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Executive Team

Our Executive Committee is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of each of the Group’s properties, management decisions, and running of our brands. Together, they deliver broad experience across retail, hospitality, gaming and entertainment sectors. 

Robbie-Cooke-3

Robbie Cooke

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

BETTY-IVANOFF

Betty Ivanoff

Chief Legal Officer

Kelvin-Dodt

Kelvin Dodt

Chief Operating Officer, The Star Brisbane

Christina-Katsibouba-V2

Christina Katsibouba

Chief Financial Officer

George-Hughes

George Hughes

Chief Marketing Officer

Paula-Hammond

Paula Hammond

Chief People & Performance Officer

Nicola-Burke-Porthole

Nicola Burke

Chief Transformation Officer (Subject to all regulatory approvals)

Scott-Saunders

Scott Saunders

Chief Risk Officer (Subject to all regulatory approvals)

Jess-Mellor

Jessica Mellor

Chief Operating Officer - The Star Gold Coast

Peter-Jenkins

Peter Jenkins

Group Executive External Affairs

The Star Entertainment Group Limited
ABN 85 149 629 023

Registered Office
Level 3, 159 William Street
Brisbane QLD 4000

Acknowledgement of Country

The Star Entertainment Group respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where our properties are situated. This includes the Turrbal and Jagera Traditional Owners of the Brisbane region, the Danggan Balun (Five Rivers) people of the Gold Coast, and the Traditional Owners of the land in Pyrmont, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We also wish to pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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© The Star Entertainment Group 2021

Robbie Cooke

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Robbie commenced as Chief Executive Officer on 17 October 2022 and was appointed Managing Director on 18 November 2022.

Robbie has led three ASX listed companies in a business career spanning more than 30 years. He has traversed scale-ups, listings and significant M&A actions in technology enabled businesses delivering significant shareholder value.

He had an 11-year executive career in lotteries, race wagering and sports betting at Tatts Group Limited and a predecessor company, UNiTAB Limited, including five years as CEO and Managing Director.

He also ran Australia’s leading online travel company Wotif.com Limited for seven years, taking the business through scaleup from start-up mode, achieving a circa fivefold increase in profits and a successful IPO in 2006.

Betty Ivanoff

Chief Legal Officer

Betty is an accomplished lawyer and executive with more than 20 years’ experience in ASX listed companies and international organisations.

Her previous roles include Group Director – Legal & Corporate Affairs for Coca-Cola Amatil Limited, leading the legal, governance and corporate affairs teams. More recently, Betty was Group General Counsel with Crown Resorts, gaining first-hand experience in regulatory and legal affairs in the hospitality and gaming sectors.

Betty commenced with The Star in May 2023.

Kelvin Dodt

Chief Operating Officer, The Star Brisbane

Kelvin joined The Star Entertainment Group in 2015 and was Chief Operating Officer of Treasury Brisbane for four years, before being appointed as COO of The Star Brisbane in late 2021.

In his current role, Kelvin is responsible for managing all aspects of pre-opening for The Star Brisbane in the lead up to the planned opening of Queensland’s newest entertainment and leisure destination in April 2024.

Kelvin brings a wealth of experience to the role, having worked for more than 30 years in the tourism and hospitality industry.

He has previously held senior roles and been involved in numerous pre-openings of new hotels and resorts for Accor and Mirvac Hotels & Resorts throughout Australia.

Christina Katsibouba

Chief Financial Officer

Christina joined The Star Entertainment Group in 2015 and was appointed as Chief Financial Officer on 1 January 2023, following an interim period. She is responsible for overseeing The Star’s finance, strategy, investor relations an IT functions.

Prior to this role, Christina held various senior management positions across the organisation including Group Executive Gaming and Deputy Chief Financial Officer. She has led several transformational change programs delivering group-wide, earnings accretive, strategic initiatives for The Star.

Christina is a chartered accountant with over 25 years’ experience as a finance professional in a range of industries including ASX-listed and large private organisations in addition to being trained within the “Big Four” accounting firms.

George Hughes

Chief Marketing Officer

George Hughes joined The Star Entertainment Group in 2017 and is responsible for its marketing activities.

Prior to that, he worked for David Jones where he was responsible for direct and digital marketing, customer insights, loyalty and customer relationship management.

Since his appointment, George has unified the marketing team and sought to drive brand growth nationally. He has transformed the business unit and brought together specialist, functional expertise and talent both existing within the team as well as that available outside the business and from a variety of sectors.

