Founder of Playa Hotels & Resorts joins Accel’s Board after selling resorts business to Hyatt for $2.6 billion last June
Accel Entertainment has expanded its board of directors with the appointment of Bruce Wardinski as an independent director.
Wardinski is a seasoned executive with more than 35 years of experience building and scaling growth businesses, with expertise in capital allocation, real estate investment, strategic finance and corporate governance.
He is the founder and former chairman and CEO of Playa Hotels & Resorts, which he led from its founding in 2006 through to its acquisition by Hyatt Hotels Corporation for $2.6 billion in June 2025.
During his tenure, he built Playa into one of the leading publicly traded owners and operators of luxury all-inclusive resorts, growing its portfolio to 15 premier properties across Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
Wardinski currently serves as non-executive chairman of NASDAQ-listed DiamondRock Hospitality Company.
“We are pleased to welcome Bruce to the Accel Board,” said Accel Entertainment chairman and CEO Andy Rubenstein. “Bruce has spent his career in the hospitality and real estate business, most recently building and ultimately monetizing a complex, multi-site business with a strong local operating footprint as a public company CEO accountable to shareholders.
“That experience maps directly to where Accel is today – a proven platform with meaningful growth ahead of it. His perspective on capital allocation and long-term value creation will be an asset to our Board as we continue to scale.”
Commenting on his appointment, Wardinski said: “I am pleased to join the Accel Board at an exciting moment for the company. Accel has built a genuinely differentiated platform – a large, distributed network with deep roots in the communities it serves and a business model that has demonstrated its resilience.
“I look forward to working with Andy and the rest of the Board on capital allocation, growth strategy and governance as the company continues to grow.”
Wardinski will also serve on the Board’s compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee.
Shares in Accel Entertainment Inc (NYSE:ACEL) closed 0.088 per cent lower at $11.36 per share in New York Thursday.