Women in Gaming Awards & Gamomat’s New Female Joint Managing Director!

The 11th instalment of the Women in Gaming (WiG) Diversity Awards has chosen its new batch of winners! (Image from gaming-awards.com)

It is often assumed that iGaming is a male-dominated industry. This is usually because gambling as a whole is often considered something that mainly men enjoy. However, not only has there been a rapid increase in the number of females that regularly gamble online at casinos, many women deservedly hold very senior positions at iGaming development companies around the world.

Established to help promote diversity in the iGaming industry and to honour those women working behind the scenes, the 11th annual WiG (Women in Gaming) Diversity Awards recently revealed its 2021 winners. Women holding senior positions for companies such as Microgaming, IGT, and Playtech, were among many winners of illustrious awards at the ceremony. They now take their place alongside the dozens of previous deserving winners over the last decade.

The WiG Awards were first launched in 2010, and since then the iGaming industry as a whole has consistently worked hard to ensure fair and equal diversity throughout all roles and positions. The awards recognise the companies that have made a positive push towards diversity and the women that have continued to shine at some of the biggest iGaming firms in the industry.

This article will take you through all of the main winners, while we’ll also touch on Gamomat announcing the appointment of their new Joint-Managing Director Dr Alexandra Krone.

The Winners of the 2021 WiG (Women in Gaming) Diversity Awards

IGT had three winners at the prestigious awards in 2020 and this was followed by two more this year. Senior Director of Marketing, Jennifer Bowman won the most prestigious award of the night after scooping the Outstanding Contribution award. The celebrations continued with the announcement that Shondra Deloach-Perea, the firm’s Vice President of Global Field Services was awarded the Innovation in Employee Engagement award.

Women at other industry giants were also on the receiving end of awards. At Microgaming, Head of Compliance Sarah Campbell scooped the Positive Role Model of the Year while her colleague Natasha Whittaker, Director of HR at the firm, was the recipient of the Inspiration of the year. Playtech also had cause to celebrate as the Innovator and Leader of the Year (Suppliers) went to Julie Craig and Renana Faktor, respectively.

Greentube, another iGaming company that makes positive strides towards diversity and inclusion, also end the night in a joyous mood. The company’s Team Lead of Creative Production, Chu Yook Liew was bestowed one of the more illustrious awards. As you can see to the right, Greentube moved quickly to tweet how proud they were when Liew took down the Industry Pride of the Year Award.

Just for Win, recent winners of the 2021 Rising Star of the Year in the International Gaming Awards had more to celebrate as two of its employees also scooped big awards. Mara Costin won the Star of the Future (Suppliers) award and Barbara Batari took down Employee of the Year. Finally, Kajal Verma of Push Gaming was awarded the 2021 Industry Achiever Award.

Greentube Appoints Dr Alexandria Krone as Joint-Managing Director

Further showcasing the continued diversity in the iGaming industry, other news that coincides nicely with the 2021 WiG Awards, is the announcement made on Monday by Greentube. The company revealed that Dr Alexandra Krone has been appointed as the Joint-Managing Director at the burgeoning development company. krone’s first role at Greentube was as Chief People Officer, a position she had held since 2017. She now joins Dietmar Hermjohannes, the company’s founder at the top table where it is thought she will a huge component in the continued and consistent growth of Greentube.

Stating his delight with the appointment of Krone, Hermjohannes had this to say:

“I’m thrilled Alex is becoming joint managing director. Her expertise and passion will ensure the team continues to increase in size while simultaneously nurturing a culture conducive to advancement.”