The Fontainebleau Las Vegas just opened last month, and two of its executives already left the company.
Three resignations:
Colleen Birch, a Chief Operating Officer at the Fontainebleau, and Shane Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, left their positions in the company. The resort representative issued a statement saying that they “voluntarily resigned”. The representative added that the company wished them all well in their future careers and thanked them for their contributions to Fontainebleau.
These two resignations follow the departure of Michael Clifford, a former Senior Vice President of Casino Operations, who left the company in the last two weeks.
Colleen Birch started her COO journey at the Fontainebleau more than a year ago, in November 2022. Previously, she worked as a senior vice president of revenue optimization at the famous Cosmopolitan. However, as Review Journal reports, her LinkedIn states that it isn’t her first experience with Fontainebleau. Back in 2008, Birch was a revenue management director in the company for less than a year.
Smith has been a part of Fontainebleau since January last year. As it is stated on his LinkedIn, he was working at Witkoff, the renowned real estate company, before he joined Fontainebleau Las Vegas. He was at Witkoff for two years, until 2020.
Neither Birch nor Smith wanted to comment on the departure yet.
Luxury property with a long history:
Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a luxury casino placed on the North Strip, is a 67-story property worth $3.7 billion. The property was opened on December 13, 2023. However, its story begins way before the official opening. The real story began almost 20 years ago on this site. Jeff Soffer, a developer from Florida, has bought the original historic property in Miami Beach, where the sister property is located. Shortly after that purchase, in 2005, the concept of the future facility was announced.
In the meantime, the Great Recession occurred and there were consequences that delayed the property’s opening. Among them was the loss of the funds provided for the construction, as well as the ceasing of the building. Also, the ownership of the company was changed several times, which affected the overall business and important decisions that had to be made.
In 2021, Soffer purchased the casino one more time, along with its new partners, Koch Industries, especially the company’s real estate wing.
Shortly after that, Clifford joined the company, in February 2022, as it is stated on his LinkedIn profile. Before he joined Fontainebleau Las Vegas, he worked as a manager of the renowned Crockford’s Gaming at Resorts World, as well as Wynn Palace in Macau and MGM Resorts International.
