Star Sydney chief operating officer Dino Mezzatesta has taken over as Cronulla NRL club chairman following Damian Keogh’s departure after being caught with cocaine.

Mezzatesta, who has been a Sharks director for the past four years, was voted into the role at the club’s monthly general meeting on Tuesday night.

Mezzatesta joined the Cronulla board on a rebel ticket led by Keogh in 2013 amid the then-struggling club’s ASADA supplements scandal and he has played a part in turning the Sharks’ fortunes around.

“I am looking forward to continuing the great work of our club,” Mezzatesta said.

“We have an incredibly capable and dedicated board and management team and I am honoured to have been chosen to lead our club into the next chapter.”

Keogh was chairman as the club emerged from the financial doldrums and became NRL premiers last season, loaning them more than a million dollars along the way.

However he was left red faced earlier this month when he caught by police with cocaine in a Woolloomooloo pub.

Having already stood down as chairman, he quit the board after pleading guilty to a possession charge in a Sydney court on Tuesday when he received an 18-month good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded.

Sharks CEO Lyall Gorman said it was vital for Mezzatesta to carry on the work Keogh had led in the past four years.

“While our club has achieved many great things over the past few years there is still so much to do as we continue the journey to be the No.1 club in the NRL,” Gorman said.

“A key part of this journey is stability and unity across all levels of our business.

“The swift action of the board in appointing Dino as chairman last night is a very important part of this process.”

Mezzatesta also worked previously as the chief executive officer of Asia Pacific’s Accor Hotels until he shifted to the Star last last year.

Businessman Darren McConnell briefly held the chair at the Sharks between Keogh standing down and Mezzatesta’s appointment.