iGB is pleased to announce the second of three write-ups honouring the 2024 winners of our Most Influential Women campaign.
In this second part of the Most Influential Women 2024 winners list we celebrate three vastly different women who all consider gender diversity a crucial topic in gaming. Each of them has stepped into roles as women intending to change the status quo.
The next four Most Influential Women 2024 winners are:
Rebecca McAdam Willetts
Founder, QueenBHive
The story of Rebecca McAdam Willetts’ career is one of transformation, advocacy and unwavering passion for creating a more inclusive environment within the gaming industry.
Her journey began with a love of poker coupled with her innate ability to craft compelling stories. “Moving from being a player and loving the game to being in media… was a lovely pathway to help companies understand how they need to communicate to be authentic and transparent,” she says.
McAdam Willetts’ personal experiences have often driven her professional crusades. A pivotal moment came at a poker table when a negative experience made her question how welcoming the environment was for women.
“If I’d been a new player at that time, I don’t know if I would have come back,” she recalls. This realisation sparked her dedication to making poker, and gaming overall, a more inclusive space.
Her advocacy grew even stronger during her first pregnancy when she realised the industry’s maternity and paternity policies needed urgent reform. “There was no pregnancy parking, no nursing rooms,” she says of her time working for The Stars Group, the former owner of PokerStars.
“I realised I could be a conduit for change between multiple departments. From the paternity policies to how women were represented in advertising. I wanted to make sure they were seen as competitors and not there as entertainment or interesting things to look at for the competitors,” she says. McAdam Willetts spearheaded initiatives that supported working mothers and ensured better representation of women across the company’s platforms.
Adapting during Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic stands out too as a transformative period in her career. Her leadership shone during the difficult period as online poker was booming. McAdam Willetts navigated the challenges of a thriving poker scene with a deep sense of responsibility.
“We had to be so careful and responsible in the way we communicated. But on the other side, I got to have loads of fun in getting more innovative in the things we did, so creating really interesting initiatives for charity. Using celebrity for instance,” she says.
Her creativity led to impactful charity initiatives and celebrity partnerships, teaching her that “you don’t have to stay in your lane”.
Now as founder of PR firm QueenBHive, Rebecca continues to champion women in gaming. “I really believe in sisterhood and holding each other up. Campaigns like this bring visibility and an opportunity to do that.”
“I realised I could be a conduit for change between multiple departments. From paternity policies to how women were represented in advertising”
Rebecca McAdam Willetts
Kirsty Caldwell
Founder and CEO, Betsmart Consulting
In spite of her recent successes and accolades, compliance expert Kirsty Caldwell was initially taken aback when told she had made the Most Influential Women list. “This a really nice surprise,” she says. “I’m not the sort of person who usually puts themselves forward for stuff like this but running the business has forced me to put myself out there a bit more.”
Since founding Betsmart Consulting just five years ago, Caldwell has emerged as a leading light in the compliance sector, earning her a reputation as an influential voice in the industry – and this year’s most-nominated Most Influential Women candidate.
Caldwell describes the recognition as “just amazing” and says awards like these are vital in celebrating the important and difficult work that compliance experts carry out every day in the industry. For women in gaming, they have also helped build a much better gender parity over the years.
“When I started it was a hugely male-dominated industry, but I’ve seen some stats recently that say that it’s fairly balanced between men and women in the industry now, so I think campaigns like this have probably played a strong role in addressing that traditional imbalance,” Caldwell explains.
When it comes to boosting the profile of women in gaming, Caldwell has also played her own part, pushing for higher industry standards and raising awareness of compliance issues both in the UK and abroad.
Joining the GC’s Industry Forum
Having grown her business from a handful of employees to one of the UK’s leading compliance and licensing partners, Caldwell was recently honoured with a spot on the Gambling Commission’s new Industry Forum. “That was really important to me,” she says. “I didn’t really expect to be awarded a place, but I was delighted that I was. I think it will play a pivotal role in the industry.”
