Leadership

MTG // Leadership

Executive Management

Business Segment leadership

Board of Directors

Maria Redin
President & Chief Executive Officer

Maria was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in September 2020. She previously served as Chief Financial Officer from December 2015 (and acting Chief Financial Officer from June to November 2015). She has also held a number of senior positions at MTG, including Head of Group Finance and Group Controller.

Her roles in the Group have included the positions of CFO, and later CEO, of MTG’s former gaming entertainment company Bet24, as well as a number of financial positions, and she started her career at MTG as a management trainee in 2004. ...Read moreMaria is a Member of the Board of Directors at Hemnet and has previously been a Member of the Board of Directors at NetEnt. She holds a Master’s degree in International Business from the University of Gothenburg.

Lasse Pilgaard
Chief Financial Officer

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Lasse was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in April 2022. He previously served as CFO at TDC Group, the largest Danish telecoms company. During his six years at TDC Group, he held multiple senior management positions, drove the stabilization of the business and executed on the separation of TDC Group into two standalone businesses. Prior to that he served in multiple roles within the Nordic tech scene such as COO at AutoButler and Investment Manager at Creandum, the leading Nordic venture capital firm.

Lasse started his career at McKinsey and Company after obtaining a master’s degree in Business and Economics from Aarhus University.

Arnd Benninghoff
EVP, Esports & Gaming

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Arnd joined MTG in November 2014 and has led MTG’s strategic investments in esports and gaming. Following the sale of ESL Gaming in May 2022, Arnd is fully focused on accelerating MTG’s evolution as a global gaming village and an acceleration platform for gaming companies.

Before he joined MTG, Arnd served as Chief Digital Officer for Digital & Adjacent at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, and as Managing Director of SevenVentures, the group’s venture arm. Arnd has also been CEO of Holtzbrinck eLAB, the incubator of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, founded and built fifteen companies, and held various management roles at Tomorrow Focus AG.

He started his career as a journalist, working for Deutsche Presse Agentur and TV networks. Arnd was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Edgeware AB. He is a graduate (“Diplom-Kaufmann”) in Business and Administration from the University of Münster.

Johan Levinsson
Group General Counsel

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Johan was appointed MTG Group General Counsel in May 2018. He joined MTG in February 2017 as Head of Legal – M&A and Corporate Legal Affairs of the MTG Group, prior to which he worked for 11 years in private practice at law firms Roschier, Ashurst (including a 7 months secondment to Ashurst’s London office) and Hamilton. He holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) from Uppsala University.

Hendrik Klindworth
CEO & Founder of InnoGames

German, born 1983

Hendrik is CEO of InnoGames, which he co-founded in 2007. Hendrik studied IT, with a focus on software engineering and information systems, at the University of Oldenburg.

Shaun Ruthland
CEO and Co-Founder of Hutch

Shaun is CEO and co-founder of fast-growing, award winning mobile game developer and publisher, Hutch which was acquired by MTG in 2020.

Prior to Hutch, Shaun worked in senior production roles with Sony (PlayStation) and Microsoft (Xbox), working on IP including the original Fable Series, Until Dawn and a Sesame Street game. Prior to joining the games industry he also worked on the Marks and Spencer e-commerce platform solution.

Stephen Harris
Co-Founder and CCO of Ninja Kiwi

Starting out as a geophysicist, Stephen’s journey into developing games was sparked by a game design course he took at the Auckland Media Design School. Stephen co-founded Ninja Kiwi in 2006, and has since built a rich gaming universe and strong community, popularising the tower defense genre with the hugely successful Bloons IP, which has approximately 140 million downloads to date and 6.2 million monthly active users.

Chris Harris
Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Ninja Kiwi

Merging the fields of games and advertising, Chris has over 15 years of experience in the industry, developing and publishing games for mobile, console and PC. Starting out in a spare bedroom in Auckland, Chris co-founded Ninja Kiwi in 2006, and since then has grown a 70-person team and championed the legendary Bloons TD, one of the most successful paid apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Scott Walker
Co-CEO of Ninja Kiwi

With almost 30 years in game development, Scott joined Chris and Stephen at Ninja Kiwi in 2010 and together scaled the company to establish and hold Bloons TD’s position as a global leader in the tower defense category. Prior to Ninja Kiwi, Scott held design, production, and executive positions at Atari, Activision, and Electronic Arts. He holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees, in English and in Feminist Studies, and a Masters degree in Education, all from Stanford University.

