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Meet the people behind the brand disrupting the Canadian gaming industry.
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With business backgrounds including finance,
marketing and advertising, law, tech, operations and, of course, gaming, these individuals bring a diversity of viewpoints and experiences to our tables.
Board of Directors
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Vic
Bertrand
Director
Vic has four decades of global business experience. From 1986 to 2014, he co-led MEGA Brands (MEGA BLOKS), transforming his family’s small local business into a vertically integrated, global toy leader with sales in more than 100 countries. Mr. Bertrand is currently President of Stratinn Inc., a real estate and investment firm. He was previously CEO of Toys “R” Us Canada, where he restored profitability leading to an exit in 2021, and is an active advisor and director currently serving on the Boards of CardioMech (Norway), Soundbite (Canada) and Spinal Stabilization Technologies (USA/Ireland).
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Brian
Cooper
Director
Brian has more than 30 years of experience in athlete representation, activation management, broadcast programming, executive-level property leadership and sport marketing. He has been recognized for his imprint on the Canadian sports and entertainment landscape by being twice named a Globe and Mail Top 25 Power Players in Canadian Sports, as well as a Yahoo Top 25 most influential people in Canadian Sport, and was the first inductee to the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada’s Hall of Fame. He has negotiated more than $1 billion in sponsorship agreements for brands such as Canadian Tire Corporation, Scotiabank, Adidas and Molson.
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Dean
MacDonald
Director
Dean has had a long and successful career as an operating executive and entrepreneur. His operating experience includes serving as Executive Chairman and President and Chief Executive Officer of ClearStream Energy and its predecessor Tuckamore Capital, President and Managing Partner of Cable Atlantic, as the Chief Operating Officer of Rogers Cable and as the Chief Executive Officer of Persona Inc., a TSX-listed cable and internet services company. Dean has also served as Chairman of the Newfoundland and Labrador Energy Corporation, which manages the province’s oil, gas and hydro assets. He has management and investment experience in a number of industries including energy, commercial real estate, marketing and communications. He has served on numerous public and private boards over the past three decades. In 2007, he was selected as CEO of the Year by Birch Hill Capital Partners.
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Chris
McGinnis
Director, CFO, Playtech
Chris is a strategic finance executive with more than 20 years of experience across finance, accounting, investor relations, corporate strategy, M&A and equity research. Chris is currently Chief Financial Officer at Playtech plc, the leading online gambling technology company. Prior to being appointed CFO in 2022, he was Director of Investor Relations, having joined the company in 2017. Previous to joining Playtech, Chris was Head of Corporate Strategy at software company Temenos. He started his career at Deloitte in Canada where he qualified as a Chartered Professional Accountant before working in Equity Research for UBS in Canada and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the UK. Chris is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
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Michael
Moskowitz
Chair & Chief Executive Officer
Michael is a founding partner and the CEO of NorthStar. He’s a veteran technology executive and transformative leader with more than 25 years of leadership experience in the consumer, communications, gaming and technology industries. Previously, he served as CEO and Chairman at Panasonic North America, where he led the company’s successful business and growth strategy of delivering integrated technology solutions for businesses, government agencies, and consumers across North America. Michael has also served as President and CEO of XM Canada (XSR.TO) and President of Palm; Americas International. Michael sits on the Board of Directors for Hillcrest Energy Technologies (CSE:HEAT), a rising clean tech innovation and e-mobility development company. He also sits on the Executive Board of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA / CES), which represents the largest and most innovative technology companies in North America. He previously served as a Director of Mobilicity (Canada), Hussmann Corporation (USA) and Panasonic Avionics Corporation (USA).
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Alex
Latner
Director, General Counsel, Playtech
Alex joined Playtech plc as General Counsel in January 2017. Prior to that, he spent his entire career in the London office of international law firm, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP), where he was a partner on the Corporate Finance team after joining the firm as a trainee solicitor in 1998. At BCLP, Alex advised on a wide range of corporate finance transactions including flotations, secondary offerings and public and private M&A. He has extensive experience in the UK public markets and acted for a number of listed UK and international companies as well as various investment banks and other corporate finance intermediaries in technology, real estate and the wider built environment. His clients included Playtech plc, which he had advised prior to its original IPO on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in 2006.
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Sylvia
Prentice
Director
Sylvia is the President and owner of Mackinnon Calderwood Advertising. MCA is a full-service Canadian agency providing media and creative services and promotional support across a number of industries. Sylvia and her team have been involved in a number of early iGaming businesses, including Playground Poker Club, CanPlay and Party Poker.net.
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Barry
Shafran
Lead Director
Barry is a growth-focused career business leader with extensive public and private company leadership and board experience in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings, in the U.S. and Canada, in financial services, online gaming and the service industry. He was the founder, Director and CEO of Chesswood Group Limited, a financial services business traded on the TSX. He spent 20 years growing the business from $100M to $1B in 2020 with 30,000 commercial customers in North America. On the iGaming front, Barry has worked with the Cryptologic founders to stabilize operations, service international licensee-customers and expand the company’s gaming and cash management analytics and advised on the sale of DonBest, a well-known Las Vegas odds-maker.