Dive Brief:
- Flutter Entertainment appointed Christine M. McCarthy — formerly the long-time finance chief of The Walt Disney Company — to its board, effective July 30, according to a securities filing. The move comes just a little over one month after the global sports betting and gambling firm announced that it was promoting Rob Coldrake, then finance chief of its Flutter International segment, to the role of group CFO.
- McCarthy, 69, along with Robert Bennett, 66, the managing director of the private investment firm Hilltop Investments, will become non-executive directors at the end of the month. McCarthy was appointed as a member of the board’s audit committee while Bennett was tapped as a member of the board’s risk and sustainability committee. Bennett previously served as president of the media and entertainment company Discovery Holding and as president and CEO and principal financial officer at Liberty Media.
- “Christine and Dob’s extensive experience in the entertainment industry will be an invaluable asset to Flutter as we continue to extend our leading position as a global online sports betting and iGaming provider,” Flutter Board Chair John Bryant said in a release.
Dive Insight:
The company is bringing on the high-profile McCarthy in the wake of moving its primary listing from the U.K. to the New York Stock Exchange as of May 31. The company is also shifting its focus to the U.S. market as its FanDuel brand is growing, CFO Dive previously reported.
In a statement contained in a release at the time, Peter Jackson, CEO of Flutter, called the pivot to the NYSE “an important milestone” that followed its recent move of its operational headquarters to New York, “reflecting the increasing importance of the US sports betting and iGaming market to our business.”
The growth of online gaming in the U.S. is drawing some scrutiny. In March Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (D-Conn.), sent letters to eight online gaming companies including FanDuel urging them to stop using player data to target customers with gambling problems, The Wall Street Journal reported.
McCarthy, who served as Disney’s CFO from 2015 until June 2023, is joining the Flutter board about a year after she abruptly stepped down for a medical leave of absence from her role at Disney. Her exit left Kevin Lansberry, a 35-year veteran of Disney, in the interim finance chief role and the company subsequently hired PepsiCo alum Hugh Johnston in November to its CFO seat effective Dec. 4, CFO Dive previously reported.
McCarthy has substantial board experience. She is on the board of directors of the consumer-products company Procter & Gamble where she is chair of its audit committee, and is also a director at insurer FM Global where she is chair of its finance committee, according to the filing. She is also on the board of trustees of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
