Runners race for Ladbrokes top job
Place your bets for who is going to take over as chief executive at Ladbrokes
Will Ladbrokes take a gamble on its FD as a replacement for chief Chris Bell?
While not exactly an odds-on favourite, FD Brian Wallace joins its e-gaming
chief John O’Reilly as the two internal candidates in the running for the role.
With experts questioning whether FDs will be the favoured choice for top
roles now that businesses are looking at growth strategies as we tentatively
move out of recession, the choice for Ladbrokes’ chief executive job could be
viewed as a barometer of sentiment for FDs as boss.
Other gambling executives are long-shots for the role, including Gala Coral
boss Dominic Harrison and Ed Ware, who runs casino 32 Red.
Michael Sherwin has dealt with orcs and textiles in the past. Now his brand
experience has seen him take on another big task – used cars. The restructuring
and turnaround expert has been named as the new finance director of Aim-listed
Vertu Motors. He was previously at UK-based clothing retailer Courtaulds where
he was pivotal in the successful restructuring and refinancing of the business.
Sherwin also led the restructuring programme at the Games Workshop where he was
group finance director before leaving in 2008.
Nick Davies has taken up a senior role at north Yorkshire accountants Garbutt
& Elliott. Davies becomes senior employment reward specialist in the tax
team and is the third appointment in the last two months in that division.
Andrew Cowe took up residency at the firm specialising in inheritance tax
savings for landlords and Samantha Spinks becomes tax senior focusing on
research and development tax credits.
Vivienne Oliver has joined Smith & Williamson as associate director in
its restructuring and recovery services department. She spent 18 years at Ernst
& Young, where she worked on formal appointments including the
manufacturing, retail and financial services industries.
