A little over a week after announcing Michael Daly would be stepping down as the CEO of the company, Catena Media announced it has found his successor.
The company has appointed Manuel Stan as the new CEO of the affiliate group. He will take charge on July 1. Until then, Pierre Cadena will continue to serve as interim CEO.
“I am delighted to have this opportunity to drive Catena Media forward on the next stage of its journey as the group takes on new challenges while further advancing its presence in North America. This is a strong business with talented employees and I look forward to working with the teams to capitalize fully on the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Stan.
“Manuel was the outstanding candidate for this position among the names considered and we are extremely pleased that he is joining us. He is a leader with proven leadership skills and wide-ranging experience within our industry. His close knowledge of the North American market and of both the operator and affiliate sides of the business will be a significant asset for Catena Media and our North America-focused organization as we begin this new chapter for the group,” added Catena Chairman of the Board of Directors Göran Blomberg.
Stan comes to Catena Media after a 16-year stint with the Kindred Group. After starting in the marketing department, Stan worked his way up to Head of Digital Marketing, then Marketing Director before taking over as the SVP and General Manager of North America in 2018.
During his time at Kindred, he was a major part of building the affiliate program for the operator. Per the press release from Catena, he also gained experience in business development, financial planning and corporate governance as well.
After struggling to gain much traction with the Unibet brand in North America, Kindred began to pull out of U.S. markets in 2023 and ultimately announced plans to fully leave the North American market by the end of Q2 this year.
“The cost reduction actions announced today are both necessary and decisive. While it is never a desire to inform valued colleagues of redundancies, this puts us in a stronger position to secure long-term growth for Kindred across our locally regulated core markets. We can now focus our resources and tech capacity towards strategic initiatives and selected markets where we see clear potential to grow our market share,” said Kindred Interim CEO Nils Andén of the move.
Like Kindred, Catena has struggled to maintain long-term growth with U.S. operators curbing spend and few new states legalizing and rolling out new online gambling markets.
