Flutter Entertainment has recruited Ian Brown, chief executive of B2B internet hosting firm UKFast, as the new leader of its UK & Ireland operating division.

Brown has been hired to replace Conor Grant, who announced his surprise resignation to staff via email this morning (20 July) following an internal announcement from Flutter CEO Peter Jackson.

Grant has led Flutter’s UK & Ireland division – which includes Paddy Power and Sky Bet – for the last two years following Flutter’s acquisition of Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG).

He worked at SBG for a decade prior, starting out as head of sportsbook product management in 2010 before moving through several job roles to become COO in 2018.

In an internal email seen by iGaming NEXT, Grant revealed the decision to leave was a personal one, “taken with family at the forefront” of his mind.

“Quite simply, I want to get back some of the balance in life that I have lost over the last few years,” said Grant. “I have children that are growing fast and want to make sure I play more of a part than I have recently been able.”

Grant will remain with the business for the next few months to facilitate a handover process.

He added: “I am going to be around for a while yet of course. I want to make sure that when I do hand over the baton, the UK&I is in the best possible place.

“If you’ve been to any of the last couple of town halls, you will have heard me talking about a long-term plan for growth. You all know that we are reviewing structures so that we can deliver against that plan.

“So, while stepping down as CEO might seem odd timing: it’s actually a real opportunity for my successor – and the brilliant leadership team I leave behind – to deliver our plan.”

Grant’s successor has already been identified in the aforementioned Brown.

Brown is described as a tech CEO, NED, adviser and investor on his personal LinkedIn page.

He has impressive ecommerce experience as the CEO of Rentalcars.com between 2014 and 2019 and following that, as the SVP of Booking.com.

He arrives at Flutter from UKFast, where he also held the CEO role. UKFast is described as a private-equity owned provider of tech services such as hosting, cloud and cybersecurity.

Brown will officially join Flutter from September 2022.

“Ian’s experiences of building scalable tech platforms and organisations, enabling product innovation at pace, and leading industries to deliver better safer customer outcomes will all be highly relevant for us at Flutter,” said the company in a staff email.

Brown himself said in an accompanying press release: “I have followed the impressive story of Flutter and its brands for many years now, and I am delighted to be joining the UK&I business in September.

“Flutter has a fantastic portfolio of iconic brands and I look forward to helping develop their leadership position in the online entertainment space.”

More to follow…

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