The president of Wynn Resorts’ $2.6bn Encore Boston Harbor development has departed from the role, just four months after the casino resort officially opened for business.
Robert DeSalvio is said to have stepped down after five years in the role, during which time he led through construction, a series of Massachusetts Gaming Commission investigations that came in the wake of the allegations levied at the company founder Steve Wynn and subsequent name change of the property, as well as sale talks concerning MGM Resorts International.
During its most recent set of financial results published by the state regulator, revenue at the property saw a slight dip in September to $48.9m from August’s $52.4m.
The casinos strong table games performance saw a significant decline to $27m (August: $32.2m), with what has been described as consistently “soft” slot revenue recorded at $21.8m, representing a sharp incline from the previous months $20.2m.
Replacing DeSalvio in the role will be Brian Gullbrants, who most recently led all hotel and food and beverage operations at Encore, working alongside his predecessor since the pre-opening phase of the resort.
Previously Gullbrants led the opening of the hotel at Encore Las Vegas in 2008, with his role expanded to oversight of both Wynn Las Vegas and Encore hotels in 2011 as executive vice president and general manager.
Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts, said of the positional changes: “Bob DeSalvio’s ability to partner with community leaders and elected officials, assemble a world-class team and lead them to produce and launch a project of the highest quality is remarkable.
“His unique talent to both manage a complicated construction process while listening to the needs of key stakeholders was essential to our success.
“Bob leaves Encore with a hand-selected team prepared to take on the challenges ahead. I salute him for his commitment to the project and, most importantly, his dedication to his team.”
Furthermore, Wynn has also appointed two additional executives, pending regulatory approval, with Jenny Holaday joining Encore Boston Harbor as executive vice president of operations, and Eric Kraus becoming senior vice president of communications and public affairs.
