{"id":777014235,"date":"2024-03-25T08:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T11:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777014235"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:43:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:43:21","slug":"robbie-cooke-steps-down-as-ceo-and-managing-director-of-the-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/robbie-cooke-steps-down-as-ceo-and-managing-director-of-the-star","title":{"rendered":"Robbie Cooke steps down as CEO and managing director of The Star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The company has also announced the departure of Christina Katsibouba as group chief financial officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.-\u00a0The Star Entertainment Group<\/strong>\u00a0has announced that Robbie Cooke <\/strong>has stepped down as group CEO and managing director. Chairman David Foster<\/strong> will step in while a search for a permanent CEO is conducted.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a company filing, Cooke and the board agreed that a change in leadership was in the best interests of the company amid a second inquiry into its operations at its Sydney casino<\/a>. As Foster will step into an executive role, Anne Ward<\/strong> will assume the role of lead independent director. Cooke will remain a consultant for six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foster said: \u201cRobbie has worked tirelessly since he joined in October 2022<\/a>, focusing on stabilising the operations, resolving a number of existential threats to the business, addressing separate remediation demands from regulators, and rebuilding the management team and systems – including the addition of more senior risk, compliance and financial crime executives, and the commencement of our culture transformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Robbie shared in a resolve to put safe, responsible and ethical gaming at the core of what we do. We remain absolutely committed to being judged suitable to hold a casino licence in New South Wales and Queensland.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In taking on executive duties, I am determined that the positive momentum at The Star continues, as we work to win back the trust of our stakeholders. The many thousands of people working across the Company deserve stability and security, and together they all continue to do great things to get the business back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooke added: \u201cWhilst I find the position exceptionally disappointing, I have reached the conclusion that my continuation in the Group CEO role is not going to be conducive to the NICC determining to find The Star capable of becoming suitable to hold a casino licence in NSW<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In these circumstances, a change in leadership provides the best opportunity for the business to navigate the regulatory pressure it is facing. I take comfort in what we have achieved as a team over the last 16 months, and I\u2019m certain the Company is now on the right path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“David and the next CEO have my ongoing support in delivering on the key business and important strategic initiatives that are underway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christina Katsibouba steps down as chief financial officer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a separate announcement, The Star Entertainment Group has announced that Christina Katsibouba<\/strong> has resigned as chief financial officer and will be replaced by Neale O\u2019Connell<\/strong> on an interim basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O’Connell served as the global CFO of Corporate Travel Management from 2019 to 2021 and was group CFO at Tatts Group from 2012 to 2018. Katsibouba, who has been with the company for nine years, including two as head of finance, has decided to leave to pursue other interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foster said: \u201cChristina stepped into the CFO role following the Bell inquiry in 2022 and after two challenging years has decided the time is right to move on. She leaves with both the Board\u2019s and my personal thanks, for her tireless efforts as CFO, and as an executive with the Group. We wish her well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNeale is a highly capable and credentialed replacement. With both an industry and listed company track record, he will bring new perspectives and leadership to our executive team. Star operates in a highly regulated environment and is going through significant internal change. Neale\u2019s expertise from previous roles will be highly valued.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The company has also announced the departure of Christina Katsibouba as group chief financial officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Star Entertainment Group has announced the immediate departure of Group CEO and Managing Director Robbie Cooke, and Group CFO Christina Katsibouba. Chairman David Foster will assume executive duties as interim CEO, while Neale O\u2019Connell steps in as interim CFO, amidst ongoing regulatory inquiries and the company's efforts to regain suitability for its casino licenses in New South Wales and Queensland.","focusai_entities":"The Star Entertainment Group, Robbie Cooke, Christina Katsibouba, David Foster, Anne Ward, Neale O\u2019Connell, Corporate Travel Management, Tatts Group, New South Wales Independent Casino Commission (NICC)","focusai_location":"Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Queensland","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"NICC Suitability Criteria","query":"Given Robbie Cooke's explicit statement, what specific deficiencies in The Star's governance or operational controls, as identified by the NICC, made his continued leadership untenable for license suitability?"},{"label":"Interim Leadership Strategy","query":"What immediate strategic directives will Chairman David Foster implement as interim CEO to accelerate regulatory remediation and restore stakeholder trust, particularly concerning the Sydney casino inquiry?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157,158],"tags":[23871],"class_list":["post-777014235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news","category-slider-home","tag-the-star-entertainment-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777014235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777014235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777014235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777014264,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777014235\/revisions\/777014264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777014235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777014235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777014235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}