Yggdrasil appoints Curwen to replace outgoing CEO Krantz
Bjorn Krantz will leave the business on 1 October after 18 months as its CEO. He joined in January 2020 as division head for publishing and also spent time as chief of global marketing operations.
Experienced industry executive Curwen will take on the CEO role after two and a half years as chief online officer at OPAP.
Prior to this, Curwen was CEO of Golden Rock Studios and had a spell as chief gaming officer at Superbet.
Curwen also spent almost six years working for William Hill, serving in senior positions such as chief gaming product officer. In addition, he had spells with RandomGamesLimited UK and Ladbrokes.
“The board is thrilled to announce that James Curwen has agreed to join us as the new CEO of Yggdrasil,” the provider’s chairman, Itai Frieberger, said. “We believe he possesses the skills and experience to elevate the business to new heights.”
Frieberger also paid tribute to the outgoing Krantz. He said: “On behalf of the board, I want to express our gratitude to Bjorn for his hard work and dedication over the last four years at Yggdrasil.”
Krantz added: “Since day one, my work with Yggdrasil has been focused on transformation and, as the company now enters the next phase of its global developments, it’s time for me to hand over the reins.
“James Curwen is an industry veteran; he will bring invaluable experience and leadership to the company as it enters the next phase of driving sustainable, profitable growth. It’s his time to lead.”
Business consolidation at Yggdrasil
The appointment comes after Yggdrasil in June announced a change in its business structure.
The provider is consolidating its Product and Programmes and Studio verticals into a single unit. This will now operate under the “Gaming” banner.
Yggdrasil said this will help increase company transparency, streamline processes and offer numerous operational benefits.
This, it added, could lead to improved product roadmap quality and development process assurance, more agile content delivery, increased cross-company knowledge sharing and a focus on player and operator needs.
Upon announcing the move, Yggdrasil also named Mark McGinley, previously CEO of FunFair Games, as chief gaming officer.
McGinley has worked across B2C and B2B gaming for more than 25 years, most recently at Funfair after a spell as director of games studios for Entain.