Three executives departed the C-suite at Newport World Resorts in Manila on the same day. According to Inside Asian Gaming, CEO Kingson Sian retired on June 1, after which Chief Operating Officer Hakan Dagtas and Chief Financial Officer Bernard Than both resigned.
Sian has been CEO of Newport World, formerly Resorts World Manila, since it opened in 2008. Dagtas and Than, both with Newport for more than 10 years, previously were with Star Cruises, owned by Newport’s former partner, Genting Hong Kong.
Newport is a unit of Travellers International Hotel Group, which itself is a subsidiary of Philippines conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc. Alliance acquired Genting Hong Kong’s interest in Travellers in May 2023, after the cruise line became a casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hakan Dagtas told GGRAsia he resigned “for personal reasons” and said his first order of business will be “taking a holiday.”
Newport has named onetime Chief Strategy Officer Nilo Rodriguez, who joined Newport in August 2022, as the new CEO. He was previously senior vice president and chief financial officer of Philippines Airlines.
Chief Casino Officer Lance Gautreaux will replace Dagtas. Gautreaux joined the company in September 2023 following 17 years with the Las Vegas Sands Corp., working in Macau and Singapore as well as Las Vegas.
Alliance Global said Chief Executive and Vice Chairman Kevin Tan has been appointed as president to “serve the unexpired term of Mr. Sian.”
Per IAG, Sian’s retirement had been in the works for years, but was delayed both by the pandemic and AGI’s acquisition of Genting Hong Kong’s Travellers stake.
The resulting appointments, which also were effective June 1, “conclude the year-long transition plan for Travellers International since its holding company, Alliance Global Group Inc, assumed full ownership (of Genting Hong Kong’s interest) on May 30, 2023,” the statement added.
