With the survival of the company still in doubt, Crown Resorts las week named experienced executive Ziggy Switkowski as chairman, replacing Helen Coonan. Crown has endured multiple investigations into its operations over the past year, and the most recent one, in the Australian state of Victoria, its home base, claimed Coonan’s role. She was seen as being not credible” by regulators as an element for change within the company.
Switkowski, meanwhile, has a long list of leadership roles in Australian companies, including having been the CEO of both Telstra and Optus, and is currently a director of the NBN Co. He’s also a chancellor at RMIT University and a nuclear scientist. He also has gambling experience, having served as a director for Tabcorp.
The governments of Victoria and West Australia are currently conducting investigations into whether Crown is suitable to hold casino licenses in Melbourne and Perth.
“Ziggy’s experience and capabilities are well suited to meeting the challenges currently confronting Crown,” the three members of Crown’s board—Jane Halton, Toni Korsanos and Nigel Morrison—said in a statement. “We are determined to restore the trust of regulators, investors, employees, customers and the wider community.”
The board praised Coonan, saying she had “stepped up” and stabilized the company.
“I have always sought to act in the best interests of Crown and endeavored to consider the impact on our shareholders, customers, and employees,” Coonan said.
She was a director for Crown for over 10 years, and was elevated to chairman when Australian media outlets reported that Crown had been infiltrated by organized crime groups.
Meanwhile, Crown has appointed Steve McCann as chief executive of Crown Melbourne, replacing Xavier Walsh. Walsh left on August 20 after a royal commission into Crown Melbourne found he failed to address systemic issues related to money laundering, responsible gambling, tax payments and compliance.
McCann, onetime head of Lendlease, joined Crown in June, part of the scandal-plagued company’s attempt to restore its credibility and keep its licenses. He recently told Commissioner Ray Finkelstein that Crown employees “are crying out for the ability to speak up, the ability to be involved, to restore the pride in the organization that they used to feel but that is currently a challenge.”
In related news, the former chairman of Crown told the royal commission in Perth that the company’s special treatment of high rollers cost the company millions. As reported by Asia Gaming Brief, one Crown-subsidized wedding for friends of a junket runner cost AU$3.1 million. Crown also reportedly allowed millions in outstanding debts to be unpaid for months or years, and some VIPs were flown to Perth or Melbourne casinos by Crown but then would not gamble.
John Alexander, the former lieutenant of Crown honcho James Packer, reportedly said the company was simply reacting to competitive pressures, as other casinos opened throughout Asia. Crown claims it reached out to law enforcement to ensure the “character” of its VIP guests, and that they “relied heavily” on their response.
However, “the reliance on law enforcement wasn’t sufficient to protect ourselves from the quality of some of these customers.” Crown conceded that some of its high-value customers “may have been convicted of various crimes in China.”
The company bought jets, yachts and highly-equipped their VIP rooms in order to cater to these guests, some of which Alexander called “dubious,” AGB reported.
McCann joined Crown Resorts as CEO in June of this year, effectively taking over from interim executive chairman Helen Coonan.
