PokerStars Appoints New Boss Rafi Ashkenazi

PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker has just announced Israeli Ravi Askenazi has become the new chief operating officer of the Rational Group, the parent company which owns both businesses.
As a press release stated today, starting February 1st Mr Askenazi will take over responsibility for the day-to-day running of operations for both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, a role which includes such duties as handling marketing, IT management, customer support, payment processing, security and game integrity.
Following his appointment, Mr Askenazi commented: “With PokerStars, the Rational Group has built a stellar reputation by continually raising the bar with high-quality, trusted products while delivering best-in-class customer support and service. I am excited to join the team and add my skills to that tradition of industry leadership.”
Ravi Askenazi boasts an impressive track record in the industry and worked for four years at IT development company SQLink before being appointed the Chief Operations Officer (COO) at Playtech. After seven years at the gaming software development company, during which time Playtech grew from having 200 to 2,400 employees, Askenazi will assume his new role at the Rational Group starting at the beginning of next month.
The Rational Group is based on the Isle of Man, and is headed by CEO and chairman Mark Scheinberg, whose father, Isai Scheinburg recently stepped down from the position as part of PokerStars’ overall settlement with the US Department of Justice. Commenting on the company’s new chief executive officer, Mark Scheinberg said:
“As the Group grows and continues to develop our business globally and across multiple platforms and brands, we need to strengthen the leadership of its increasingly complex operations. Rafi is a fine executive with outstanding management and people skills and has been very successful directing the operational complexities of a global gaming company. I am very happy that he will bring that expertise to our senior management team.”