People news 27 June 2013
The latest people moves from the egaming industry in the last seven days (21 June to 27 June 2013)
Poker Network chief to leave Bodog
BPN president Jonas Odman to focus on US-based start-up after three years with operator
Jonas Ãdman has stepped down from his role as president of the Bodog Poker Network to pursue new opportunities in the US egaming market.
Ãdman (pictured), who took over from Patrik Selin last year, was with the firm for three years, initially as vice president of poker. He was heavily involved in the development of the network’s recreational poker model, which included the network-wide introduction of anonymous tables.
“Bodog gave me a great opportunity to bring anonymous tables to the world,” said Ãdman, who is poised to relocate to California to set up a start-up company, which will be a “B2B software provider for the regulated US online poker market”.
“Now that the [recreational] model is a proven success I want to bring it to poker’s homeland too and nobody else is offering anything tangibly different like this,” he added.
Seven days in people news:
Weizer leaves Sportech board as Playtech halves stake
Playtech CEO Mor Weizer has stepped down as a non-executive director of Sportech’s board following the Israeli supplier’s sale of half its 10% stake in the operator.
Weizer had held the position since Playtech acquired a strategic stake in Sportech in January 2010 for around £10m, and his resignation comes days after the firm sold half its stake in Sportech to reduce its shareholding to 4.99%. Sportech’s share price has more than doubled since Playtech’s initial investment.
The £10m stake helped Sportech fund its acquisition of Scientific Games Racing (‘SGR’), the US-based pari-mutuel and venue management business division of Scientific Games Corporation.
Andy Tian, Zynga‘s general manager in China, will become the latest departure from the social gaming operator after the company announced he is set to leave at the end of the month. Head of partner publishing Rob Dyer, who joined Zynga in 2011, is also set to leave the operator. Dyer’s role included overseeing third-party development partnerships, launching new titles and marketing new releases.
Global Personals has hired Pil-Jeong Oh as head of gaming as the dating company looks to move into the gambling space. He joins the firm from News International, where he worked on the Sun Bingo and Fabulous Bingo brands, and will be responsible for the company’s online gaming strategy. Global Personals CEO said Pil’s appointment “will be a great asset” to the senior team and that he will bring “a huge wealth of gaming experience to the role”.
Technology provider Cozy Games has appointed Suchita Rao as its branding and communications manager. Tim Green, COO at Cozy Games, said, “Suchita’s appointment is testament to the success and growth of Cozy Games.” Suchita joins Cozy games after hoilding previous positions at Deloitte, Wipro and Edelman.