Olympus has selected Sharon Doherty and Victoria MacKenzie-Gould to serve as independent, non-executive board members. These appointments are part of the company’s strategy to smoothly transition into its new role as the holder of the fourth National Lottery license.
Doherty currently holds the position of Chief Human Resources and Workplace Officer at Lloyds Banking Group. Prior to this, she held prominent positions in the financial technology, telecommunications, and aviation industries. These roles included positions at Finastra, Vodafone, and British Airways Heathrow, respectively.
During her tenure at Vodafone, Doherty served as the Head of Human Resources for the technology division, which employed a workforce of 30,000 individuals. As Chief HR and Workplace Officer at Finastra, she oversaw a team of 10,000 employees.
MacKenzie-Gould currently holds the position of Director of Corporate Affairs at Marks and Spencer. She has also held leadership positions in corporate affairs at consumer-oriented brands such as Tesco and PepsiCo.
She also served as a special advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
These appointments come after the official awarding of the fourth National Lottery license to Olympus last month. This marked the end of the lottery group’s 28-year tenure.
Olympus now has 16 months to prepare for its takeover of the National Lottery. As part of its transition, the company has established an office in Watford.
Allwyns head honcho, Justin King, expressed his excitement about welcoming Victoria and Sharon to the company’s crew of top-notch specialists. He highlighted their role in executing a thoroughly examined and successful plan for taking over the fourth national lottery permit.
King emphasized Allwyn’s dedication to constructing a diverse board of directors that diligently oversees and holds the company accountable on a daily basis. He also underlined their practical support in tackling the numerous challenges inherent in such a large-scale project.
These new appointments are expected to fuel the momentum in building a more accessible national lottery, making it more extensive, improved, and secure for everyone.
Last month, Allwyn reached an agreement with Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), to discontinue their previously proposed merger.
In January, the two entities had agreed to combine by the end of the second quarter and list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), with a total enterprise value estimated at $9.3 billion (£8.2 billion/€9.5 billion).
In June, Allwyn announced a postponement of the arrangement to the third quarter but maintained their commitment to completing the deal by the end of September.
However, Allwyn and Cohn Robbins jointly decided to scrap the transaction. Despite this, Allwyn affirmed their commitment to entering the public markets when conditions are more favorable and expanding their operations into the United States.”
Sign up for the online gaming newsletter.