People news 10 April 2014
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (4 April to 10 April 2014)
ARJEL appoints new chief executive
Change at top of French regulator continues as Gilles Crespin takes on role of CEO as incumbent steps down
ARJEL has promoted Gilles Crespin to the role of chief executive following the retirement of incumbent Frédéric Epaulard as the regulator continues its restructuring process.
Crespin is to move up from his current role of assistant general manager, a role he has held since September 2011, and will report into ARJEL’s new president Charles Coppolani, who took control of the regulator in February.
Coppolani’s appointment came after the resignation of predecessor Jean-François Vilotte, who left at the start of the year following four years with the body.
In October, Vilotte oversaw a complete restructuring of the regulator in an attempt to better serve the regulated egaming industry.
RealNetworks hires former Aristocrat CEO Atul Bali
Former Aristocrat Technologies president and CEO Atul Bali is set to join RealNetworks as president of the company’s games division, eGaming Review can reveal.
Bali will take up his new role this month and will oversee Real’s entire portfolio of games including the recently acquired Slingo brand and the GameHouse and Zylom game distribution platforms.
He joins Real from Aristocrat Technologies, the US subsidiary of Australian gaming supplier Aristocrat Leisure, where he held the role of president and CEO for nearly two years.
“I was looking more at independent CEO roles but I really liked [Real’s chairman] Rob [Glaser], the board members, Rob’s team and the company’s location in Seattle,” Bali told eGR.
Seven days in people news:
San Manuel appoints new egaming CEO
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (SMB) in California has appointed online gaming veteran Matthew Cullen as CEO of its egaming venture in a bid to capitalize on the fledgling regulated internet gambling industry in the US.
Cullen, who joins from social casino operator RocketPlay where he was president and chief business development officer, takes responsibility for identifying business opportunities for the tribe and will report to the tribe’s board of directors. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the real-money and social gaming industry.
“San Manuel looks to the future with a clear understanding that technology will be a critical factor to the success of the gaming and entertainment industry overall, and has created San Manuel Digital to direct development and pursue opportunities in that area,” said Carla Rodriguez, SMB chairperson.
Bwin.party has announced the appointment of former Manchester United, HBOS and Halifax non-executive director Philip Yea as the operator’s new chairman of the board.
Yea, who is also a former chief executive of private equity group 3i and managing director of Investcorp, replaces Simon Duffy who is to step down from at the company’s Annual General Meeting on 22 May.
“I am excited to be joining bwin.party at this interesting stage in its development,” Yea said.
There are some exciting opportunities and challenges for the business as it looks to leverage its technology, further reduce costs and build shareholder value through development of its regulated business, particularly in the US,” he added.
However, activist investor Jason Ader believes Yea’s appointment could be seen as pre-emptive measure to SpringOwl’s nomination.
“We need to spend more time with the company and understand the attributes of the existing board so that we can complement them with a new director,” Ader said.
Mobile games developer NEKTAN has hired Pascal Olivet as its new head of CRM.
Olivet joins the company from Gala Coral Group where he held the same role for nearly two years after previously working as communication and retention manager at the Betclic Everest Group.
eGR understands that Gala Coral Group will not seek a replacement for Olivet but that accountability for CRM will instead be given to the product directors.
Live content and production services provider SIS has announced the appointment of Rachel Coulson, formerly of Betfair, to the role of head of business data.
Coulson spent more than two years at the Betfair as partner manager where she was responsible for creating partnerships with strategic technology and data suppliers.
“[Coulson] is an experienced professional with a wide knowledge of all aspects of the data landscape and I’m looking forward to working closely with her,” Paul Baker, director of strategic development, said.
“Her role will include the acquisition of data, and will help us develop now product sets as we move more into the digital world, while ensuring we maintain and develop high-quality data services for our retail customers,” he added.