People news 10 March 2016
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (4 March to 10 March 2016)
Gala Coral hires Hills head of gaming for director role
Operator appoints Nir Hakarmeli as director of gaming operations amid wider divisional changes
Gala Coral Interactive (GCI) has appointed William Hill Online head of gaming Nir Hakarmeli as director of gaming operations, with the hire among a raft of personnel changes at the operator’s gaming arm.
Hakarmeli is understood to have left William Hill in January and, following a short period of gardening leave, will join GCI’s Gibraltar-based team where he will report into gaming director Mark Kemp.
The appointment of Hakarmeli, who spent two years at Hills, has seen previous GCI gaming operations director Angus Nisbet become director of Gala Bingo, working under brand director Alison Digges.
And in further changes, EGR can reveal that Richard Leask has been appointed head of Gala Casino while Craig Perry, who was previously head of poker, lotto and social, has moved to head-up Gala Bingo and Casino gaming operations.
Sky Bet rejigs senior team following Sporting Index hire
Sky Betting & Gaming (SB&G) has appointed former Sporting Index COO Ronnie Whelan as its new trading director, with incumbent Tim Bishop stepping up to become managing director of SB&G operations.
Whelan, who resigned from his current business development director role for Sporting Index B2B arm Sporting Solutions last summer, will join the Leeds-headquartered firm on 1 May where he will report directly into Bishop.
Bishop is currently director of trading and operations but will take on the newly created MD role upon Whelan’s arrival at the firm. The two men are already familiar with each other through SB&G’s relationship with Sporting Solutions.
Seven days in people news:
Sporting Index promotes Trim to CEO
Sporting Index Group has appointed long-serving Simon Trim as its new chief executive following the departure of Warren Murphy.
The appointment sees Trim, who has been with Sporting Index for 18 years, promoted from his current role as managing director of the group’s B2B arm Sporting Solutions, a position he has held since 2011.
News of Trim’s hire comes just one week after eGaming Review revealed that Murphy had tendered his resignation. Murphy will remain with the firm until the end of April in order to ensure a smooth handover process.
News UK head of egaming marketing Loveday departs
News UK’s Emma Loveday, who led the marketing of the publisher’s egaming brands, has left the firm to join data technology firm GlobalWebIndex.
Loveday vacated her role at News UK in December and EGR understands she will not be replaced directly due to the restructuring of its gaming team following recent supplier deals with Playtech and Tabcorp.
Since joining News UK in December 2013, Loveday led the multi-channel marketing and customer retention strategy for its egaming products including the Nektan-powered Sun Play and the popular Sun Bingo.
Unibet restructures performance marketing arm
Unibet has completed a restructuring of its performance marketing team in a move which has seen the promotion of Ryan Henderson to head of affiliates.
The Stockholm-listed operator’s performance marketing arm has shifted its focus to its affiliate and programmatic advertising businesses, both of which will come under the remit of head of performance marketing Elen Barber.
Henderson, who will report into Barber, took up his new role earlier this month having previously worked as Unibet’s online marketing manager since June 2015 following his appointment from EveryMatrix.
FSB appoints Will Povey as account manager
FSB technology has appointed Will Povey as its new account manager after kicking off a new recruitment drive.
Povey joins the sportsbook provider from the Bank of England and previously worked at spread betting company Cantor Sports.
“Will is a great addition to our growing team,” David McDowell, chief executive and co-founder of FSB Tech, said.
“His vast industry expertise and client management experience will help us deliver an even better experience for licensees in the coming months,” he continued.