Harris is the former chief financial officer of The UNITE Group and has also served as vice-president of finance (Europe & Africa, and Nordic regions) at Hilton International.
He will join Arena, a diversified leisure group, on 1 May 2008.
He will work alongside Bob Mercer, who remains the company’s CFO and company secretary. Arena says his role will be to ensure it delivers its upcoming three major development projects on time and on budget, increases profit stream from racecourse assets and unlocks value from its surplus land assets.