North American esports and gaming group React Gaming has appointed Leigh Hughes as its interim chief executive.
Hughes takes up the position at the Toronto-listed owner of the Loot.bet brand immediately, replacing Laurent Benezra, who is stepping down from his current role as president and chief executive as well as director of the corporation. Benezra, who took over at React – then Intema Solutions – in 2019, will remain in a consultancy capacity.
Hughes is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist with over 20 years of experience working with private and public companies across the globe, particularly in North America, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. He is also the founder of Comverj Ventures, which helps clients identify opportunities for change in the fields of mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, business strategy and innovation.
“Over the last year, React Gaming has emerged as a leading esports and iGaming company, mainly through its acquisition of Loot.bet,” said Philip Nolan, member of the board of React Gaming.
“Given the corporation’s current development stage and market environment, we considered that a change of leadership was needed to unlock React Gaming’s full potential.
“We are thrilled that Leigh has agreed to take on this challenge and lead the company with the goal of creating sustainable value for our shareholders. Over the years, Leigh has built an impressive international financial network and advised numerous public companies on how to attain their operational and financial objectives, which is the type of expertise we were looking for to bring React Gaming to the next level.”
Alongside Loot.Bet, React Gaming’s subsidiaries also include esports social gaming platform HypeX.gg, esports specialist business Generationz Gaming Entertainment, Canadian Fortnite outfit Team Bloodhounds and esports organisation Parabellum.
Hughes said: “I am excited to have the opportunity to leverage the assets that React Gaming has acquired over the past year, including Loot.bet, Compete.gg and Parabellum, all of which are top-tier assets with significant growth potential.
“My role as CEO and a major shareholder will be to build on this solid foundation, with the help of our outstanding and driven team, to continue to grow React Gaming and make it a leader in the esports space.”