Las Vegas Sands Corp. said today that former president Michael Leven has decided to retire from the company’s board of directors.
The casino operator told the Securities and Exchange Commission that Leven’s retirement was effective immediately and that he was also retiring from the board of the company’s Sands China Ltd. subsidiary.
The securities filing did not specify why Leven was retiring, and a Sands spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
Leven joined the Sands board in August 2004 and became the company’s president and chief operating officer in April 2009, succeeding William Weidner. He served in that role for more than five years before retiring, but had continued on the Sands and Sands China boards since then. He was succeeded as president and COO by Robert Goldstein.
Aside from his tenure at Sands, Leven was previously the chief executive of U.S. Franchise Systems Inc., a company he founded in 1995 that franchised the Microtel Inns & Suites and Hawthorn Suites hotel brands. He also served stints as president of Holiday Inn Worldwide, Days Inn of America and Americana Hotels.
Sands controls the Venetian and Palazzo on the Strip, as well as resorts in Pennsylvania, Singapore and Macau.