Allwyn is pleased to announce the immediate appointments of Sharon Doherty, Chief People and Places Officer at Lloyds Banking Group and Victoria McKenzie-Gould, Corporate Affairs Director at Marks & Spencer as independent non-executive directors to support the implementation of the company’s comprehensive transition plan, following the formal award of the Fourth National Lottery Licence by the Gambling Commission.

Sharon Doherty currently works as the Chief People and Places Officer at Lloyds Banking Group and brings significant executive experience from organisations with large, diverse workforces in the technology, telecommunications, and aviation sectors from her roles at Finastra, Vodafone and BAA Heathrow Airport. She has had multi-organisation technology transformation experience; at Vodafone she was both the Human Resources Director for the 30,000 strong technology division and then led the people digital transformation as they scaled agile across 20 countries. As the Chief People and Places Officer at Finastra, a 10,000 people strong pureplay global fintech, she has had first-hand experience of fast paced technology delivery.  

Sharon will work closely with Allwyn‘s Chief People Officer and Chief Social Value Officer.

Victoria McKenzie-Gould brings longstanding experience of working across complex stakeholder environments, including during her time as a Special Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair. She has since worked in corporate affairs leadership roles in high-profile, consumer facing brands undergoing significant change, such as Tesco and Britvic PLC. Victoria currently works as the Corporate Affairs Director at Marks & Spencer PLC where she is part of the leadership team that is transforming one of Britain’s most cherished and well-known brands into a modern retailer fit for the digital age. She is also a member of University of Liverpool Management School’s Advisory Board. Victoria will work closely with Allwyn’s Chief Compliance, Risk and Security Officer and Corporate Affairs Director, helping Allwyn navigate the challenges of delivering a smooth transition of operations while ensuring  that Allwyn continues to meet all its regulatory, player protection and ethical responsibilities.

With 16 months remaining until the start of the new chapter for the National Lottery, an intensive transition period lies ahead. To that end, Allwyn has opened an office in Watford in order to work near the heart of the current operations, thereby helping to ensure Allwyn and Camelot can work collaboratively to deliver the transition successfully. 

Sharon and Victoria were identified after a rigorous recruitment process conducted by Audeliss Executive Search, a firm that specialises in identifying and recruiting diverse leaders for organisations. 

Commenting on her appointment Sharon said: “I am honoured to lend my experience of implementing transformative digital programmes to an organisation as large and important as The National Lottery. I believe there’s so much potential to create a bigger, better, safer and more appealing National Lottery by embracing the power of digital”. 

Commenting on her appointment Victoria said: “The National Lottery is more than a lottery, it’s a national treasure. I’m extremely impressed by Allwyn’s vision to inject new life into the lottery, improving the  experience we all have, whether as  players or otherwise. My immediate focus will be on supporting the implementation of Allwyn’s detailed transition plan allowing us, in turn, to ensure the customer is firmly at the heart of the lottery, able to enjoy an exciting and safe experience when we hit the ground running in February 2024.”

Allwyn Chair, Justin King added: “We are delighted to welcome Victoria and Sharon to Allwyn’s team of sector leading experts who are implementing a forensically detailed and winning proposal through the transition to the Fourth National Lottery Licence. We are committed to building a diverse board who oversee and hold the business to account every day, while helping in a practical way meet all the challenges that a project of this size entails.”

“Today’s appointments continue the forward momentum needed to put in place a more accessible National Lottery that is bigger, better and safer for all”.