Ladbrokes reshuffles egaming team
Ladbrokes is reshuffling its egaming division and a number of senior figures are to leave or be replaced, sources have told eGR.
A number of senior personnel within Ladbrokes’ egaming division, including its managing director, are to leave or be replaced the FTSE 250 bookmaker will announce this Friday, sources close to the company have confirmed to eGaming Review.
On Friday the company will announce that Ed Andrewes, managing director of egaming, will leave after nearly three years with the company. Andrewes will be on six months negotiated gardening leave where he will not be allowed to work for any of Ladbrokes’ direct competitors. Andy Harris, head of gaming who reports to Andrewes, will also leave, while Paul Witten, head of sportsbook within the division will move into a customer development role, sources have told eGR. Both Harris and Witten are said to have gone for the new role of product manager and operations but were not chosen for the role. This will instead go to external candidate Edwina McDowall, previously of Cable & Wireless.
Stephen Vowles was also appointed today as Ladbrokes’ director of customer experience, reporting to Glynn with effect from 1 December this year. Vowles joins Ladbrokes from Ahold where he was SVP of marketing based in the US, responsible for Stop & Shop & Giant supermarkets. Andrewes and Harris’s departure is part of new chief executive, Richard Glynn’s Project Galvanise, an operational review he initiated in August this year, three months after joining, to close the gap on its rival William Hill and double its share price in five years.
A Ladbrokes spokesman would only say that “as part of galvanise there is an ongoing review of structure and these changes are part of that process”.
Galvanise is looking to improve the company’s performance offline but with a particular online focus as well as customer service, brand effectiveness and ways to enhance the business’s technology. In August Glynn said that he expected these priorities, supported by targeted investment, to “deliver customer satisfaction, revenue growth, margin improvement and operational efficiencies over the medium term”.
The first casualty under Glynn’s new reign was 18-year Ladbrokes veteran and former managing director of remote betting and gaming John O’Reilly, who announced he was stepping down in August this year but whose last day is also this Friday. At the time Glynn said O’Reilly had made a “massive contribution” to the growth and development of the company, including online, during his time on the Ladbrokes board.
Galvanise will result in further management changes with Nick Rust due to join the company from rival Gala Coral in January next year to take up the position of retail managing director.
Richard Ames will look after the central operations in the meantime, with Gary McIlraith joining from Alix Partners “ the firm of consultants that came into advise Ladbrokes on the restructure of its egaming division “ to become managing director of digital channels, international and strategy. Former Gala Coral chairman and chief executive John Kelly has joined the board as a non-executive.
The new egaming team at Ladbrokes comprises of:
Gary McIlraith, director of digital channels, international and strategy
Stephen Vowles, director of customer experience
Alex Kovach, head of international and mobile
Richard Ames, central operations
Wendy Collins, in charge of customer acquisition
Paul Witten, customer development
Edwina McDowall, product manager and operations
Cliff Batey, finance
Kovach, Witten and Collins are all existing employees