Gamesys Group founder and CEO Noel Hayden has been appointed executive chairman following Intertain’s £425.8m acquisition of Gamesys’ bingo brands in April.
Hayden will continue to lead the company’s vision, R&D and innovation agenda, have the final call on new product lines and oversee all corporate development.
Hayden founded Gamesys in 2001 and his achievements include launching Facebook’s first real money gambling app in 2012 and acquiring Virgin Games in 2013.
Gamesys’ CEO role will be filled by COO Lee Fenton, who joined Gamesys in 2008 following management roles at 20th Century Fox and Vodafone, while Robeson Reeves will take up the COO role.
The changes were confirmed during a management meeting at Gamesys’ annual general meeting in June.
Meanwhile, Czech online and land-based betting company Fortuna Entertainment has appointed Darren Lovern, former head of online sportsbook operations at Paddy Power, as its new chief marketing officer.
Lovern spent over eight years at the Irish bookmaker. He joined the company in 2007 as online operations manager before going on to become online sports boss in May 2009.
Prior to his time with Paddy Power, he served as general manager at Fusioneer Ltd. for five years, and was involved in professional services provision in Morocco for 2 years. Earlier career stops included spells with Marrakech, PA Consulting Group and PWC.
Lovern holds a Master’s degree in Accounting from University College Dublin, and a BComm, Commerce Accounting Marketing degree from the National University of Ireland in Galway.
