The Venetian and Palazzo have new executive leadership less than four months after Apollo Global Management  took over operations  of the Strip resorts.

The private equity firm announced late Thursday that Patrick Nichols would become CEO of the resorts and the Venetian Expo Center, replacing George Markantonis, who will become a special advisor to the Apollo board.

Nichols most recently served as general manager of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. He left the property last month, after resort operations were acquired by MGM Resorts International.

Markantonis, who spent seven years as CEO of the Venetian, initially remained in his role after the $6.25 billion sale of the Strip resort complex to Apollo and real estate investment trust VICI Properties was finalized in February, ending the Las Vegas Sands’ decades-long tenure on the Strip.

His institutional knowledge and capabilities along with his leadership of the Strip complex’s 8,000-person workforce were acknowledged during  regulatory hearings  to approve the sale. He was credited with steering the day-to-day operations of the Venetian through “record-breaking years,” and praised for “his ongoing communication and never-ending optimism” as the property’s operations recovered from the pandemic, the death of Sands founder Sheldon Adelson and the subsequent sale.