Encore Boston Harbor President Steps Down
Gullbrants has worked alongside DeSalvio since the pre-opening phase of the casino resort.
BOSTON—Wynn Resorts reports that Robert DeSalvio, who has served as president of Encore Boston Harbor for five years, is stepping down and is being replaced by Brian Gullbrants, who has most recently led all hotel and food and beverage operations at the luxury casino resort on the Mystic River here.
The $2.6-billion, 3 million-square-foot casino resort opened for business in late June.
“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,” says Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn Resorts. “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.”
Wynn Resorts also announced that it had named Jenny Holaday as EVP of operations, and Eric Kraus as SVP of communications and public affairs for Encore Boston Harbor, which features a 210,000-square-foot casino, 671 hotel rooms, a spa, specialty retail, 15 dining and lounge venues, and more than 50,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting spaces.
Gullbrants has worked alongside DeSalvio since the pre-opening phase of the casino resort. He has experience as a leader at some of the top ranked hotels globally. He led the opening of the hotel at Encore Las Vegas in 2008; his role expanded to oversight of both Wynn Las Vegas and Encore hotels in 2011 as EVP and general manager. Previous to his work with Wynn Resorts, Gullbrants spent 20 years with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company where he held various operational, general management and corporate executive positions. As VP of operations, Gullbrants was responsible for overseeing all operational disciplines for The Ritz-Carlton Company worldwide.
Holaday is a senior casino operations and marketing executive with extensive experience in multiple markets. She served as the senior marketing officer for all Caesars Entertainment casinos in Atlantic City, NJ having previously held corporate leadership positions in strategic marketing and promotions at Caesars Entertainment. She served as the SVP of marketing and later SVP of Operations at MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit where she led the gaming, hotel, food and beverage, marketing and entertainment areas.
A Boston native, Kraus has extensive experience in both public service and business. In Boston, he led global corporate communications and public affairs for The Gillette Company, and was active in the merger of P&G and Gillette. He also led global communications and public affairs for Covidien, formerly Tyco Healthcare, as well as Bacardi, Limited. He was EVP of Clean Harbors, Inc., in Norwell, MA, and is the past chairman and a former selectman for the Town of Walpole, MA.