Allwyn has appointed Sharon Doherty and Victoria McKenzie-Gould as independent non-executive directors to support the implementation of its transition plan following the formal award of the Fourth National Lottery Licence.
Doherty currently serves as chief people and places officer at Lloyds Banking Group having previously worked in the technology, telecommunications and aviation sectors with Finastra, Vodafone and BAA Heathrow Airport.
During her time with Vodafone, she was both the human resources director for the 30,000-strong technology division, while as chief people and places officer at Finastra, she oversaw a team of 10,000-people.
At present, McKenzie-Gould is corporate affairs director at Marks & Spencer and also spent time working in corporate affairs leadership roles for consumer-facing brands such as Tesco and Britvic.
In addition, she was a special advisor to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The double appointment comes after Allwyn was last month formally awarded the UK’s fourth National Lottery licence by the Gambling Commission, ending Camelot Group’s 28-year tenure as operator.
Allwyn will now have 16 months to prepare to take control of the National Lottery, with the operator having opened an office in Watford as part of its transition.
“We are delighted to welcome Victoria and Sharon to Allwyn’s team of sector leading experts who are implementing a forensically detailed and winning proposal through the transition to the Fourth National Lottery Licence,” Allwyn chair Justin King said.
“We are committed to building a diverse board who oversee and hold the business to account every day, while helping in a practical way meet all the challenges that a project of this size entails.
“These appointments continue the forward momentum needed to put in place a more accessible National Lottery that is bigger, better and safer for all.”
Also last month, Allwyn mutually agreed with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp to not to proceed with their previously proposed business combination.
In January, the two businesses reached an agreement to merge and publicly list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) by the end of the second quarter, resulting in a total enterprise value of approximately $9.3bn (£8.2bn/€9.5bn)
Allwyn in June announced that this arrangement had been pushed back to the third quarter, but insisted the agreement would still go ahead and close by the end of September.
However, Allwyn and Cohn Robbins jointly decided not to proceed with the transaction, though Allwyn said it remains committed to joining public markets in due course when conditions are more favourable, as well as to expanding its business into the US.
