Industry giant Flutter Entertainment has announced changes to its board of directors, as Divyesh “Dave” Gadhia and Peter Rigby have decided not to seek re-election to the board at the operator’s Annual General Meeting.
Gadhia and Rigby will be replaced by Holly Koeppel and Nancy Dubuc as non-executive directors, with Dubuc stepping into the role from 29 April and Koeppel following on 13 May.
Nancy Dubuc has been chief executive of international media group Vice Media since 2018, and has held senior management positions, including chief executive, with A&E Television Networks between 1999 and 2018.
Holly Koeppel is currently non-executive director of British American Tobacco plc, coal mining and processing company Arch Resources Inc, and electric power distributor AES Corporation. She also holds the position of non-executive director of materials technology business Vesuvius plc until 12 May.
Previously, Koeppel was managing partner of the Gateway Infrastructure Fund from 2010 to 2017, and prior to this was chief financial officer of American Electric Power.
Commenting on the new appointments, Flutter Entertainment’s chair, Gary McGann, said: “Since the successful merger of Flutter and The Stars Group, we have mapped out a Board renewal programme over the coming years, having regard to the scale, geographic breadth and direction of travel of the business, in addition to enhanced gender balance and diversity.”
He said that as executive chair of The Stars Group, Dave Gadhia led the turnaround and subsequent strong growth of the operator. Gadhia was critical in seeing the opportunity for the merger with Flutter, and leaves a strong and enduring legacy, McGann said.
With regards to Peter Rigby, McGann said: “Peter has been a stalwart of the Betfair, Paddy Power and legacy Flutter boards during his seven years’ tenure as Director. He has made significant contributions to Flutter’s progress through his astute Chairing of the Risk Committee and subsequently the Remuneration Committee.
“I want to thank both Dave and Peter for their considerable commitment and good counsel and wish them health, happiness and success for the future.”
McGann said the appointment of Dubuc and Koeppel followed an international search as part of Flutter’s ongoing board renewal process, and that their presence on the board will add enormously to its diversity of thought and perspective.
Earlier this month, the operator appointed Greg McCaw as its first director of inclusion and diversity. Reporting into chief people officer Caroline Ross, McCaw has been tasked with developing and executing Flutter’s inclusion and diversity strategy.
