Kindred makes new executive appointments

The online gaming group has named a new chief human resources officer and chief technology officer. 

Sweden.- Kindred Group has announced two new executive appointments to its team. Rachel Randle-Williams has been named as chief human resources officer while Sören Thörnlund is the company’s new chief technology officer. They replace Gavin Hayward and Marcus Smedman.

Both appointments are internal hires. Randle-Williams steps up from her post as director of organisational effectiveness, which she took up in 2019. Thörnlund was previously deputy CTO – director of engineering before taking on overall responsibility for international technology operations. He joined Kindred in 2013 and has passed through the roles of tech lead and global head of development.

Thörnlund wrote on Linkedin: “Beginning the year by stepping up to a new challenge as chief technology officer at Kindred Group plc. Looking forward to building on the work done by the great people preceding me.”

Existing C-level positions comprise CEO Henrik Tjärnström, CCOs Nils Andén and Anne-Jaap Snijders, CFO Johan Wilsby, CMO Elen Barber, CPO Erik Bäcklund and chief legal and compliance officer Ewout Keuleers.

In December, Norway’s Lotteritilsynet again halted its fines against Kindred’s Trannel subsidiary after deciding that it was no longer targeting the country.

In September, the regulator said it would fine Kindred NOK1.198m (€114,000) per day while it continued to target customers in Norway. However, it put a hold on the fines after Kindred said it would stop targeting the market as a sign of goodwill while it continues to pursue legal challenges against Norway’s monopoly system.

But then in November, Lotteritilsynet said it had found that Kindred was still targeting the country. The operator contested that, saying that it had changed the language on its sites from Norwegian to English, removed Norwegian flags from all channels and changed the name of Storspiller to a non-Norwegian word. It also stopped all advertising and marketing in Norwegian and stopped offering Norwegian-speaking customer service.