Fontainebleau Las Vegas' COO Colleen Birch and CMO Shane Smith resign

Less than a month after its opening, Fontainebleau Las Vegas' Chief Operating Officer, Colleen Birch, and Chief Marketing Officer, Shane Smith, have "voluntarily resigned" from their leadership positions, as per a statement by a resort representative. 

"We thank them for their contributions and wish them well in the future," the representative said, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Birch was hired as the resort’s COO in November 2022. She was previously a Senior Vice President of revenue optimization at the Cosmopolitan. It also was her second stint with Fontainebleau, as she served as a Revenue Management Director for less than a year beginning in 2008, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Meanwhile, Smith joined the Fontainebleau in January 2023. Past casino and development experience includes two years ending in 2020 working in development and strategy for Witkoff, the real estate firm that briefly owned the unfinished property before Fontainebleau Development, as outlined on his LinkedIn profile. 

The departures mark the third high-profile exit at the resort. Earlier this month, the Senior Vice President of Casino Operations, Michael Clifford,  also left the company. 

Clifford's tenure at Fontainebleau commenced in February, as outlined on his LinkedIn profile, signaling a relatively short-lived stint with the establishment. His earlier roles encompassed other positions within the gaming industry, including managerial roles at Resorts World Las Vegas, Wynn Palace in Macao, and various positions at MGM Resorts International.

Fontainebleau opened on December 13 after nearly 20 years of history at the site. The property’s concept was announced in 2005, shortly after Florida developer Jeff Soffer purchased the original historic Miami Beach property. The project lost funding and ceased building during the Great Recession and changed ownership hands multiple times in the years after. Soffer once again purchased the luxury property, partnering with the Koch Industries’ real estate investment wing, in 2021.

The $3.7 billion project houses 67 floors, and 3,644 rooms, and is the tallest occupiable building in Nevada. The casino at the property’s center boasts 1,300 slots and 128 table games with 42-foot ceilings.