With comings and goings commonplace across the industry, Continent 8 Technologies, The Star Entertainment Group and Seminole Hard Rock are among those to have seen changes to their teams this week.
Seminole Hard Rock
Seminole Hard Rock has promoted Keith Sheldon to the position of President of Entertainment and Brand Management for Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International.
Reporting to Hard Rock International Chair and Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen, Sheldon will take charge of brand management, consumer marketing, brand partnerships and sponsorship revenue generation, as well as continue to oversee all facets of entertainment including programming, talent buying, nightlife and industry relations.
“I am honoured to work with incredible performers, partners, and Team Members at Hard Rock and Seminole Gaming and look forward to growing our unique brand offerings for entertainment lovers and guests around the world,” said Sheldon.
Sheldon has been President of Entertainment at Seminole Hard Rock for the last four years, booking headline entertainment, sports and lifestyle events for the company alongside securing partnerships.
“Since Keith joined our team in 2020 to lead our entertainment efforts, he has played an integral role in elevating Hard Rock and Seminole Hard Rock brands through strategic partnerships and once-in-a-lifetime events for our guests,” added Allen.
“We’re excited for Keith to continually build upon those incredible entertainment experiences with new partners and bolster our brands in new and exciting ways in his expanded role.”
The Star Entertainment Group
The Star Entertainment Group has appointed Janelle Campbell as CEO of The Star Sydney, pending all necessary regulatory approvals.
Reporting to Group CEO and Managing Director Robbie Cooke, Campbell brings over 20 years of casino industry experience to the role.
“I am excited to be joining The Star at a pivotal moment in the company’s history and to help shape the future for a venue that has been an iconic Sydney destination for almost 30 years,” stated Campbell.
“I am clear on the strategic priorities, including the urgent focus on ensuring our remediation actions drive a return to suitability and the removal of the existing licence suspension.
“In parallel, we need to ensure that building the trust and confidence of our regulators, guests, team members, other stakeholders and the broader community is always front of mind while building a culture of high-performance excellence.
“We want to be known for delivering world-class experiences and I’m looking forward to The Star Sydney shaping a successful future of sustainable long-term growth.”
Campbell previously worked as Director of Finance and Financial Controller at Conrad Treasury in Brisbane, as Executive Director of Finance for Conrad Jupiters and Treasury Casinos Queensland and as SVP of Finance for Melco Resorts & Entertainment in Macau.
Cooke added: “I’m delighted to welcome Janelle to the team as part of our organisational restructure. Janelle is a highly regarded, very experienced and extremely talented senior casino executive.
“Janelle has strong leadership skills, with experience in overseeing large-scale operations
managing teams of up to 1,200 and a great track record in developing and implementing strategic business plans. During her time at Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Janelle oversaw the finance, supply chain and AML functions among other responsibilities.
“I look forward to working with Janelle on our ongoing transformation program at The Star Sydney as we pursue our number one objective of returning our Sydney casino to suitability.”
ReferOn
Affiliate platform ReferOn has hired Alexia Gauci as a B2B Sales Manager, who brings igaming experience in sales and digital B2B marketing to the role.
David Harris, B2B Affiliate Team Manager at ReferOn, noted: “We are delighted to have Alexia join the team; her contributions will significantly strengthen the team and the company’s growth in providing market-leading services to our partners.”
Gauci added: “I am glad to join the team of such a technologically advanced product and create additional value for partners. I am looking forward to engaging with all of our interesting prospects and I am ready to invest in achieving goals in accordance with our strategy.”
Continent 8 Technologies
Continent 8 Technologies has made two recent appointments, adding Dave Phillips as Vice President of Network, as well as Andrew Mudge as a Regional Sales Director.
Phillips has spent the past 15 years at Google, holding a variety of leadership roles in engineering, operations, delivery and product teams.
In his new role, Phillips will be responsible for overseeing the company’s global network across more than 100 locations in four continents, leading a global team of networking specialists located in the UK, Europe, US, Canada, Singapore and India.
Edward O’Connor, CTO at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “Dave is a highly experienced network technologist with an incredible amount of Internet industry experience having been at Google through their hyper-growth phase over the past 15 years.
“Our network is one of the largest and best connected in the business. For over 25 years our industry’s biggest brands have relied on the Continent 8 network and hiring Dave to lead our global team will help to ensure that we continue to innovate on behalf of customers for the next 25 years.
“Dave is joining a fantastic team – with his experience and the immense creativity of our group, I’m certain that we’re going to invent great ways to help our customers in 2024 and beyond.”
Phillips added: “Continent 8’s connected network is quite simply the backbone of the igaming industry and I’m thrilled to be joining the company.
“I’m excited by the extraordinary growth facing Continent 8, further developing our innovative product set and strengthening our position as the infrastructure partner of choice for many of the biggest operators and suppliers in the global gaming industry.”
A global gaming specialist, Mudge previously spent eight-plus years in various roles at international IT service partner Viadex Global, spending the last 12 months focusing on its US business.
Using his market experience and understanding of IT infrastructure, Mudge will support Continent 8’s US customers while also spreading awareness of the company’s solutions and services.
Brian Koh, VP of Sales & CCO at Continent 8 Technologies, said: “Andrew is a great addition to our commercial team, bringing not only knowledge of the industry but also of the US market.
“This is an important region for us, and we are thrilled to be able to leverage his understanding of the market and the infrastructure that operators and suppliers need to succeed here. This, combined with his experience in the gambling sector, makes him a strong asset as we continue to grow.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Andrew to the global Continent 8 team and look forward to working with him as we strengthen our position as the leading infrastructure provider in the US and beyond.”
Mudge added: “It’s an honour to be joining Continent 8 at such an exciting time for the business. Having worked closely with the team during my eight years in the industry, I am very aware of the strong presence and dominant brand they have developed globally.
“I’m proud to be joining the leading infrastructure provider for gambling operators and suppliers, worldwide.”
Sportingtech
Sportingtech has named Tom Ustunel as its new CEO, who has been working with the company for the past two years.
Previously, Ustunel has worked as Chief of Gaming Operations at GAN and as Betting and Gaming Director at News UK, leading projects with a product development focus. As CEO, Ustunel will lead Sportingtech as it expands in the global markets where it is present.
Ustunel said: “Sportingtech has been on an incredible trajectory in recent years, and 2023 saw unprecedented success which we are looking to not only replicate but also build on.
“I am thrilled to be working with such a talented team of people across the entire business during what promises to be an exciting time as we look to further cement ourselves as the go-to provider for operators.”