With comings and goings commonplace across the industry, Digitain, Sportradar and the American Gaming Association are among those to have seen changes to their teams.
Digitain
Digitain has promoted Ani Mkrtchyan to the position of Chief Sales Officer.
Joining Digitain as a Sales Manager over five and a half years ago, Mkrtchyan has served as the company’s Head of Strategy for almost three years, utilising her igaming experience in international development strategy, operations, and sales strategies across several regulated markets.
Vardges Vardanyan, Founder of the Digitain Group, commented: “Digitain is committed to investing in its people and nurturing that talent.
“Over the nearly six years of being part of the Digitain Family and its growth into multiple markets, Ani has demonstrated exemplary attention to detail, insight, and leadership, putting our partners and customers at the heart of everything we do.
“We are delighted to have Ani join our leadership team as we continue expanding as one of the major platform providers to B2C partner operators in regulated markets.”
Mkrtchyan added: “I’m immensely grateful to Mr Vardanyan for his unfaltering vision in Digitain, mentoring and coaching our people.
“When engineering complex sales solutions for today’s multi-jurisdictional operators, we put partners and our people first and strive for the very best versions of ourselves and for our partners in that delivery goal. I look forward to assembling and building a game-changing team over the months and years ahead.”
GREF
The Gambling Regulators European Forum Board has launched the Anti-Money Laundering Working Group and has appointed Rachel Bezzina from the Malta Gaming Authority and Christophe Vidal from the French National Gambling Authority as co-chairs of the group.
The AML Working Group is the fifth group to be created by GREF, along with Responsible Gambling, Digital & Innovation, InfoStat, and Enforcement.
AML experts will come together within the group to share insights into best practices, trends and developments, and consider any necessary joint action.
Sportradar
Sportradar has appointed Jim Bombassei as Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Finance, effective immediately.
Reporting directly to CFO Gerard Griffin, Bombassei will be responsible for building and maintaining global investment relationships, communicating Sportradar’s business model, long-term strategy and financial performance, and will have oversight of the company’s Corporate Finance function.
Bombassei brings experience in financial and investor relations to the role, having previously held senior executive positions in the media, technology and gaming industries, most recently serving as CFO of SciPlay Corporation.
Griffin stated: “We are pleased to welcome Jim to the Sportradar team. He is a talented and respected finance executive, with a wealth of investor relations experience and a track record of success.
“Jim will be a great asset as we continue to communicate our vision and strategy to the market and our investor community.”
RubyPlay
RubyPlay has hired Olga Sirokha as its new Director of Partnerships.
With over 20 years of experience within the gaming industry, including in Latin America’s land-based casino sector, Sirokha will be tasked with managing RubyPlay’s partner network and securing agreements with operators in key regions globally.
Dr Eyal Loz, Chief Product Officer at RubyPlay, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Olga to the team. Her deep knowledge of successful partnerships is sure to secure even more opportunities and collaborations for RubyPlay moving forward.
“We’ve signed some fantastic agreements with operators recently, and with our eye on further expansion in key markets in the near future, Olga is absolutely the right person for the role. We look forward to showing you some extremely exciting developments very soon.”
Sirokha added: “RubyPlay are on a fantastic upward trajectory, and I couldn’t be happier to be joining the company at such a pivotal time of expansion.
“Recent partnerships with some of the industry’s biggest brands have put us in good stead for the future. I’m thrilled to be able to contribute to even more growth as we approach 2024. Watch this space – we’re taking RubyPlay to the next level.”
American Gaming Association
The American Gaming Association has announced Joe Maloney as its new Senior Vice President, Strategic Communications.
In this role, Maloney will direct the AGA’s communications, research, marketing and public affairs campaigns to advance key priorities for the association’s members.
AGA President and CEO Bill Miller commented: “I’m thrilled to have Joe join the AGA and lead our best-in-class communications team. Joe is an accomplished professional who has taken on significant public affairs challenges throughout his career.
“We will benefit not only from his depth of experience and his tireless advocacy, but his enthusiasm and energy to hit the ground running as a champion for the casino gaming industry.”
Maloney will join the AGA in January 2024 from the Washington Commanders, where he served as Vice President of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications.
“I’m honoured to join the AGA and its dedicated team at this pivotal moment for the gaming industry,” added Maloney.
“The future holds great promise and I’m energised by the opportunity and challenge of communicating the remarkable benefits and economic impact of legal gaming across the country.”
FSB
FSB has appointed Craig Artley to the role of Chief Financial Officer.
As CFO, Artley will oversee FSB’s financial strategy, lead its finance and compliance teams and direct commercial relationships with platform partners.
Joining from Sporting Group where he held several senior financial positions, he has also previously worked for Deloitte and Gfinity.
Adam Smith, CEO at FSB, noted: “Craig is another outstanding hire into our senior leadership executive team.
“As we continue to build our partner network across multiple continents, it was clear we needed a dynamic figure to deliver a robust, holistic economic strategy to support the overall ecosystem of our global business. With Craig’s sector experience and infectious desire to deliver he was the clear choice to fill this role and we’re thrilled to have him on board.”
Commenting on his new role, Artley said: “FSB’s transformation into a leading global sportsbook supplier has been inspiring to follow from within the industry, so to be offered the opportunity to join this journey is a great honour.
“My job now is to support the business from a financial view across our four operational continents and growing partner pool as we look forward to a busy 2024.”
