SkyCity Entertainment Group Limited has revealed plans to appoint three new non-executive directors to the Board, namely Silvana Schenone, Julian Cook and Chad Barton.
The trio will act in an advisory capacity while awaiting approval from regulatory authorities in each of the gaming jurisdictions in which SkyCity operates, a process which SkyCity says will likely take some months to conclude.
The appointments follow a number of changes to the SkyCity Board and senior executive team in recent months, including the retirement last week of Bruce Carter after more than a decade as a director of the company, most of which he served as Deputy Chairman.
In November the company also announced the departure of CEO Graeme Stephens, CFO Rob Hamilton and CMO Liza McNally. Stephens has been replaced by former COO Michael Ahearne.
The three new director appointments propose the addition of significant experience to the Board, with Schenone currently a corporate partner at MinterEllisonRuddWatts in Auckland where she leads the firm’s Corporate division. She is also a one of 10 founding members of women’s online collective OnBeingBold, a Board member of the New Zealand Takeovers Panel and holds a Master of Laws from Harvard University.
Cook is the outgoing CEO of Summerset Group Holdings Limited and was a former Associate Director at Macquarie Group.
Barton is described as having extensive experience across finance, capital markets, mergers, acquisitions and property development and brings prior experience with a gaming firm as a former CFO for Australia’s Star Entertainment Group from 2014 to 2019. He was also CFO of Electronic Data Systems and helped establish Women in Gaming & Hospitality Australasia which aims to achieve gender equity and support the development and success of women in the gaming industry.
“The SkyCity Board is delighted to have secured Silvana, Julian and Chad,” said Campbell. “They bring considerable expertise and diversity, both individually and collectively, to the SkyCity Board in terms of their backgrounds and thinking.”