People news 21 June 2012
A round up of industry moves from the last week (15 June to 21 June 2012).
Paddys brings in LOVEFiLM and lastminute.com veterans
William Reeve to take up newly created role of head of operations, while Fin Goulding took over as CIO this week.
Paddy Power has made two senior management appointments, bringing in the co-founder of LOVEFiLM and the former chief technology officer at lastminute.com.
William Reeve, co-founder of LOVEFiLM, will take up the newly created role of head of operations with the Irish operator on 5 September, having spent five years with video rental and streaming company from its 2003 launch and holding roles such as managing director and president. His duties with Paddy Power will include overseeing technology, risk and trading, HR and corporate strategy.
He will resign his role as non-executive director with the operator upon taking up the role, but remains on the boards of food delivery business Graze.com, where he is chairman, and online property search company Zoopla, where he serves as a non-executive director. He also co-founded internet research firm Fletcher Research.
New chief information officer Fin Goulding was previously CTO of lastminute.com and most recently held the role of CIO and vice president of the global development centre for the internet business’ parent company Sabre Holdings Argentina.
Seven days in people news:
Head of Bulgarian gambling body accused of assault
The chair of Bulgaria’s State Commission for Gambling Control Kaloyan Krastev has been accused of assaulting a member of his staff at a time when he was overseeing a redundancy drive in which 30 people have been let go from the authority since his appointment in 2010.
One of his former employees, a Mr Presian Stoev who spent nine years working for the Commission as an expert on land-based gambling regulation, verified the accusations, following an incident which saw Stoev suffer bruising around his head and neck, and scratches on his arms.
He alleges that following an argument over his dismissal from the regulator Krastev locked his office door and proceeded to attack him. Stoev claims to have been the 24 employee to be made redundant, according to Bulgarian newspaper Blitz, with a further five members of staff let go from the authority following the incident.
Paddy Power pays footballer’s advertising fine
Paddy Power has agreed to pay the 100,000 fine meted out to Nicklas Bendtner by European football body UEFA after the Danish striker exposed underwear carrying the operator’s logo.
In an official statement, UEFA described Bendtner’s conduct as “improper”, however the Irish firm’s head of mischief Ken Robertson said in response: “We don’t believe that Nicklas should be penalised for nothing more serious than wearing his lucky underpants which, in fairness, was only a bit of fun.”
A tweet from Paddy Power in which the operator linked to a blog post explaining their reasons for paying the “over the top” fine received 133 retweets.
Worldlink hires ex-Champions League marketing chief
Mobile data provider Worldlink has announced the appointment of former UEFA Champions League marketing director Stephen Pearson as chief marketing officer of its sports and gaming division Worldlink Sports Limited.
Pearson served as marketing director for TEAM Marketing AG, UEFA’s official marketing partners for the Champions League, from June 1993 to December 1997, where he was responsible for negotiating Playstation’s £30m annual sponsorship deal of the tournament. He then spent just under 18 months as the first-ever commercial director of England’s Premier League where he oversaw shirt sponsorship deals between the likes of Arsenal and Sega Dreamcast and Tottenham Hotspur and egaming operator Mansion.
BetED indictee sentenced to two years probation
David Parchomchuk, one of three individuals named in last May’s ‘Blue Monday’ indictments, has received a sentence of two years’ probation after pleading guilty to conducting an illegal gambling business.
Parchomchuk was named in association with BetED, one of the operators to have its dot.com domain seized last year following an operation involving undercover payment processor business Linwood Payment Solutions.
Beckley Black Friday sentencing could be delayed
Brent Beckley, Absolute Poker’s director of payments, is now unlikely to face trial before late July following a court filing from his attorney.
Beckley pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in December last year, admitting “I knew that it was illegal to deceive the banks,” and was initially expected to face sentencing on 19 April. This was later pushed back to early July.
Playtech has appointed Andrew Thomas as a non-executive director of the company, with the member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants to become chair of the supplier’s audit committee on his appointment. Jersey-based Thomas was a founding partner of the accountancy firm Moors Andrew Thomas & Co LLP, and served as chairman of the pub and hotel chain Greenalls Group until 2000.
Commenting on the appointment Playtech chairman Roger Withers said: “I am delighted that Andrew has decided to join Playtech’s board at this exciting time in the Company’s development. Andrew has considerable recent financial and taxation experience which he will be able to bring to the role of chair of our audit committee, together with an excellent understanding of the public markets.”
Greg Enell, co-founder and CEO of Double Down Interactive, has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Pacific Northwest region. The social casino start-up was sold to IGT in January this year for US$500m.