George has a wealth of executive experience in diverse roles across marketing, customer engagement, finance, M&A and strategy, gained in the retail, entertainment, postal and banking sectors.

George has a First Class Honours degree in Business Studies from Dublin City University, is a chartered accountant, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Paula Hammond

Chief People & Performance Officer

Paula Hammond has over 25 years’ experience in human resources. She was appointed as Chief People and Performance Officer in August 2022, having served in an interim position since December 2021.

Paula commenced with The Star Entertainment Group in 2012, and has held senior HR positions throughout the organisation. Prior to her current role, she held the position of General Manger People Experience where she was responsible for setting, directing and executing the employee experience to achieve the desired workplace culture.

Before joining The Star, Paula’s experience included over 20 years in HR leadership roles with local and international hotels including Sheraton on The Park, St Regis Hotel (Singapore) and Four Points (Sydney).

As an experienced human resources leader, she is driven by the challenge of attracting the best talent and increasing performance with the right employee experience mix. Paula is dedicated to delivering programs and initiatives that empower team members and will continue to advocate for polices that encourage a diverse, inclusive and equal workplace.

Nicola Burke

Chief Transformation Officer
(Subject to all regulatory approvals)

Nicola joined The Star in 2018 and was appointed Chief Transformation Officer on 1 May 2023. In her role she will manage the delivery of the Company’s Remediation Program working closely with the Executive Management team, the Manager’s office, regulators, and senior business leads. Nicola is well placed to support the company on its transformation journey given her appointment in late 2021 as the General Manager of the Transformation Office. She has also held General Manager roles at The Star leading Group IT leading Business Change and IT Program Delivery where she led several large-scale technology and business transformation programs.

Nicola has over 20 years’ experience leading program delivery and project management teams. Prior to joining The Star, Nicola led the Transformation program for David Jones, and has held many program delivery roles in a variety of sectors including technology, retail, and financial services. She holds a BA Hons degree in International Business Studies and French from Liverpool John Moores University UK.

Scott Saunders

Chief Risk Officer
(Subject to all regulatory approvals)

Scott Saunders commenced is role with The Star Entertainment Group on 13 February 2023.

Scott has over 30 years of risk and compliance experience at global financial institutions. For the past 20 years his roles have been focussed predominantly on anti-money laundering and other financial crime risks and controls. During these years he has served as Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) for four large global financial institutions in Canada and Australia, with an equal focus on high-volume retail client activities and complex institutional banking transactions and services.

In addition to developing strong financial crime programs, Scott is adept at process optimisation and managing large-scale project implementations. He is an experienced leader who creates a focus on collective delivery and individual accountability.

Before joining The Star, he was the General Manager, Financial Crime and Chief Compliance Officer at Westpac Banking Corporation, having joined that organisation from Macquarie Group in 2019. At Macquarie, Scott was responsible for Enterprise Compliance and Financial Crime Compliance, consolidating surveillance and monitoring solutions and developing frameworks to assess inherent risks and strengthen overall controls. He established assurance functions and delivered sound Financial Crime outcomes over the course of nearly 10 years.

Prior to his role with Macquarie, Scott was the MLRO at National Australia Bank, having moved to Australia from Toronto in 2008.

Jessica Mellor

Chief Operating Officer – The Star Gold Coast

Jessica Mellor is The Star Gold Coast’s youngest and first female Chief Operating Officer (COO), appointed to the position in June 2019.

In this role, she is responsible for one of Queensland’s biggest tourist attractions, comprising 5- and 6-star hotels, 14 bars and restaurants, entertainment, events, gaming and resort facilities, and a team of over 2000. This also includes overseeing a masterplan development of five additional towers that when complete, will see The Star Gold Coast offer more tourism accommodation than any other Australian integrated resort.

Jessica began her career with a multinational construction company and has since worked across multiple sectors including infrastructure and property development, funds management, and corporate advisory.

In 2013, she moved into the hospitality and entertainment industry, quickly progressing to become a Board Director of ASX-listed Aquis Entertainment in 2015, and the company’s first female CEO in 2016.

In 2020, Jessica was named an AFR BOSS Young Executive of the Year. She recently completed an Executive MBA from QUT Business School, holds a Bachelor of Sustainable Development (Construction Management) from Bond University and studied Law at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

In addition to Chairing the Gold Coast Regional Advisory Committee with LifeFlight, Jessica is a Director of Lifeline Canberra and a Vice Patron of Surf Lifesaving Queensland.

