Crown Appoints New CEO in Sydney, New Corporate/Brand Officer

Crown Resorts has appointed Simon McGrath (l.) CEO of Crown Sydney and group head of hospitality. It has also appointed Danielle Keighery to the newly created role of chief corporate affairs and brand officer.

Crown Appoints New CEO in Sydney, New Corporate/Brand Officer

Australia’s Crown Resorts has appointed Simon McGrath CEO of Crown Sydney and group head of hospitality, effective in February 2022.

McGrath will replace Peter Crinis, who left the company as CEO after 24 years. McGrath is currently CEO of Accor Pacific, which operates 397 hotels with 18,000 employees. He has 30 years’ experience in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Crown Resorts CEO and Managing Director Steve McCann commented, “We are very excited to welcome Simon to the executive team at Crown, to lead our newest Australian resort in Sydney and oversee our hospitality offer.”

Crown also has appointed Bank of Queensland Group’s Chief Customer Officer Danielle Keighery to the newly created role of chief corporate affairs and brand officer.

Keighery was described by Crown as “part of its ongoing business transformation,” a clean-sweep effort in the aftermath of money laundering scandal that also saw the exits of many executives and board members.

Crown stated that Keighery will “lead Crown’s brand and reputation work across all touch points and align its corporate affairs, public relations, government relations, brand, sponsorship, media and all corporate communications functions under her stewardship,” the company stated.

Also new to Crown: Chief Compliance and Financial Crime Officer Steven Blackburn; Group General Counsel Betty Ivanoff; Chief People & Culture Officer Tony Weston; and Executive General Manager of Transformation and Regulatory Response Nick Weeks. McCann replaced former CEO Ken Barton in June.