Aristocrat Leisure Ltd Chief Financial Officer Toni Korsanos will join the board of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd as a non-executive director. In a statement, Crown Resorts said, “Ms. Korsanos will join the board of Crown Resorts once her existing commitments at Aristocrat Leisure cease and upon the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.” In July, Aristocrat had announced Korsanos would leave the company in March 2018.
Crown also announced Jane Halton, formerly secretary of the Australian Department of Finance, also would join the board as a non-executive director.
Korsanos joined Aristocrat in 2007 as general manager of group finance and was named chief financial officer in 2009. Crown Resorts Executive Chairman John Alexander said Korsanos had “extensive experience in the gaming industry” and that she would bring to the board “experience in the areas of technology, finance, strategy, risk management and financial and regulatory compliance.”
Crown Resorts previously announced the chief financial officer position would “relocate from Sydney to Aristocrat’s Las Vegas operations from March 2018,” as part of the decision to base Chief Executive Trevor Croker in North America. However, Korsanos will remain in Australia “family reasons,” the company said.
John Alexander, chairman, executive deputy chairman and chief executive at Crown Resorts, said Korsanos and Halton would enhance the board’s expertise and diversity, and its members were “delighted” by their appointments.
Earlier this year, Crown announced it would reduce the scope of its international operations and focus on Australian assets. In January, just a year after stepping down, billionaire James Packer rejoined the board, following the arrest of several employees in mainland China on allegations of “gambling-related crimes.” Those detained included some key personnel from Crown Resorts’ international VIP business.
