People news 28 January 2016
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (22 January to 28 January 2016)
BetVictor rings the changes with five senior hires
Operator strengthens team with five new appointments including head of casino and poker, CFO and head of brand
BetVictor has announced a raft of senior hires as chief executive Andreas Meinrad (pictured) continues to shape his management team.
Among a total of five new additions is chief financial officer Germon Knopp, who will join the Gibraltar-based operator on 1 February.
Knopp was group CFO for European Directories Group based in Helsinki, having previously held a similar post at Irdeto, a leading multinational media group listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges.
Shane Stafford will also be starting his new role as head of brand and creative next month; Stafford had been with Paddy Power since 2006, most recently as creative director.
GVC builds management team ahead of bwin merger
GVC Holdings chief executive Kenny Alexander says positions on the operator’s new-look management team will be split equally between GVC and bwin.party, as he looks to bring together the “best talent” to lead the enlarged firm.
Speaking to eGaming Review, Alexander said he had been busy building his senior team ahead of the 1 February takeover, allocating a number of senior roles to add to the recent hires of COO Shay Segev and head of IR and corporate strategy Nick Batram.
The combined firm’s sportsbook division, which will include both the Sportingbet and bwin brands, will be led by GVC CMO Adam Lewis and bwin.party Labels director Sam Sadi, who will become group head of sportsbook marketing and group head of sportsbook operations respectively.
Seven days in people news:
Betclic restructures international division
Betclic Everest Group has promoted its head of Italy Francesco Postiglione to the role of director of international markets as part of a strategy to combine its Italian and international divisions.
The Paris-headquartered firm’s board took the decision to merge the two divisions following a recent strategic review, a move which will also see Postiglione relocate to London from Rome.
Postiglione, who led Betclic Everest’s Italian operation for more than two years, replaces Henrik Svensson as director of international markets, who will leave the firm by mutual agreement after 18 months of service.
Amaya names Eric Frank as director of legal affairs
Amaya has named gaming attorney Eric Frank as its new director of legal affairs.
Based out of Amaya’s Miami offices, Frank will be focused primarily on regulatory compliance in the Americas and will report directly to Eric Newcomer, VP of legal affairs.
“Amaya is a market leader that enjoys strong, positive relationships with regulators around the world,” Eric Hollreiser, Amaya spokesman, said.