Jumbo Interactive Welcomes Susan Forrester As The New Chair & Non-Executive Director
After 13 years as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Jumbo Interactive, David Barwick is stepping down from his post. His successor was announced on September 7, 2020, and the appointment was effective immediately: Susan Forrester, an experienced company director, is the one taking over from Barwick. She was also appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Board at the same time.
Susan Forrester has more than 10 years of experience in the same roles (Chair and Non-Executive Director) at multiple other companies publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Her main strengths, highlighted by the official announcement on the Jumbo Interactive website, are strategic planning and involvement in corporate governance and compliance. She also brings her experience in corporate law (she is a qualified lawyer holding a degree an EMBA) and rapidly evolving industries to the table.
Ms. Forrester has been a part of the senior management teams at G8 Education Ltd since 2011, Over the Wire Ltd since 2015, and Viva Leisure Group since 2018. Up until recently, she also occupied the position of a founding Chair at National Veterinary Care Ltd. The CEO and Founder of Jumbo Interactive Mike Veverka commented on the arrival of the new Chair with the following statement: “I am pleased to welcome Susan as Non-executive Director and chair for Jumbo. Her experience and approach are exactly what Jumbo needs as we seek growth in Australia and overseas in the years ahead.”
I am delighted to be joining Jumbo Interactive at a time when the business is performing strongly and focuses on growth opportunities both domestically and overseas.
Jumbo Interactive is an Australian-based public listed company founded in 1995. Although it started its path in the e-commerce industry by launching and operating an online shopping mall, in 2000, it shifted its focus towards solutions for online lotteries. Nowadays, it’s well-known as a digital retailer that works exclusively with government and charity lotteries helping them facilitate a part of or the whole lottery process.
The company offers the full range of in-house services, from technological solutions and their execution to lottery management and various promotion services. It entered the Lottery Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market in 2018 and quickly built up momentum due to the lack of high-quality solutions in the field.
The company’s most famous product is Oz Lotteries, an Australian digital retailer platform. Oz Lotteries can boast an annual turnover of AUD$150 million in purchased lottery tickets and a customer base of 2+ million users. Jumbo Interactive’s narrow specialization and extensive experience with the digital technologies from their early development years make As Jumbo Interactive operates exclusively online and has a purely digital business model, it only won from the COVID-19 pandemic and strict measures to combat it.
With offline opportunities to participate in lotteries reduced or non-existent due to shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, as well as preference for using online services instead of offline ones becoming more common among customers concerned about health risks, Jumbo Interactive reports “having a positive impact” on the business. For instance, July 2020 brought the company 41% more in sales than March 2020, even though both months included an AUD$80 million Powerball. Overall, the 2020 financial year was highlighted by a steady 9% increase in total turnover (AUD$349 million) and revenue (AUD$71 million).