Fontainebleau Las Vegas Loses Key Executives (Yes, Again)
It’s been relatively quiet at Fontainebleau recently, although you can still hear the faint sound of financial losses piling up.
While things seem to have calmed down since the chaos of its opening, there’s still a significant amount of executive churn going on at Fontainebleau, it’s just not making headlines.
Fontainebleau’s Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Director of Beverage Development have all left the building. When it comes to Fontainebleau, it’s best to stay perpetually girded.

As mentioned, the months leading up to and following the opening of Fontainebleau Las Vas were filled with copious WTF. Resort leadership fired or sparked the resignations of at least a dozen top executives.
Most recently, the resort lost its Chief Financial Officer, John Helderman. Stephen Singer held the post before him, Singer was out before the resort even opened.
Fontainebleau also no longer has the services of Chief Technology Officer Tim Williams. The position was held by Marc Guarino before him.
Also out (and the position eliminated) is Director of Beverage Development, Juyoung Kang. Kang was touted as a mixology superstar. Are superstar mixologists critical to the success of a casino resort? Maybe not, but ask Wynn and Cosmopolitan about that.
Recent hires at Fontainebleau include Tom Evans is Chief Marketing Officer, who comes from Cosmopolitan and, most recently, Rio. Which feels a little like that time George W. Bush went on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln to say “Mission Accomplished.” All due respect. Shane Smith originally held the Chief Marketing Officer gig, but later resigned.
Word is Fontainebleau is bringing in a new Chief Strategy Officer, David Willis. Which will fix everything, obviously. Chief Strategy Officers are widely known in the hospitality industry as the people most likely to use the phrase “concepts of plans.”
Willis was the Chief Commercial Officer at Crown Resorts in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is in southeastern Australia, so you might say it’s “the down under of down under.” You might say that, but you might also be swatted with a rolled up newspapers. If anyone subscribed to newspapers anymore. Why would anyone do that? Did you get all this juicy scoop in a newspaper? No. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is like a kid that was dropped on its head a lot as child. Not that anyone is encouraging that. It’s a metaphor. Kids hit their heads plenty without anyone helping.
Many of those children grow up to be people who are bamboozled into thinking a fancy title and above-market salary are going to lead to a long, lucrative career at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
Yes, the struggle is real at Fontainebleau. It can take some time for a new resort to get its footing, we’re reminded.
We thought breaking ties with Peter Arnell would help, but Fontainebleau’s challenges can’t really be tied to one person. It’s the location. It’s the lack of a database. It’s the culture. It’s the arrogance of thinking Las Vegas is Miami and “if you build it, they will come.”
On the bright side, Fontainebleau is still open and bless their hearts, they’re trying. We love the place and almost everyone’s hoping it will find a way to right the ship despite all the maelstroms, largely self-created.
Update (1/27/25): Fontainebleau’s Director of Front Services, Moussa Chami, was let go recently, we’re told. The Director of Front Services oversees a resort’s valet, self-parking garage and bell desk.
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