People news 4 July 2013
The latest people moves from the egaming industry in the last seven days (28 June to 4 July 2013)
Pincus to step down as Zynga CEO
Founder will remain chairman and chief product officer following arrival of Xbox president Don Mattrick
Zynga chief executive and founder Mark Pincus is to step down from his position next week, the social gaming operator has announced.
He will be replaced by Electronic Arts and Microsoft veteran Don Mattrick, while Pincus will remain chairman of the board and chief product officer. Mattrick will also join Zynga’s board of directors.
Mattrick, 49, has spent the last three years as president of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business, focusing on the expansion of the Xbox brand and network.
“I joined Zynga because I believe that Mark’s pioneering vision and mission to connect the world through games is just getting started. Zynga is a great business that has yet to realize its full potential,” Mattrick said.
“I’m proud to partner with Mark to deliver high-quality, fun, social games wherever people want to play.”
Seven days in people news:
GTECH G2 vice-president Scott steps down
GTECH G2 vice-president William Scott has left the software provider after 18 years.
Scott, who joined GTECH Corporation in 1995, stepped down from his post on 15 June. The lottery and egaming supplier declined to comment on the news and has yet to announce a replacement.
eGR understands Scott’s departure was the result of a broader company restructuring plan as it moves to streamline it commercial operations and increase its focus to the US online market. Scott’s responsibilities had been substantially reduced, from a global-facing role to one limited to a handful of European jurisdictions.
Sullivan retires from Boyd Gaming
Boyd Gaming’s Kevin Sullivan, the man responsible for establishing its online partnership with bwin.party, has retired after more than 16 years at the operator.
He will remain with the company as a consultant until the end of the year to oversee the launch of online gaming on behalf of Boyd’s New Jersey property, the Borgata.
Sullivan has been a prominent advocate of online gaming in the US over recent years and was instrumental in Boyd’s pioneering three-way online poker deal with MGM Resorts and bwin.party in 2011.
Media agency Arena, whose clients include egaming Betfair, has named Henry Daglish as the company’s new managing director following Pedro Avery’s promotion to chief executive in June.
Former deputy MD Daglish has been with Arena for seven years, and his promotion completes the company’s new senior management team following Bobby Hui’s appointment as chief strategy officer.
Betfair, BetVictor and Skrill veteran Matt Yates has joined mobile payments solutions provider Paymill as its head of European sales.
“I’ve joined an amazing revolutionary payment service provider (PSP) that is really going places and I am very fortunate to be part of an amazing team of over 45 people now with products that new start ups and established merchants are raving about,” Yates said.