William Hill Announces New CFO and COO

William Hill has appointed Matt Ashley as its chief financial officer and executive director to the board. He will take over the new positions on 6 April.

William Hill announced earlier that its current CFO, Ruth Prior, would be leaving to join Element Materials Technology.

Prior would leave William Hill at the end of its annual general meeting on 15 May and would remain as CFO until that date.

The board said Prior and Ashley would work together in the intervening period to ensure a smooth handover.

Ashley is joining William Hill from FTSE 250 passenger transport operator National Express, where he gained chief financial officer experience before leading their North American business as president and chief executive officer. Most recently, he held the position of group business development director.

William Hill also announced that Stephen Parry would join its executive committee as chief operating officer later this year. Parry is currently the integration director of Flutter.

“These two key appointments reinforce our focus on building a high calibre team. Matt and Stephen bring significant strengths to the company. Matt has a wealth of international financial and US experience as well as being an experienced CFO of a FTSE 250 listed company,” Ulrik Bengtsson, chief executive officer of William Hill, said.

Parry, meanwhile, came with a first-class track record of driving digital change, operational focus and customer experience in senior roles at Vodafone and Flutter, Bengtsson said.

“I look forward to welcoming them both to William Hill,” Bengtsson added.