Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander will step down and be replaced as chairman by former Liberal senator Helen Coonan in a shock reshuffle.

Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander will step down and be replaced as chairman by former Liberal senator Helen Coonan in a shock reshuffle just days after a public hearings for the NSW government inquiry into the casino giant began.
Current chief financial officer Ken Barton, who has been with the group for a decade, will assume the role of chief executive.
John Alexander is stepping aside as executive chairman of Crown Resorts in a shock reshuffle.  James Alcock.
The reshuffle comes just days after it was revealed a host of Crown representatives, including Mr Alexander and major shareholder James Packer, would be called to give evidence and the NSW government inquiry into the sale of a 19.99 per cent stake in Crown by Mr Packer to Melco Resorts, the Hong Kong based group run by Macau casino billionaire, Lawrence Ho.
Mr Alexander will remain an executive director.
“The Crown board has been working for some time to consider and to implement a governance structure that is more in line with the traditional model with a Non-executive Chair, a position that I am very honoured and privileged to have been asked to hold, and a separate CEO,” Ms Coonan said.