Hills appoints former Betsson CPO as 'director of change'
Cem Miralay forms part of double hire which also sees operator fill CTO position vacated by Finbarr Joy
William Hill today announced the appointment of a ‘director of change’ and group chief technology officer (CTO) as CEO James Henderson continues to rebuild his senior team.
Betsson’s former chief experience and product officer, Cem Miralay, takes up the newly created director of change position and will report directly in to the chief executive.
Prior to joining Betsson, Miralay held a number of senior product strategy and customer experience roles at the likes of Microsoft, AOL and BT.
“Cem will support the executive team in delivering to their strategic priorities and ensuring they are aligned to our customer centric values,” Henderson said.
“Initially he will be working closely with [William Hill Online MD] Crispin Nieboer and the online team to help deliver both their short term priorities and longer term objectives,” he added.
In addition to Miralay’s appointment, William Hill has also hired Simon Rust as the operator’s group CTO following the departure of Finbarr Joy earlier this year.
Rust previously worked at a number of financial institutions including AIB and Visa, and will report to William Hill’s recently appointed chief information officer Kevin O’Connor.
Today’s appointment mark the first major additions to the operator’s digital team since the permanent appointment of Nieboer as managing director William Hill Online last week.
News of the hires come on the back of a disappointing quarter for the operator having recently reported an 11% decline in online revenues for the three months ended 31 March.