Ardent Leisure, the Australia-based leisure and entertainment business, has named Deborah Thomas as group CEO to replace Greg Shaw, who will leave the company in July.

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Shaw, who has served as chief executive for nearly 13 years, will also resign from his position as a director with immediate effect.

“The board of directors would like to thank Greg for his exceptional leadership and commitment to the group during his tenure and for establishing the building blocks for the group’s future success,” said group chairman Neil Balnaves. “We have also been fortunate to have an executive of Deborah’s calibre available to follow on from Greg in the role of chief executive officer.”

Thomas was appointed a non-executive director of the group in December 2013. She described it as a “great privilege” to follow Shaw in the role.

“Greg has built a great platform of assets and management team on which I will build, with a strong focus on marketing, customer service and product innovation across all of our facilities,” she said.

Ardent Leisure’s Main Event Entertainment is one of the fastest-growing family entertainment centre chains in the US. The company also operates bowling centres in its native Australia.