Hong Kong-listed gaming investor Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd on Monday announced the appointment of veteran casino executive Mark Brown (pictured) as president and chief executive of the company’s Saipan casino resort project.
The appointment will be effective from November 10, the company said in a filing.
Mr Brown was president of the Venetian Macao and also of Sands Macao from April 2006 to April 2009. He joined Cambodian casino operator NagaCorp Ltd in December 2013 as chief operating officer of subsidiary NagaWorld Ltd, but he resigned last month to “pursue other opportunities”, NagaCorp said in a filing in late October.
“As a chief executive with a career working directly for prominent gaming figureheads, Mr Brown is uniquely qualified to helm ultra-large scale operations from the ground up and strategise for long-term growth,” Imperial Pacific wrote in its Monday filing.
“Mr Brown [has] established himself as one of the world’s most respected experts in the unique sector of high-end Asian gaming and junket operations,” the statement added. “Considering that the… [Saipan] project will target mainly Asia-based customers, Mr Brown’s extensive experience… makes him exceptionally suited for the group’s casino resort project.”
At Imperial Pacific, Mr Brown will re-encounter Jacqueline Wu, recently appointed as senior vice president for corporate marketing for the Saipan project. They worked together for Las Vegas Sands Corp in Macau.
The Lottery Commission of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands confirmed on July 15 that Best Sunshine International Ltd, a subsidiary of Imperial Pacific, had been awarded an exclusive licence to operate a casino on the Pacific island of Saipan.
In September, Imperial Pacific – an investor in the profit stream of Macau VIP operator Hengsheng Group – said the cost for the casino project on Saipan was estimated at about US$7.1 billion. Saipan is the largest island in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a five-hour flight from Shanghai.
