NEXT.io Podcast

Michael Daly is the CEO for Catena Media, one of the largest lead generation companies for iGaming, Sports Betting, eSports and financial services worldwide. As such he oversees the company’s 400+ team and its global expansion across Europe, LATAM, APAC, and North America, where it is the dominant affiliate by value delivered to operators.

Prior to taking the reigns as CEO in March of 2021, Michael was the VP of North America for Catena Media, growing that business to over 50 affiliate sites, generating in the range of $40,000,000+ annually with a team of approximately 60, all working remotely.

Prior to Catena Media, Michael setup and ran divisions of online gambling technology companies, has rolled out numerous new products for banking and gaming, as well as served 8 years as a Naval Officer. He is a graduate of MIT and holds an MBA from the University of Utah.

Karolina Pelc, Founder and CEO SharedPlay, Gaming Consultant for iGaming NEXT #10 - Max Meltzer, CEO, Strive Gaming (Strive to be the best).

Phil Pearson is the COO & Head of sales for iGaming Group - a fully managed casino solution. Not one to shy away from controversy Phil is very outspoken on LinkedIn and other platforms, pushing for a fairer and more open iGaming community. Outside of work Phil enjoys NFL, visiting as many random and remote holiday destinations as possible, and has 22 rubber ducks in a pool.

Luke has a strong background working for some of the world’s largest companies such as eBay and Aviva Insurance. His primary focus has been on Customer Experience and being responsible for contact centres of up to 1000 people. He also has a remarkable track record for low staff attrition and developing a powerful employee branding culture to attract new talent. Nowadays, Luke focuses on strategic development for a variety of clients – whether it’s in talent development, training, 360Feedback or C-Level coaching. Luke has an approach to developing talent that engages on a totally different level, bringing about significant behavioural change to drive careers and business potential.

Over 15 years of experience in gambling in global markets online and offline, including leadership roles for LeoVegas, Betsson and SG Digital as well as interim executive placements for tier 1s via her consultancy firm, Basic Strategy. Specialising in P&L management, product development and commercial strategy as well as start-up and M&A advisory. Author published in EGR and IGB magazines, voted IGB 2019 Top 10 Most Influential Women and featured by Facebook in their #shetalksgames video campaign. Vocal gender diversity ambassador and above all, passionate about the product.

Julian is co-founder of RB Capital. He is an investor & board director to multiple ventures in the gaming, fintech & music industries. He has managed investments, M&As, and exits to date in excess of $500m.

🧐 Steve Birch - I am currently concluding my 14th year serving the teams at SBG and feel very grateful for the journey we have had. SBG has been an accelerator for my career and I have the privilege to work with an awesome team of passionate people. Having joined as an analyst I have subsequently worked in Insights, Programme Management, Marketing and leadership roles before being appointed in the role as CEO in 2020. The team that I originally joined of 350 people is now over 1500 and Sky Bet and Sky Vegas are the most popular Betting and Gaming brands in the UK. But most importantly as we have grown we have managed to maintain our people's first culture, lack of hierarchies and drive to make a difference. This had led to being named in the Times top places to work as well as a very positive Glassdoor profile. This is absolutely a priority for me as we continue to grow and if you would like to contribute to our next stage of growth then please do reach out.

Pierre Lindh #65 - Paul Leyland, Partner at Regulus Partners (Evolution Q2 2021 report – Analysis)

Rory Credland #2 - Nic Sulsky, Chief Commercial Officer, PointsBet Canada, and Allan Petrilli, VP Sales and Growth, Intelitics (Getting brand, product, and opportunities right to capitalise on the Canadian opportunity).

From establishing his first venture capital firm in 2017, Tim Heath continues to draw upon two decades of experience within the iGaming and emerging technology industries. He was an early adopter of Bitcoin in 2013 and is also the founder and CEO of the Coingaming Group, which operates the leading, globally recognised crypto gaming brands, Bitcasino.io and Sportsbet.io. He orchestrated the Sportsbet.io principal sponsorship of the English Premier League team Watford FC, which included placing a Bitcoin logo on their shirt sleeve which was seen by billions of people during the 2019/20 EPL Season.

Tim specialises in transforming ideas into successful businesses and with over $200m+ assets under management has a keen interest in Fintech and Blockchain focused disruptive ventures. His latest investment is in an app called coins.io, which is a decentralised wallet, utilising the lightning network and sitting on top of a layer of connected banks and super nodes around the world to take crypto to the masses without them even realising.