Aristocrat Makes Executive Changes to Strengthen its Industry Position

Aristocrat Leisure has always been a leading name in the gaming industry but is working to do more. The slot machine manufacturer and online games developer has made a couple of executive shifts that it hopes will fulfill that mission.

Executive Appointments Come to Aristocrat

Trevor Croker, Aristocrat’s CEO, announced at the company’s annual general meeting this week that Hector Fernandez will be the new CEO at Aristocrat Gaming. This unit is responsible for land-based games and related services.

At the same time, Mitchell Bowen, the former CEO of the division, will now head a new unit within the group. This arm is being created to help Aristocrat grow its online real-money gaming operations.

Fernandez joined Aristocrat just three years ago as the chief financial officer for Aristocrat Americas. He was then elected president of the unit in mid-2019.

Croker said that Fernandez had “championed fresh thinking and high performance” while with the company. He added that Fernandez has been working with a talented group to make its operations in the Americas the market leader and supplier of choice.

Bowen Has Important Role to Fulfill

Bowen comes into the new role as Aristocrat has been building the real-money gaming division. Croker explained that the company will continue to “invest strongly in building out our own online real-money gaming platform infrastructure while also undertaking select merger and acquisition partnerships, and talent acquisitions to accelerate progress wherever appropriate.”

According to Croker, Bowen’s “strategic” and “operational impact” on the land-based business had been evident over the three years that he had been its leader. The company had experienced “outstanding momentum and recovery from COVID-19 related disruptions,” as well as provided “excellent staff engagement” and an “unwavering customer focus.”

The new real-money division is the third component of the brand’s corporate structure. Pixel United and Aristocrat Gaming are the other two. Pixel, formerly Aristocrat Digital, was the umbrella for three social gaming brands of the group, Big Fish Gaming, Plarium and Product Madness.

Neil Chatfield, chairman of the group, stated during the meeting that, while there was a disappointing outcome to Aristocrat Leisure’s cash offer of $2.8 billion to acquire Playtech, the company will continue a “disciplined merger and acquisition strategy.”