The board

The Devilfish Gaming PLC Board consists of Executive Chairman David Boden, founding directors Kevin R Leech and Andrew J A Flitcroft, as well as online gaming and online marketing professionals Paul J Barnes and Karl Hutson.


David Boden, Executive Chairman

David Boden (51) is a highly respected and experienced gaming and leisure executive. He began his career with Mecca Leisure in 1977 and rose to become its operations director in 1989. In 1994 he became Managing Director of Rank Amusements prior to becoming MD of Grosvenor Casinos in 1996 before being promoted to having overall responsibilities for Rank Group Gaming Division in 1999. He became a Board member of Rank Group plc in 2005. During his tenure as Managing Director of Rank Group Gaming Division (which included Rank's online business, Bluesquare) turnover grew to over £1 billion with profits exceeding £120 million. David has also had additional roles within the gaming industry including Director of Business in Sport and Leisure (BISL), Deputy Chairman of the Bingo Association and a council member of the British Casino Association


Kevin Ronald Leech, Non-Executive Director

Kevin Leech made his first fortune from his family’s funeral business selling out in the early 1980s to the Co-Operative Society. Shortly thereafter he invested in a biotechnology company, ML Laboratories Plc, which in 1987, after much lobbying by Mr Leech, became the first public biotechnology company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. In the 2000 Sunday Times Rich List he was listed as the 17th richest person in the country and was Jersey’s first billionaire. However, with the collapse of the dot-com sector Mr Leech suffered as he had multiple holdings in such companies. Mr Leech has been an entrepreneur over the last 30 years making investments in many private and well known companies. Mr Leech was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Victoria College of Manchester University on 14 October 1998. Over the past few years Mr Leech has assisted Hands Around the World, a charity helping AIDS orphans in Zambia.


Paul J Barnes, Chief Executive Officer

Paul Barnes graduated with honours in Electonic Engineering from University College Dublin in 1985 and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Warwick University Business School in 1998. He spent the initial part of his career in the financial transaction processing software industry in The Netherlands and UK, working with companies such as Logica BV and American Express. He spent several years in Germany where he helped establish ATOSS AG, now a leading systems solution vendor. Paul first became involved with interactive services through a management consultancy role at Siemens in Munich in 1996, where he worked on a major interactive TV project. This led to senior roles in the interactive gaming sector with Access Gaming Systems, including the successful sales and marketing of online gaming technology to the regulated lottery and casino market globally. In 2004 Paul set about building the All In Poker multi-player online poker site, which launched in 2005. In 2006 he led a management buy-out, selling the business in 2007. Paul was until recently engaged as the online gaming consultant to Groupe Lucien Barrière in France advising on the development, configuration and marketing launch of their new online casino and poker business.


Andrew John Alec Flitcroft, Finance Director

Andrew Flitcroft graduated with honours in Accounting and Finance at Manchester Metropolitan University, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1992. Mr Flitcroft remained in practice until 1999 advising owner managed businesses. Since this date, Mr Flitcroft has acted as consultant and finance director specialising in the technology and internet sectors with particular reference to early growth companies. Mr Flitcroft has experience of venture capital backed and listed enterprises both on the UK AIM market and Nasdaq in the United States.


Karl Hutson, Chief Operations Officer

Karl Hutson has had eight years’ experience in the internet business sector. From 2002 to 2003 he was Managing Director of an integrated network support business, focused on providing network support for small to medium businesses in the Dublin area. From 2003 to 2005 he was Junior Credit Risk Analyst for Nexgen Financial Solutions, a reinsurance and financial solutions company, and was involved with credit analysis of a large portfolio of companies. From 2005 to 2007 he was the Operations Executive for paddypowerpoker.com, the online poker site of the bookmaker Paddy Power, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the site. Since August 2007 he has been a self-employed consultant, with clients such as Card Player Media LLC, Winmedia Ireland Ltd. and the Company.