Exclusive: Rank hires former Hills commercial director to lead digital transformation team
Liam Wallwork to join the Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos owner on Monday as director of transformation
Rank Group has hired William Hill’s former commercial director Liam Wallwork as its new director of transformation for Rank Interactive, EGR can reveal.
Wallwork will take up his new role on Monday (4 November) and be responsible for heading up digital transformation as part of the London-listed operator’s wider transformation team.
Last year Rank hired Jim Marsh from consultancy firm McKinsey as its new chief transformation officer as part of a new initiative to “deliver revenue growth, greater cost efficiency and improved organisational effectiveness”.
Reporting into Marsh, Wallwork will be based out of Gibraltar where has worked for nearly three years within William Hill’s digital team as director of gaming and, most recently, commercial director.
John O’Reilly, CEO of Rank, said: “I am pleased that Liam is joining Rank next week in the newly created role of director of transformation for Rank Interactive.
“Liam has a wealth of industry and digital experience, most recently from his time at William Hill, and this will be invaluable to the Group as we continue to work through our digital transformation work-stream.”
Prior to joining Hills, Wallwork held senior gaming roles at both Betfair and Paddy Power having originally got his start in the gambling industry at Sky Bet where he worked for more than six years.
His appointment at Rank comes after the company recently announced an 8% year-on-year increase in gross gaming revenue for the three months ended 30 September 2019 following a 15% rise from its digital division.
During the three-month period Grosvenor digital net gaming revenue grew 27% thanks to “strong growth” in customer numbers, while Mecca digital’s net gaming revenue were up 14%.
“We are delighted with the early flow through of revenue from our Transformation initiatives launched in December 2018,” Rank said in the trading update.
Last month Rank completed its £115m deal to acquire Stride Gaming, folding the business into the wider Rank Group and appointing former Stride CEO Eitan Boyd and COO Darren Sims to lead a new Interactive division.