People news 6 April 2017
The latest people news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (31 March to 6 April 2017)
Amaya hires William Hill exec to lead M&A push
Robin Chhabra, who worked on a number of Hills’ acquisitions, will lead Amaya’s efforts to land a sportsbook deal
Amaya has hired William Hill group director of strategy and corporate development, Robin Chhabra, to lead the Canadian operator’s ongoing M&A efforts, EGR Intel has learned.
Chhabra is expected to join Toronto-listed Amaya later this year – in September according to one source – having recently played a leading role in the attempted merger between the two operators.
Amaya CEO Rafi Ashkenazi is said to have been impressed by Chhabra during the negotiations, which ended in October following public criticism of the deal from William Hill’s major shareholder Parvus Asset Management.
A number of sources have since confirmed that Chhabra, who worked on Hills’ acquisitions of Sportingbet and TomWaterhouse.com, will take up the M&A strategy role Amaya is recruiting for.
Sky Bet readies Germany launch
Sky Betting & Gaming (SB&G) has kicked off a major recruitment drive for its Germany-facing business as the operator confirms it will launch in the market later this year.
The Leeds-headquartered firm is currently hiring for four marketing and legal positions in its recently opened Munich office.
And a recruitment process is also underway for nine German-speaking contact centre roles and up to four new technology roles based in SB&G’s 50-strong international team in Sheffield.
Seven days in people news:
Cherry hires former Spotify and Nasdaq accountant as CFO
Cherry AB has strengthened its management team ahead of the operator’s Nasdaq listing with hires of former Spotify and Nasdaq finance specialist Christine Rankin as CFO and Carolina Haglund Strömlid as head of investor relations and communications.
Rankin, who was also a certified accountant and partner at PwC until 2014, will take on the duties previously held by Alexander Pettersson, who will remain part of the Group finance team in a yet to be determined role.
Pettersson had stepped into CFO breach as cover for Fredrik Burvall, who moved to the CEO position in 2015, although Burvall left Cherry at the start of this year and has since been succeeded by Anders Holmgren.
William Hill hires Worldpay’s Ruth Prior as CFO
William Hill has appointed Worldpay’s chief operating officer (COO), Ruth Prior, as its new chief financial officer (CFO), the bookmaker announced last week.
Prior will take over from interim CFO Mark Summerfield, currently on a secondment from KPMG, as permanent CFO later this year on an annual base salary of £425,000.
She joins the operator after nearly four years at Worldpay, where she was originally appointed deputy chief financial officer before taking up her current COO role in December 2016.
RakeTech appoints former Evolution CFO Svederman to board
RakeTech Group has strengthened its senior management with the appointment of a new chief financial officer (CFO) and the addition of ex-Evolution Gaming CFO Fredrik Svederman to the board.
Svederman will join the egaming affiliate marketing firm’s board of directors having previously served as CFO of Evolution for six years until 2016.
RakeTech has also hired Anna Nilsson as the firm’s CFO, who will join next month following financial roles at EY, Phone House, Truecaller and MTGx Digital Ventures.