Markus Lipp
CEO | CFO Kongregate

Previously CFO at InnoGames, wetter.com, 7Games and 7travel (ProSiebenSat1 Group).

Expert in building up and operating finance and HR organizations especially for the gaming industry. 20 years of media finance experience

Siddarth Jain
CEO of PlaySimple

Siddharth Jain is CEO and co-founder of PlaySimple, which he founded in 2014 alongside fellow co-founders Siddhanth Jain, Suraj Nalin and Preeti Reddy. Since then, Siddharth has led PlaySimple to become one of India’s most exciting and fastest-growing mobile gaming companies, and a global leader in the free-to-play mobile word games market. Siddharth previously led product management at Zynga, and has an MBA from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai.

Simon Duffy
Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Board

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Simon was Executive Chairman of Tradus plc until the company’s sale in March 2008. Simon was also Executive Vice-Chairman of ntl:Telewest until 2007, having joined ntl in 2003 as CEO. Simon has also served as CFO of Orange SA, CEO of wireless data specialist End2End AS, CEO and Deputy Chairman of WorldOnline International BV, and held senior positions at EMI Group plc and Guinness plc. Simon has also served as Chairman of the Board of Bwin.party digital entertainment plc and Mblox Inc. as well as Board Member of Millicom International Cellular and Avito AB....Read more

Simon is currently a Chairman of the Board of Directors of Telit Communications Plc and YouView TV Ltd and Chairman of the Board of Governors of Manchester Metropolitan University as well as Board Member of Wizz Air Holdings Plc, Nordic Entertainment Group and Oger Telecom Limited. Simon is a Master’s graduate of the University of Oxford and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Independent of the Company and management and independent of the major shareholders.

Natalie Tydeman
Non-Executive Director

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Between 2007 and 2016, Natalie was at GMT Communications Partners, one of Europe’s leading private equity specialists in the media and communications sectors, where she became Partner in 2010 and later promoted to Senior Partner in 2014. Natalie helped launch Excite in Europe, built Discovery Communications’ European internet operations, was Managing Director of Fox Kids Europe’s Online & Interactive division, and led Fremantle Media’s business diversification and corporate venturing activities as Senior Vice President....Read more

Natalie is currently a Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik AB (publ). Natalie is also a board member of Nordic Entertainment Group and FutureLearn Ltd. Natalie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Member of the Remuneration Committee.

Independent of the Company and management and independent of the major shareholders.

Gerhard Florin
Non-Executive Director

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Gerhard has spent over 20 years in the entertainment and gaming industry. Gerhard has previously served on the Boards of Codemasters plc, Funcom, Kobojo and King Digital Entertainment, and was Chairman of the latter between 2014 and 2016. Between 2006 and 2010, Gerhard served as an Executive Vice President and General Manager of Publishing at Electronic Arts, being responsible for the company’s worldwide publishing business, prior to which he held various positions in Electronic Arts’ German and British operations. ...Read moreBefore joining Electronic Arts, Gerhard worked at Bertelsmann Music Group and McKinsey.

Gerhard is currently a member of the Board of MTG’s subsidiary InnoGames. Gerhard holds Masters and PhD degrees in Macro Economics from the University of Augsburg in Germany.

Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.

Independent of the Company and management, and independent of major shareholders.

Dawn Hudson
Non-Executive Director

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Between 2014-2018 Dawn was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Football League (NFL) where she, among other things, was responsible for building the NFL brand and oversaw planning and execution of all major NFL events. Prior to joining the NFL, Dawn was Vice Chairman of the strategy consultancy company Parthenon Group, where she built and oversaw Parthenon’s consumer practice focused on the food, beverage and restaurant sectors, and for more than 10 years she held senior positions at PepsiCo including ...Read morePresident and CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America and CEO of PepsiCo Foodservices.

