We’re ready to bounce back from bumps in the road, says Hills Online MD
Crispin Nieboer believes recent senior hires underlines the belief in William Hill’s turnaround strategy
William Hill Online chief Crispin Nieboer says the firm’s ready to bounce back from a turbulent period, with this week’s trio of high-profile appointments illustrating a growing confidence in its digital strategy.
Speaking exclusively to EGR Intel, the MD admitted the division had suffered a number of mishaps of late, but that its ability to attract senior figures from both inside and outside the industry gave further weight to its “turnaround project”.
EGR Intel this week revealed Hills had completed its Online restructure with the appointment of a new director of gaming P&L, chief information officer (CIO) and director of digital marketing.
“All companies suffer bumps in the road during their evolution and we’ve certainly had our share of those,” Nieboer said.
“The level of experience and seniority these three execs represent is a sign of confidence in William Hill and a belief in a turnaround project that is well on its way to delivering.
“We also had very good feedback during the interview process and there was a huge amount of demand for these roles as people are really buying into the strategy plan we have.”
The new hires will see Betfair’s former director of gaming ops, Liam Wallwork, take up the senior gaming role, while Itay Fisher joins as CIO having recently worked at Gala Coral as director of product and gaming development.
Gocompare’s former marketing director, Kristian Welch, has also been appointed William Hill’s new digital marketing director, reporting into Group chief customer officer Cem Miralay.
The appointments complete a major restructure of the operator’s Online team which has seen Nieboer implement a new P&L structure to replace the company’s three separate innovation, product development and operations divisions.
And according to the managing director, who took up the role on a permanent basis last year, William Hill Online’s new set-up has already shown signs things are moving in the right direction.
“What this has done is bring more commercial clarity to each of the divisions that have been given a P&L structure and it has meant people are much clearer on the financial impact,” Nieboer told EGR Intel.
“Last year we made massive progress on our mobile sportsbook, drove forwards on cross-sell and made some positive early steps on gaming.
“These appointments are really about continuing that momentum and focusing on marketing, gaming and technology within William Hill Online to ensure that we drive towards our ambition to be best-in-class for mobile product and customer experience in online gaming.”
Earlier this week, William Hill revealed full-year group profits would come in approximately £20m below previous guidance following a run of “customer-friendly” results in December.
William Hill will report its full-year results on 24 February 2017.