Although it’s still early days for the recently established forum, the platform Caldwell has will help her continue the work of educating the Gambling Commission about the issues and challenges affecting operators. In future, the Betsmart founder would like to see more women in senior compliance roles recognised within the industry.
“As a consultant, you’re stuck in the middle of keeping clients happy from a commercial perspective and ensuring they remain on the right side of the regulation – quite often, you’re delivering news or information that perhaps they don’t want to hear, so that can be difficult,” she says. “Recognition for people who are doing those kinds of roles day in day out I think is really, really important.”
“I didn’t expect to be awarded a place [on the Gambling Commission’s Industry Forum] but I was delighted that I was. I think it will play a pivotal [role]”
Kirsty Caldwell
Sarah Robertson
Chief commercial officer, Kambi
Sales has historically been a male-dominated profession, says Kambi’s Robertson. And when she joined the sector in 2011, this was very much the case. “It’s good to recognise where we’ve come from as an industry. When I started at Kambi, or more importantly when I started in gaming, there were very few women in the industry, much fewer than there are today,” she recalls.
“I look around today and see lots of talented women in this space. There is still a lot of work to do but I think it’s really nice to recognise the work already done to diversify in the space, especially in some of those more male-dominated areas like sales and commercial.”
Robertson joined Kambi’s senior leadership team last October alongside its new CEO Werner Becher, who took on the role in July. She says she is most proud of moving up the ranks of the commercial team and working across some of the supplier’s biggest deals to date.
She says diversity is crucial to ensure success across all departments and roles in the sector and Kambi is leading the charge here.
“As you see more diversity in senior positions, that really helps you bring in more people, whether that’s more females or just more diversity in general into the space.
“One of the things that Kambi really looks at is diversity and inclusion and making sure that we are hiring the right people for the right positions. But also attracting talent that is diverse,” she concludes.
“It’s really nice to recognise the work already done to diversify in the space, especially in some of those more male-dominated areas like sales and commercial”
Sarah Robertson
Kathleen McLaughlin
Vice president of marketing & corporate sales, North America, Novomatic
Starting out in gaming in the 1990s, Kathleen McLaughlin has had a rich and diverse career in gaming, spanning roles on casino floors in Las Vegas to opening resorts in Macau for Las Vegas Sands. Speaking on her pivotal career moments, McLaughlin says the gaming sector has presented new and exciting opportunities throughout significant life changes.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” she beams. “I’ve worked with amazing companies and amazing teams of people and my favourite thing is to see somebody that worked for me 30 years ago and now all of a sudden, they’re an EVP of a company and we’re still friends.”
Working in Asia is a highlight she reflects, on accepting an executive role during a time when female executives were uncommon. “I was one of the few, if not one of the only women over there in an executive role and we opened a 4,000-game property in a very short period of time, and that changed the course of gaming in Asia.”
Shocked and thankful
McLaughlin was shocked after receiving news of her inclusion among this year’s Most Influential Women and says it has taken some time for the news to sink in. “Being a [female director] was not common [throughout my career in gaming],” she adds. “I still think we’re really behind and I get excited when I see other women doing well and I don’t even know them, but I don’t care because I know however they got there, their struggle was somewhat similar [to mine].”
It’s for this reason the nomination took her by surprise and she is very thankful for the acknowledgment. Today she is vice president of marketing & corporate sales, North America for gaming technology provider Novomatic, where she relishes the challenges thrown at her.
“I believe you can do anything you want to do in gaming. You just need the tenacity and the guts and the experience and support to be able to accomplish the things you want,” she says.
“I get excited when I see other women doing well and I don’t even know them. I know however they got there their struggle was similar [to mine]”
Kathleen McLaughlin
Over the course of this week iGB will release its full list of the 10 Most Influential Women in gaming for 2024. Part one features Grainne Hurst, Purity Wahiu and Erica Okerberg. This year’s judging panel can be found here and here.
