888 Holdings names new non-executive directors

Andrea Gisle Joosen, Andria Vidler and Randy Freer will join 888’s board.

UK.- 888 Holdings has appointed three non-executive directors (NEDs) following its executive restructuring on completion of its acquisition of William Hill’s European retail and online assets. It has named Andrea Gisle Joosen, Andria Vidler and Randy Freer as independent non-executive directors on the board.

Joosen previously served as a non-executive director at Mr Green before it was acquired by William Hill in 2018. She has also served as chair of Acast AB and as a non-executive director at ICA Gruppen and James Hardie Industries.

She was CEO at Boxer TV Sweden and has worked as managing director for the Nordics for Panasonic, Chantelle Group and 20th Century Fox. She now serves on the boards of Currys in the UK and Billerud AB in Sweden.

Vilder has a background in marketing and technology, but also served on the board at Gamesys. She’s worked as CEO of Tag EMEA since 2020, at Centaur Media for six years and at EMI Music UK and Ireland for four years. She has also held senior posts at the BBC and Bauer Media.

Freer is chief executive of brand consultancy The Freer Company. Before that he served as CEO of Hulu and COO at Fox Networks Group, National Geographic and Big Ten Network.

888 Holdings completed its £1.95bn acquisition of William Hill’s non-US assets last week, including the brand’s UK retail estate. And with a very different business going forwards, including land-based bookmakers for the first time, it has announced a reshuffling of its leadership team.

Itai Pazner will remain chief executive with Yariv Dafna as group CFO. They will lead a new C-level team comprising a mix of 888 and William Hill executives. Vaughn Lewis, who joined 888 from Flutter Entertainment last year, will lead international growth initiatives as chief strategy officer.

Meanwhile, Guy Cohen will serve as chief operations officer (COO), leading day-to-day operations, and William Hill’s Mark Skinner will serve as chief people officer. Satty Bhens, who led technology at William Hill, has been named chief technology and product officer and will oversee the integration of William Hill’s brands, including Mr Green, with 888’s own B2C portfolio of 888 and SI Sportsbook in the US.

Naama Kushnir, previously COO, is now chief transformation officer. Phil Walker, William Hill’s managing director for the UK, will serve in the same position for 888. It had already been announced that William Hill chief executive Ulrik Bengtsson would leave the company after three years in the role.

888 says its integration of William Hill assets will achieve pre-tax cost synergies of at least £100m by 2025. It will integrate William Hill’s non-US assets, plus Mr Green, into its existing lineup of brands: 888sport, 888casino, 888poker and SI Sportsbook.

The group’s non-executive Lord Mendelsohn said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome three outstanding candidates in Andrea, Andria and Randy to the Board of 888.

“As well as further strengthening the group’s corporate governance structure, they each bring extensive and highly relevant skills and experience to our Board which will be of significant benefit to the group as it delivers its long-term strategic objectives as an enlarged business post the completion of our acquisition of William Hill.

“888 has a number of very exciting opportunities ahead and I am looking forward to working closely with our strengthened Board to continue to deliver the Group’s growth strategy and generate further stakeholder value.”