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Entain has established two new committees on its group board, the People and Governance Committee and the Sustainability and Compliance Committee.
The FTSE100 international betting and gaming group stated that the two new bodies will serve to improve the company’s effectiveness, engagement with its workforce and sustainability.
A change in leadership has seen Stella David step down from the Sustainability and Compliance Committee to assume Chair duties of the People and Governance Committee, which will also feature Entain Group Chairman Barry Gibson and Designated Workforce Director Virginia McDowell as members.
In an additional structural changeup, Entain’s Nomination Committee has been disbanded, with its roles and responsibilities incorporated into the People and Compliance Committee, itself a dynamic new committee with a diverse agenda.
GIbson remarked: “The outstanding quality of Entain’s people around the world is a key part of our success, and these changes will bring the Board even closer to the extraordinary talent and diversity that we are fortunate to have across our business.
“They are also yet another example of our relentless focus on sustainability, and of our commitment to being a best-in-class, responsible operator with leading levels of corporate governance running through all aspects of our business.”
The People and Compliance Comittee’s core focus will be on reviewing Entain’s workforce policies and practices to ensure consistency with purposes, strategy and values, and lead the process for board appointments.
Regarding this latter role, Entain laid out that the committee will ‘satisfy itself that plans are in place for an effective succession to the Board and leadership team, with due regard for the benefits of diversity’.
This will include consideration for the gender, social and ethnic background and cognitive strengths of any prospective board members.
Lastly, the Committee will also have oversight of training and evaluation of directors and review legal, regulatory and business practice developments concerning corporate governance.
Meanwhile, the Sustainability and Compliance Committee will more-or-less conduct the same functions as the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee, but under a new title.
The renamed committee will conduct oversight of sustainability and compliance programmes and managing of Entain’s relationships and engagement with ‘a wide spectrum’ of stakeholders’, and lastly will assess company progress against ESG KPIs and external sustainability and compliance index results.
As one of the world’s largest gambling operators with gaming licences across a range of regulated markets on both sides of the Atlantic, ESG has become a key focal point for Entain in recent years.
Last year, the group’s Chief Governance Officer, Robert Hoskin, provided a breakdown of its ESG practices to SBC News in an exclusive interview, emphasising that ‘sustainable businesses are usually the most successful businesses’.
