British land-based and online casino operator, The Rank Group, has announced that it is on the lookout for a new Chairman after the person currently filling the post, Ian Burke (pictured), revealed that he will not be standing for re-election in October.

Treasured tenure:

The Maidenhead-headquartered behemoth used an official Wednesday press release to detail that 62-year-old Burke first joined its ranks some 13 years ago to fill the role of Chief Executive Officer before becoming its Executive Chairman in 2011 in advance of being selected to serve as its Executive Chairman.

Search started:

London-listed The Rank Group, which is responsible for the United Kingdom’s 54-strong chain of Grosvenor Casinos venues as well as the online casino brands at GrosvenorCasinos.com, Enracha.es and MeccaBingo.com, declared that its Senior Independent Director, Chris Bell, has now been tasked with initiating a process to locate a successor for Burke with the firm set to update investors ‘when appropriate.’

Burke’s statement read…

“I have enjoyed my time at The Rank Group immensely and am extremely proud of what we have achieved as a company. I have decided to step down as Chairman in the knowledge that The Rank Group has a strong management team and board that will take the business forward through its transformation program.”

Plentiful praise:

John O’Reilly, Chief Executive Officer for The Rank Group, used the brief press release to proclaim that Burke had ‘played a key role’ with the operator ‘for many years’ while Bell stated that the experienced executive had ‘made a very significant contribution’ to the firm’s success.

O’Reilly’s commented…

“I would like to thank [Burke] personally for his invaluable support and counsel since I joined the company last year.”