GVC Holdings PLC announced the appointment of Sandeep Tiku as chief operating officer (COO). Tiku joined GVC as IT director in 2014 and became the group’s chief technology officer (CTO) in 2016. Prior to this, Tiku spent fourteen years at Valtech, a global digital agency focused on business transformation, where he was a global SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) practice head working for large enterprises in e-commerce and the digital and mobile spaces.

Whilst at GVC, Tiku has led a number of technology and platform transformation programs involving technological revolution, people re-skilling and innovation, culminating in the completion of GVC’s proprietary gaming platform. His work has ably supported multiple acquisitions of global gambling companies and the successful integration of these businesses thereafter. Tiku was reportedly pivotal in the technical migration of Ladbrokes Coral onto the group’s proprietary technology platform. The Ladbrokes Coral migration was the largest that GVC has completed and represented one of the final parts of what was the most complex integration process in the gambling industry to-date.

A search is currently underway for his replacement as CTO.

GVC has also promoted Marc Lange to the position of chief of staff to the CEO. Lange has over twenty years’ experience in technology, strategy, management and consulting. He previously served as the group’s integration director since February 2018 following the acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral.  Lange joined the Group in 2012.

Andy Hicks, GVC’s managing director of retail, has been promoted to the GVC senior leadership team and will also report directly to the CEO. Hicks has over twenty years’ experience in retail, having held senior positions at Dixons and Woolworths before joining Coral in 2009.

“I am delighted to be promoting GVC talent,” said Shay Segev, CEO. “Sandeep brings unparalleled experience and insight to the role of COO. We are first and foremost a technology business and this is at the heart of what we do – supporting customer services, trading, product and our people.  It therefore makes sense for him to take on this broader role. His leadership of our technology strategy and teams, combined with his knowledge of our legacy stack and proven results through our integrations, means that he is the right person for the job.

I’d also like to congratulate Marc and Andy who both are operational experts with proven track records of delivering large-scale change initiatives. Their progression to the senior leadership team is richly deserved.”