Shaun Jones will leave Cineworld on October 31 after 25 years with the exhibitor, ending a tenure that took him from opening the company’s first multiplex in North Wales to serving as Vice President of Operations UK and a Company Director. Jones joined Cineworld in 2001 as its first externally recruited General Manager before progressing through regional and senior operational roles and becoming Vice President in 2017. Along the way, his remit stretched well beyond keeping cinemas running, encompassing at various times marketing, commercial, B2B, retail, human resources, health and safety, and facilities management.

That breadth made Jones part of Cineworld’s institutional backbone through some decidedly non-routine operating conditions. He helped lead the UK estate through the pandemic and recovery, remained part of the leadership team through the group’s Chapter 11 restructuring, and for more than a decade built and delivered Cineworld’s annual company conference with his team. His influence also extends beyond Cineworld: Jones serves on the boards of the UK Cinema Association and Digital Cinema Media, is a BAFTA member and was among the inaugural recipients of the UNIC Gold Award in 2018 for his contribution to European cinema exhibition.

In announcing his departure on LinkedIn, Jones focused less on buildings and balance sheets than on the people required to make cinemas work, praising teams who care as much on what he called “a wet Wednesday in February” as they do on blockbuster opening night. Having known Shaun for years, we can also report that this commitment to guest experience apparently extends to politely laughing at this editor’s CineEurope dad jokes; or, when necessary, deploying an admirably quizzical eye-roll. Jones says he intends to continue leading consumer businesses where teams, standards and guest experience drive performance, whether in cinema or the wider leisure and hospitality world. As for leaving Cineworld, he supplied the appropriate cinema metaphor himself: “This isn’t the end credits, just the interval.”