Australian casino operator Crown Resorts announced September 20 that another board member is heading for the exit.
Toni Korsanos will not seek reelection and will retire as a director following the company’s annual general meeting on October 21. Her departure leaves only one member, Jane Halton, of the 11 directors who made up the board a year ago, reported Inside Asian Gaming.
“It has been a privilege to work with the members of the Board, senior management and the broader Crown team,” Korsanos said.
“Crown has been through a period of significant scrutiny while also managing the impacts of a global pandemic. I am proud of the team we have built and the significant progress we have made in implementing our transformation and remediation agenda.”
She said she’s “confident” that the leadership of newly appointed Chairman Ziggy Switkowski, new CEO Steve McCann and a “refreshed senior management team,” Crown is “well positioned to become one of the most responsible and respected operators of integrated resorts.
“I have made this decision to step down from the board to focus on my extensive other commitments. I wish the board and the entire team at Crown every success as they continue with the reform journey.”
The company’s board has undergone a complete overhaul since February following the release of the Bergin Report, which capped a lengthy probe of Crown and found evidence of money laundering and other compliance breaches at casinos in Perth and Melbourne. After the report was published, regulators in New South Wales deemed Crown unsuitable to hold a casino license in the state; its new AU$2.2 billion Crown Sydney casino has never opened.
The report took aim at certain directors for failing to enforce anti-money laundering controls and for allowing major shareholder Consolidated Press Holdings, owned by James Packer, to assert undue influence. The NSW probe led to similar investigations in Western Australia and Victoria.
Crown has since appointed Nigel Morrison and Bruce Carter as new directors and former telecom boss Ziggy Switkowski as chairman of a new-look board tasked with saving the company’s license and reviving its battered reputation.
Korsanos said she is resigning to focus on her “extensive other commitments.”
