Affiverse Founder and CEO Lee-Ann Johnstone has made it onto the prestigious list for iGaming Business’ ‘Most Influential Women’ for 2019.
Lee-Ann’s affiliate marketing journey
Lee-Ann has been involved within digital marketing for almost two decades. Since starting out as a media buyer in this space, she has moved from her native South Africa to the UK and launched Affiverse in late 2017.
When talking about the current lack of women within the affiliate industry, Johnstone mentioned: “Whenever there is a ‘women in gaming’ event, be it teaching, coaching or talking, I’m always open to giving my time to be part of it. As a woman in gaming, I have had a very good career experience. I think that anybody entering this industry can expect a similar one.”
Since launching Affiverse, Lee-Ann has describes herself as “an affiliate evangelist for the industry”. She has sought to provide unique affiliate management and business coaching, in addition to providing ongoing education and training academies for both affiliates and affiliate managers alike.
Meanwhile, others within the industry have referred to Lee-Ann as a “powerhouse” and “tireless campaigner for affiliate development”.
Other nominees
In addition to Lee-Ann, three more listed names were revealed today. The first of these is Therese Hillman, CEO of the gaming content supplier NetEnt. Hillman has been within this position for a year-and-a-half, and has mentioned that she’s adopting a “different leadership style”.
Hillman has a sporting background and is a former athlete. As such, she hasn’t worried much about having to combat glass ceilings. On this, she said: “When you play sports and are very competitive, you are always competing with men. Because this was my background, I actually never thought that much about it. I always thought: ‘Why can’t I be as good as they are?'”.
The next individual to be mentioned is TabCorp CIO Mandy Ross. She went from being CIO of Tatts to Tabcorp when the Australian gaming powerhouses merged in 2017, and said that her role “effectively doubled overnight post-merger”.
Ross believes that Australia doesn’t have many women choosing a career in science, technology, engineering or maths and medicine. She’s aiming to help change this, though, and said: “I see my role as telling my story and being visible. When I was coming through over the last two decades, there weren’t many women who I could look to that were ahead of me on the career path.”
For those seeking to emulate her success, Ross believes that it’s important to “make sure you are effectively interviewing the whole company” during interviews.
US representation
Anna Sainsbury, Founder and Chair for GeoComply, is the fourth name that was revealed today. She co-founded the company in 2011 with David Briggs, after realising that the US needed different geolocation software to other markets. When the New Jersey iGaming market was regulated two years later, all-but-one operator here had signed with them.
Today, GeoComply is used in 43 states by industry giants such as DraftKings and Ceasars. Sainsbury has also mentioned how the company plays an important role in US legislation, and is often to present its technology within jurisdictions strongly considering passing a bill.
