Data and AI specialist Future Anthem has continued its expansion plans with the double hire of Julie Haddon as non-executive director and Ian Tibot as chief product officer.
Haddon most recently served as SVP, global brand and consumer marketing at the National Football League (NFL).
In addition to her five years at the NFL, she has held high-level positions and consulting stints at PayPal, Twitter, eBay, DreamWorks, SoFi and Zynga.
Haddon will work alongside the Future Anthem board that includes founder and CEO Leigh Nissim and non-executive Oliver Hansard, a former Dunnhumby and Liberty Global executive.
She is also a board director at sports streaming company fuboTV, which is currently exploring a US sportsbook launch.
“This is an exciting time to be part of a fast-growing AI and data business,” said Haddon. “Future Anthem is built on firm foundations with a standout executive team and is on an impressive growth trajectory having eclipsed many business milestones.
“I look forward to helping Leigh and the team double down on that rapid progress to help Future Anthem scale as it enters North America,” she added.
Tibot, who arrives as chief product officer, last worked for William Hill, where he was head of sportsbook product between 2017 and January of this year.
He previously held other positions across William Hill’s international product development team.
Non-executive director Julie Haddon: “Future Anthem is built on firm foundations with a standout executive team and is on an impressive growth trajectory having eclipsed many business milestones.”
Commenting on his appointment, Tibot said: “The combination of Future Anthem’s achievements to date, alongside its vision and future ambitions made it an easy decision to join.
“Future Anthem’s must-have, market-leading solutions will allow us to shake up the sports vertical and capitalise on the success in gaming,” he added.
Future Anthem CEO Nissim commented: “Bringing Julie and Ian into the business is a real statement of intent. They are transformational appointments that will enhance our ways of working and are key to realising our expansion plans following our recent investment.
“Julie’s invaluable brand and marketing leadership experience at blue-chip international technology, media and sports organisations will significantly accelerate our roll-out in North America and we now a have a fantastic, well-balanced board with hugely relevant knowledge in a number of key areas.
“Ian’s background fuels our momentum in sports betting – with his addition allowing Future Anthem to lead the charge in personalisation in this area, as we make additional R&D investment to capitalise on the opportunity in sport,” he added.
Future Anthem CEO Nissim: “Bringing Julie and Ian into the business is a real statement of intent. They are transformational appointments that will enhance our ways of working and are key to realising our expansion plans following our recent investment.”
The appointments come just weeks after Future Anthem closed a Series A round of financing led by Bettor Capital.
The fresh capital will be used to establish a US headquarters and build a local team of sales, product, data, and delivery specialists to service the rapidly expanding North American and Latam markets.
The funding will also allow Future Anthem to significantly scale its machine learning models and AI products, expand its leadership position in online casino, and expand further into sports betting and other verticals.