Melco Resorts and Entertainment Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho this morning distributed a letter to “All Macau Management Colleagues” confirming the resignation of Chief Operating Officer (Macau Operations) David Sisk (as reported yesterday by IAG) and announcing the appointment of three new senior executives to join the integrated resort company.
The company will rehire Alidad Tash, as Executive Vice President of Analytics and Gaming Operations for Macau. For the past seven years Tash has been Managing Director of 2NT8 Limited, a Hong Kong-based consulting firm he founded that is said to have provided casino and integrated resort consulting services in gaming jurisdictions such as Macau, Japan, Korea, Las Vegas and Greece. According to Ho, Tash “will be tasked with driving [Melco’s] gaming business across all three properties [City Of Dreams, Studio City and Altira].”
Stefan Bollhalder will also join Melco as Vice President of Hotels and Food & Beverage for City of Dreams Macau. According to the announcement, Bollhalder was General Manager at the Hyatt Regency and the Shangri-La in Paris. Most recently, he was the General Manager of Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono, where he was responsible for pre-opening preparations for the hotel.
Another new hire is Linda Switzer, who will take on the role of Vice President of Retail at Melco from April 1. Switzer was previously Vice President of Retail at Wynn. She joined Wynn Macau in 2007 and was part of the team that built Wynn’s retail business, introducing top luxury brands to the company. Prior to joining Wynn, she was in the cosmetics industry and will be responsible for enhancing the luxury retail offerings across the Melco portfolio.
Ho noted that all three new recruits will report to Company President and Board Director Evan Winkler, who was number 35 in the 2023 IAG Power 50.
Ho confirmed that David Sisk, Chief Operating Officer (Macau Operations), has resigned for personal reasons. Melco is now considering candidates for his replacement. Ho further told staff in his announcement that Melco’s “focus is to ensure that Melco leads Macau in innovation, creating unique and exceptional customer experiences” in the future.
“COVID was an incredibly challenging time for the company, and at that time, we had no choice but to cut back on every expense and not spend. We were required to take an extremely austere approach to our business,” Ho said. “As the market continues to recover, we now need to shift our priorities to ensure we are customer centric, aggressively invest in our luxury proposition of service, services, quality and image.
“We must get back to constantly questioning our approach and innovating with new ideas and concepts. l think now is an opportune time for leadership from the outside to join our team and add new thoughts and ideas.”
Ho added, “In some ways, 2023 was a missed opportunity as we were too slow to shift our focus. We need to be moving forward aggressively and collaboratively on all fronts to ensure that we take advantage of 2024 by cementing Melco’s leadership position.”
