went to work for American Nevada Corporation, which was developing Green Valley. She became the first female project director on such a construction project. In 1977 Irene began to work for the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association. She built it into an effective lobbying organization and continued to work as a lobbyist at the Nevada legislature. At the time of the interview, she was the executive director/CEO for the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association.