William Hill makes CFO and COO appointments

William Hill announced the appointment of Matt Ashley as its chief financial officer designate on Thursday, who would join the company and be appointed as an executive director to the board on 6 April.

The FTSE 250 gambling giant had announced on 13 January that its current CFO, Ruth Prior, would be leaving to join Element Materials Technology.

Prior would leave William Hill at the end of its annual general meeting on 15 May, and would remain as CFO until that date.

The board said Prior and Ashley would work together in the intervening period to ensure a smooth handover.

It said Ashley was joining William Hill from FTSE 250 passenger transport operator National Express, where he gained chief financial officer experience before leading their North America business as president and chief executive officer.

Most recently, he held the position of group business development director.

He was a member of the National Express board for five years, and had more than 20 years of financial experience.

Ashley was previously a director of transport, infrastructure and listed companies at Deloitte, and began his career as an auditor.

He is a graduate of Leeds University, and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

William Hill also announced that Stephen Parry would join its executive committee as chief operating officer later in the year.

Parry would join from the company’s competitor Flutter, where he was integration director, leading the integration arising from the combination with Stars.

“These two key appointments reinforce our focus on building a high calibre team,” said chief executive officer Ulrik Bengtsson.

“Matt and Stephen bring significant strengths to the company.

“Matt has a wealth of international financial and US experience as well as being an experienced CFO of a FTSE 250 listed company.”

Parry, meanwhile, came with a “first-class track record” of driving digital change, operational focus and customer experience, Bengtsson said, in senior roles at Vodafone and Flutter.

“I look forward to welcoming them both to William Hill.”

At 0820 BST, shares in William Hill were down 0.89% at 66.54p.