Stan James CEO to depart
Denis Kelly to retire at the end of the year amid the closure of the brand in the UK
Stan James chief executive Denis Kelly is to retire at the end of the year after nearly 10 years in the role, EGR has learned.
Kelly’s departure comes after overseeing the takeover of the bookmaker’s online arm by Kindred Group back in 2015.
Ahead of Kelly’s departure, Kindred has appointed Neil Banbury to interim general manager, UK, to oversee the “smooth integration of the Stan James businesses into Kindred Group”.
Banbury was formerly head of UK strategy and finance operations, having joined Unibet as a financial analyst in 2010.
“I’m sad to see Denis leave the Group at the end of the year, but am equally excited to work with Neil in further strengthening Kindred’s position in the UK market,” said Tommi Majala, Kindred’s chief commercial officer for UK, France and Australia.
The move comes soon after Kindred revealed plans to ditch the Stan James brand in the UK in favour of a single brand-approach spearheaded by Unibet.
“The brutal facts were saying that from a global perspective, we were large in the small markets but relatively small in the really large markets, like the UK,” Tjärnström said at the time, suggesting the move would see Kindred devote more resources to Unibet.
Stan James customers will be migrated to the Unibet site in the coming months, with Stan James sponsorships also switched over early next year.