iGaming Business magazine iGB 111 July/Aug | Page 81

Feature
Britt Boeskov,
Chief Programme Officer, Kindred
Boeskov joined Kindred, then Unibet Group, in 2005 in a position
that quickly evolved from management trainee to business
development manager. During nearly three years in the role
she added three new gambling product verticals, before being
promoted to head of acquisition services in 2007, head of the
customer service centre the following year and into the executive
team as chief operations officer in 2009. Boeskov took the position
of chief programme officer in 2016, the year that Unibet became
Kindred, leading the new entity’s change management initiative
Becoming Kindred. Flying relatively under the radar from an
external point of view, she has been responsible for co-ordinating
Kindred’s technical and commercial operations, guiding the
1,400-strong group to year-on-year growth across its key financials.
Despite spending almost her entire career at Unibet, and latterly
Kindred, Boeskov says igaming was “an unexpected career choice”.
She was looking for “opportunities to learn, grow, take part, solve
problems and develop this business beyond the imaginable” and
the industry delivered. The judges remarked on Boeskov’s meteoric
rise in an ever-changing business, where managing cultural
change over the past two years has been key to its ongoing success.
Boeskov describes the industry as “a fantastic place to grow for
ambitious women”. Despite some companies still needing to do a
better job of fostering more inclusive working environments, she
reckons “your vocal support and leadership can push that change”,
adding “there are so many progressive companies in our industry
that really lead the way”. Boeskov’s advice to women wanting to
enter the industry is to leap on the “tough”, “existential”
challenges the industry faces in how it relates to customers
and society. “Join new projects and ventures that aim
at solving these. Don’t wait to become an expert,
it’s part of the industry DNA that
we’re learning as we go. Your
contribution could make
all the difference!”
Denise Coates,
CEO, Bet365
Last year Coates became the highest-paid CEO in the UK,
paying herself an astonishing £217m. She is reported to have
accrued a net worth of £3.5bn since the launch of Bet365
in 2001. Coates entered the industry as a cashier in her
father’s small chain of betting shops before growing the
family business to the online gambling behemoth that it is
today. Coates’ career in igaming is not a story of breaking
through; it’s one of crafting the industry we know today.
“I was running the family chain of betting shops when
the internet was in its relative infancy,” she tells iGB.
“I saw the opportunity that the internet provided to build
a market-leading sports betting provider. I knew that the
shop estate I was running was only ever going to be a good
regional player. So we set about developing sports betting
software and Bet365 was born.” Coates’ vision manifested
the igaming industry’s biggest brand, one that is instantly
recognisable even to those that don’t use it to bet. Coates
flies under the radar as much as she can as far as publicity
goes, but she remains highly engaged with the business. She
says the best part of her job is “the challenge and excitement
of running a global business along with the satisfaction of
providing high quality jobs” and says her ongoing challenge
is to “always to be the best at whatever I do”. Asked for a few
words of wisdom for other entrepreneurial women looking to
make their mark on the world, Coates says: “Work hard and
focus on the detail. It’s the detail that sets you apart.”
iGamingBusiness | Issue 111 | July/August 2018
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