Dawn Hudson is currently a Board member of NVIDIA, a visual computing company focused on among other things gaming, listed on Nasdaq in the U.S., Board member and member of the Governance Committee of Interpublic Group, one of the world’s leading advertising and marketing services companies, listed on New York Stock Exchange and member of the Board and Compensation Committee of Rodan and Fields. Dawn has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Dartmouth College.

Member of the Remuneration Committee.

Independent of the Company and management and independent of the major shareholders.

Marjorie Lao
Non-Executive Director

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Marjorie Lao was the CFO of the LEGO Group from 2017-2020, where she oversaw the company’s global operations with a broad mandate covering the traditional CFO role, as well as Legal, Government and Public Affairs, and Social and Environmental Responsibility. From 2014 to 2016, she was the Senior Vice President of Finance. Before joining the LEGO Group, from 2006 to 2010, Marjorie was the CFO of Tandberg ASA, a publicly listed company in the Oslo Stock Exchange, before it was acquired by Cisco. She also held senior finance, strategy and business development ...Read morepositions at Cisco from 2010 to 2012, McKinsey from 2002 to 2005, and Procter & Gamble from 1996 to 2000.

She is currently a member of the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee of Logitech International, a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of MyTheresa Netherlands as well as a member of the Europe Advisory Board of Harvard Business School. Marjorie holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Philippines.

Chairman of the Audit Committee.

Independent of the Company and management and independent of the major shareholders.

Chris Carvalho
Non-Executive Director

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Chris Carvalho has vast experience as a board member and advisor of several gaming and start-up companies. Chris spent four years between 2010-2013 as Chief Operating Officer at Kabam and ten years at Lucasfilm where he headed up business development, and eventually ran the company’s internet division, StarWars.com. Chris has also been a board member in G5 Entertainment, the worldwide developer and publisher of free-to-play mobile games listed on Nasdaq Stockholm....Read more

Chris is currently a Board member of Roblox and Rogue Games and an advisor to Chalk, Specifio, MTGx gaming and 4D Sight. Chris holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Member of the Audit Committee.

Independent of the Company and management and independent of the major shareholders.

Simon Leung
Non-Executive Director

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Simon Leung is currently based in Hong Kong and has had extensive experience working with international companies and leading their operations in Greater China and the Asian Pacific region. He served as Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO of Greater China region, 2008-2012 and was President of Motorola Asia-Pacific, 1999-2008. Simon currently serves as the Vice Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited, a publicly listed leader in building and scaling multiple internet and mobile platforms; this includes China’s number one ...Read moreonline gaming portal, 17173.com and China’s most influential smartphone app store platform, 91 Wireless, which is now owned by Baidu. He also chairs Edmodo, Inc., an e-learning technology start-up; JumpStart Games, Inc., a family interactive entertainment company; and Promethean World Limited, an interactive technology company focused on the education sector.

Simon Leung received his Bachelor of Arts degree and an Honorary Doctorate in laws from the University of Western Ontario, Canada in 1978 and 2005, respectively, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2007. He travels to Europe on a regular basis to visit subsidiaries of the companies in which he is active.

Member of the Audit Committee.

Independent of the Company and management and independent of the major shareholders.

Florian Schuhbauer
Non-Executive Director

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Florian Schuhbauer is Co-CIO and a Founding Partner of AOC. Florian started his career at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson with positions in risk management and equity research. He then co-founded Newtron AG, a software company that optimized strategic purchasing processes. Following the sale of Newtron, he became CFO and Executive Vice President of DHL Global Mail in the US, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post AG. ...Read more After leaving DHL he joined General Capital Group / Active Value Investors where he focused on deploying a Private Equity approach on public companies, and later joined Triton Partners where he built up the Public Equity practice before founding AOC. Throughout his career Florian has had extensive board experience and currently serves as the deputy Chairman of the board of Vita 34 AG, and a member of the board of NFON AG and PNE AG. Florian graduated from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management with a Master in Finance and Business Administration.

Member of the Audit Committee.

Independent of the Company and management, not independent of the major shareholders.

Leadership

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