Tabcorp Holdings Limited, a flagship Australian gambling company/provider of betting and gaming products and services based in Melbourne, has revealed that it has officially appointed Mark Howell as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Rich experience:

At the moment, Howell is primarily responsible for the financial position, which means he is the General Manager Liquor Finance & Network Optimisation for Coles Group Limited’s (Coles) Liquor company, which is trading as Vintage Cellars, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor Market, one of Australia’s biggest retail liquor networks. He will assume the mentioned role of CFO before June next year.

Moreover, Howell will deliver significant retail and consumer experience to the firm, having joined Coles during 2017, shortly before its separation from Wesfarmers Limited. After the separation, Howell was responsible for business development, strategy, investor relations and senior finance positions at Coles. Additionally, before joining Coles, he was appointed to senior investment banking positions at Goldman Sachs in New York and Rothschild in Australia, and began his career at Ernst and Young.

Commenting on the new CFO, Adam Rytenskild, CEO and Managing Director at Tabcorp, commented: “Mark is the perfect fit for Tabcorp as we deliver our transformation. He’s passionate about our growth story and dynamic in his thinking. Wagering is one of the most competitive industries in Australia and Mark comes from an equally competitive customer focused industry. His experience leading finance teams at Coles and working closely with investors will be invaluable moving forward.”

Furthermore, the aforementioned appointment is subject to each of the mandatory regulatory validations. In addition, Tabcorp’s Disclosure Committee has permitted public release of the official press release.

Company’s stakeholders object against immoderate levels of executive pay:

In other news, just last month, Tabcorp faced its first-ever protest vote since the last came exactly five years ago, in 2018. Additionally, during this one, nearly 35% of shareholders had caste their votes against the remuneration report after criticism from 3 proxy counselors who claimed that the firm’s officials are overpaid.

Nearly 35% of shareholders officially voted against the remuneration report as mentioned above, which unveiled that Adam Rytenskild’s, aka a chief executive, salary of $2.07 million was bigger than the median earnings for the ASX 200 firm, regardless of the firm’s depletion in size since last year’s separation from The Lottery Corporation. Additionally, Rytenskild is entitled to a “short-term bonus,” which amount is between $1.5 million and $2.3 million, and the firm’s Board rewarded him with $1.14 million. However, half of this bonus was transferred to equity till 2025.