iGB is pleased to announce the final write-up honouring the 2024 winners of our Most Influential Women campaign.
As this is the final post to celebrate the 2024 iGB Most Influential Women campaign, it feels appropriate to now thank all those involved in creating the list. From those that submitted nominations, the internal iGB team for marketing and helping launch the campaign and of course the judging panel for the time and effort spent reading through lengthy submissions and background on the short-listed submissions.
Most Influential Women is certainly a labour of love and an effort that will continue for many years to come at iGB. Here are the final three Most Influential Women 2024 winners:
Lois Bright
Director of Africa & ME at The Conexus Group; co-founder of Initiate International; founder of Women in Gaming Africa
“When you’ve worked hard with your head down for a long time and the recognition comes you just feel a sense of elation,” says Lois Bright. And it’s well deserved. Bright is the driving force behind Women in Gaming Africa.
It started off as an idea when she was flying out of South Africa for a sabbatical, she says. Born as a LinkedIn group sharing motivational quotes, it has snowballed into a 500-strong WhatsApp community and hosts a series of in-person events across the continent this year. Bright now plans to build out mentorship, leadership and learning programmes to further African women in the industry in 2025.
Originally from the UK, Bright has lived in Africa since 2008. She joined what was then just Pentasia during a year in the UK in 2011. New to gaming, she says learning from founders Rob Dowling and Bruce Gamble was invaluable, but ultimately she opted to return to Africa, co-founding Initiate International, alongside Andrew Wicks.
“I took the biggest risk of my life with the lowest salary I had ever earned,” Bright recalls. “It was basically a startup. I was coming in to build something up. It was a step into the unknown and obviously the first few years were hard graft, trying to make a name for ourselves, breaking down doors.”
“But a lot of the gaming industry globally originally came from South Africa, such as the likes of Derivco and Microgaming, so I knew it was going to be a market that took off, although it took a lot of perseverance.”
The next phase for Women in Gaming Africa
That growth created a new generation of industry executives and through Women in Gaming Africa, Bright is making sure a diverse mix of talent emerges. “It’s marrying passion with purpose,” she says, but she wants to take it further in 2025.
“One thing I’d love Women in Gaming Africa to do is to have more funding to run really big drives to bring more people into gaming,” she says. “And to make it an industry that’s inclusive and safe for women to come into.
“We do see a lot of people leaving the industry in Africa, so we want to show that it’s a good sector for growth, a good sector for women and a place where women can progress quickly.”
Next year, she hopes to be looking back on a series of major advances, whether that’s scholarships to send female African executives to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or bursaries and grants for these people to attend trade shows. “I want to give a platform to as many underprivileged women as we can,” she says.
“We see a lot of people leaving the industry in Africa, so we want to show that it’s a good sector for growth and for women to progress quickly”
Lois Bright
Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier
Partner, Snell & Wilmer
The trophy cabinet of Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier may be stacked with acknowledgements of her work representing tribes, tribal entities and businesses who engage with them, but that doesn’t stop the high-flying attorney from continuing to push boundaries in gaming law and championing greater diversity in the industry.
Staudenmaier has spent nearly 40 years carving a path for women in the sector. As a partner at Snell & Wilmer since 1985, she was pivotal in creating the firm’s nationally and internationally recognised gaming law practice.
Her influence is far-reaching, representing tribes, vendors and sportsbook operators across the US and her work has garnered accolades from The Best Lawyers in America (six-time Gaming Lawyer of the Year), Chambers Global and Southwest Super Lawyers.
Staudenmaier has also broken barriers in leadership, serving as the first and only female president of the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL).
“The gaming business has historically been driven by men,” she says. But now, “women [are] achieving the C-suite, becoming CEOs and holding important roles across the industry.”
Among her career highlights, Staudenmaier played a crucial role in negotiating Arizona’s gaming compacts, which introduced sports betting in 2021. “I represented our governor in negotiating new gaming compacts with our 22 tribes,” she recalls.
iGB’s Most Influential Women campaign can help reinforce the importance of visibility for women in gaming, she says. Female leadership in tribal governance is one of her biggest inspirations.
“The tribal culture is very much woman-run. The women really wield a lot of authority. I’m glad to see that the rest of the gaming industry is embracing that as well.”
“The gaming business has historically been driven by men. But now women [are] achieving the C-suite, becoming CEOs and holding important roles across the industry”
Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier
Jennifer Innes
CEO, BettingJobs
For Jennifer Innes, initiatives like Most Influential Women are an essential way to highlight the breadth of female talent in the industry and inspire the next generation of leaders. “When it comes to women in gaming, it’s really important to be able to see other leaders and shine a spotlight on them for support,” she says.
This was something that Innes lacked when she secured her first job in the industry 18 years ago. Entering the gambling sector as a young graduate, Innes was the first female hire at BettingJobs, an experience she describes as “a real eye-opener”.
Over her almost two decades in the industry, however, the recruitment expert has witnessed a number of changes in the treatment and perception of women. Within the past year alone, BettingJobs has seen a 15% increase in placements for women in gaming, with a growing number of women taking on executive roles.
Innes also notes that the industry has cleaned up its image at trade shows in recent years, moving away from sexualised representations of women. “Gaming is much more modern nowadays and far more regulated, so there’s not all the scantily clad ladies at conferences and events,” she adds.
Tackling work-life balance
However, Innes still believes there is work to do. As CEO of BettingJobs, she remains passionate about tackling the gender pay gap and believes that women need positive role models in their private and professional lives in order to reach their full potential.
Her philosophy can be summed up in one key mantra: “If you don’t see it, you can’t be it.” For Innes, this means mentoring young women in her company to reach top positions in their careers, despite the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry. In her home life, it also means setting a positive example for her eight-year-old twins by showing that her role as a mother can be balanced with her role as CEO.
“It’s important for me to balance having a career with the family, so my daughter Georgia can see that mum is still here, but mum’s also the CEO.”
In terms of her own career, Innes is overawed and humbled by the success she’s achieved, from being nominated for prestigious awards to building a thriving company and a huge online following. Having her achievements recognised is “hugely meaningful” for Innes and also an important step in building stronger and better communities among women in the industry. This, for Innes, is one of the most important ways to foster change.
“It’s important for me to balance having a career with the family, so my daughter Georgia can see that mum is still here, but mum’s also the CEO”
Jennifer Innes
Over the course of this week iGB has released its full list of the 10 Most Influential Women in gaming for 2024. Catch part one and part two. This year’s judging panel can be found here and here.
