The Star appoints new non-executive directors
Australia’s Star Entertainment Group has appointed Deborah Page and Toni Thornton as non-executive directors and members of its board.
Thornton will join the Star board immediately upon the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, while Page will become a board member on 1 February next year.
Page is an experienced company director and chair with experience spanning ASX listed, private, public sector and regulated entities including in the property, utilities, insurance, technology, renewables and funds management sectors.
She is currently the chairman of Pendal Group and a non-executive director of Brickworks, Growthpoint Properties Australia Limited and Service Stream Limited, while she was also previously chair of Investa Listed Funds Management.
Thornton has worked in corporate finance and strategic advisory experience for more than 15 years. She is currently a non-executive director of G8 Education Limited and CS Energy, as well as companies including Millovate Pty and Habitat Early Learning.
Prior to this, she was a non-executive director of South Bank Corporation, Devcorp, Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation and Triathlon Queensland, while she also spent time in senior roles with JBWere, Goldman Sachs JBWere, and National Australia Bank in her executive career.
“On behalf of the board, I welcome Deborah and Toni during this time of significant organisational and cultural change,” Star chairman Ben Heap said. “They bring a fresh set of skills and diversity of experience to our board.
“Deborah and Toni will each play an important role as we continue to remediate and transform The Star.”
The appointments come after Star was this week dealt a further blow after being served with a securities class action lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The claim, filed by law firm Maurice Blackburn, alleged that in the period between 29 March 2016 and 16 March 2022, Star made a series of misleading representations.
These were in reference to Star’s systems and processes for compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations, that it failed to disclose relevant information it had about those matters to the market and conducted its affairs contrary to the interests of the members of Star as a whole.
Star last week was also issued show cause notices for its two Queensland casinos by the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation (OLGR).
The notices came in the wake of the Gotterson Review, which concluded last month. The report uncovered a host of institutional failings, resulting in the state government declaring that the casino was “unsuitable” to hold its licence.
The show cause notices give Star until 25 November to give evidence that may prevent the implementation of enforcement action against the operator.