Peter Jenkins

Group Executive External Affairs

Peter joined The Star Entertainment Group in January 2015.

His current role includes oversight of government, industry and media relations, and internal communications.

Prior to his appointment as Group Executive External Affairs in late 2020, Peter was General Manager Media and Communications.

Peter has a diverse career background, initially in the media and developing extensive experience across both press and radio. He later moved into Marketing, Media and Communication roles with the Australian Rugby Union before his appointment to Accenture as Marketing Director ANZ.

2016 SHARE SALE FACILITIES

The Star Entertainment Group announced on 5 April 2016 share sale facilities that provided eligible small shareholders the opportunity to sell their shares without incurring any brokerage or handling costs.

Participation in the separate share sale facilities were open to eligible shareholders whose registered address was in Australia or New Zealand as at 7.00pm (Sydney time) on 29 March 2016 (Record Date) and who were:

  1. registered holders of less than a marketable parcel of shares (i.e. less than $500 worth of shares on the Record Date) (Small Holding Sale Facility); or
  2. registered holders of 5,000 or less shares (but held at least $500 worth of shares) on the Record Date (Voluntary Share Sale Facility).

On 5 April 2016, eligible shareholders were sent a letter together with a Share Retention Form (for the Small Holding Sale Facility) or a Sale Instruction Form (for the Voluntary Share Sale Facility), and Terms and Conditions for the relevant share sale facility.

Both share sale facilities closed at 5:00pm (Sydney time) on 17 May 2016 (Closing Date).

All participants who had their SGR shares sold under either the Small Holding Sale Facility or the Voluntary Share Sale Facility received the same average price of $5.51 per share, which was calculated by dividing the total proceeds from the sale of all SGR shares sold under the facilities by the total number of SGR shares sold under the facilities.

Payment of the sale proceeds were made to participating shareholders on 27 May 2016 in accordance with their payment instructions as recorded on the share register.

Small Holding Sale Facility

The Small Holding Sale Facility was conducted in accordance with The Star Entertainment Group’s Constitution and the Australian Securities Exchange Listing Rules that enables all listed companies to sell shareholdings valued at less than $500 (Unmarketable Parcel).

Based on a share price of $5.68, being the closing price of The Star Entertainment Group (SGR) shares on the Australian Securities Exchange on the Record Date, an Unmarketable Parcel was any holding of 88 shares or less.

Eligible shareholders who wished to retain their Unmarketable Parcel were required to return a Share Retention Form to the share registry by the Closing Date.

Small Holding Facility Key Dates:

  • 29 March 2016 (7pm) – Record Date
  • 5 April 2016 – Facility Opened
  • 17 May 2016 (5pm) – Facility Closed
  • 27 May 2016 – Payment of sale proceeds and mailing of payment advices

Voluntary Share Sale Facility

The Voluntary Share Sale Facility was conducted in accordance with Class Order CO 08/10 issued by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

Eligible shareholders who wished to sell their shares under the Voluntary Share Sale Facility were required to return a Sale Instruction Form by the Closing Date.

Voluntary Holding Facility Key Dates:

  • 29 March 2016 (7pm) – Record Date
  • 5 April 2016 – Facility Opened
  • 17 May 2016 (5pm) – Facility Closed
  • 27 May 2016 – Payment of sale proceeds and mailing of payment advices

For full details of the Small Holding Sale Facility and the Voluntary Share Sale Facility, please see the ASX Announcement dated 5 April 2016 in the News section of our website.

POST DEMERGER TAX INFORMATION

The demerger of The Star Entertainment Group (formerly known as Echo Entertainment Group Limited) from Tabcorp Holdings Limited (Tabcorp) was implemented on 15 June 2011 by way of Scheme of Arrangement pursuant to the Tabcorp Scheme Booklet dated 15 April 2011 (Demerger).

As part of the Demerger, Tabcorp sought a ruling from the Australian Taxation Office on the taxation implications for shareholders. On 29 June 2011, the Australian Taxation Office issued Class Ruling CR 2011/66, in accordance with the application made by Tabcorp. A copy of the Class Ruling CR 2011/66 can be viewed here.

A Tax Calculator is provided below to assist shareholders in calculating the Australian capital gains tax cost base allocation for Tabcorp shares and The Star Entertainment Group shares. The Tax Calculator is a general guide only and does not constitute tax advice. Shareholders should seek advice from an appropriate professional adviser on the tax implications of the Demerger based on their own individual circumstances.

Click here to download the Tax Calculator
Click here to access information on the Australian Taxation Office website