Interview With: Former Communications Boss at PokerStars

Q: Eric most of our readers will know you from your work at PokerStars, but for those who are not familiar can you give us a little bit of your background please?

EH: Sure. I’m an American, born in New York City and I graduated from New York University with a degree in Journalism and political science. Following several years as a journalist in New York City, Washington DC and Philadelphia, I began a career in public relations and marketing first at a large advertising agency in Philadelphia and then on the corporate side at major global companies including Disney, Microsoft and ActivisionBlizzard before joining PokerStars in 2011.

My business career has been focused on reputation management and marketing for consumer entertainment and technology companies.
At Disney I was head of media relations for global kids television and worked directly with Michael Eisner and Bob Iger. It was an amazing company and an amazing brand to work with.  At Microsoft I led consumer PR out of corporate headquarters and was responsible for all of Bill Gates’ press and public appearances related to Microsoft’s consumer business – Xbox, Windows, MSN, etc.  At Activision, I lead communications for the Guitar Hero franchise as it became the most popular videogame and the world’s first billion-dollar videogame franchise.

I’ve lived in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Seattle, Los Angeles, the Isle of Man and London. I am married and have three children, the youngest of which is completing High School this year.

Q: You were head of communications for the world’s largest online poker platform at PokerStars, which saw many challenges during your nine years with the company, what were the most memorable of them?

EH: I was fortunate to be an executive with PokerStars during a historic time in the online gaming industry as we moved from a bunch of start-up entrepreneurs operating in an uncertain and largely unregulated global environment to a highly-regulated, mature multi-billion dollar industry dominated by large public companies.  At PokerStars, I got to play a part in shaping the company and the industry as we grew from a family-owned, poker-only business to a global leader in online gambling with a full portfolio of licensed brands across poker, sportsbetting, casino and social gaming.

Amongst the more memorable challenges was dealing with the U.S. shutdown of online poker in April 2011 and PokerStars’ historic settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in August 2012. The settlement paved the way for PokerStars to eventually enter the U.S. market, allowed us to acquire Full Tilt Poker [who had previously been our largest competitor] and most importantly it laid the ground work for the state regulation of online gambling in the American market.

Obviously, it was a challenge managing the $5 billion Amaya acquisition of PokerStars in 2014, which then led to dealing with what became known as Canada’s largest-ever insider trading investigation. I was responsible for managing our corporate reputation through this tumultuous period. Amongst the initiatives I led was the rebranding of the company from Amaya to The Stars Group. More recently, I ran global poker marketing and drove the PokerStars Players Championship, which was a yearlong program that became the most successful series of tournaments in online poker history.

Q: Coming to PokerStars was your first foray into the world on online gambling, is there a different method of working you have found from say a technology firm like Microsoft or the Walt Disney where you worked previously?

EH: While online gambling has its unique challenges, I think the key difference was that it was a new, entrepreneurial industry. So I was able to be part of the maturation of the Company and the industry and brought my experience in big, well-run companies like Microsoft and Disney, as well as my experience at Activision, which as a leader in videogaming has many similarities in being a mix of technology, entertainment and online media businesses. So I brought deep knowledge of best practices and practical experience of having worked with some of the most respected executives in business history like Bill Gates, Michael Eisner and Bob Iger.
At the same time, online gambling has unique reputation issues to confront. I’d like to think that amongst the things we achieved during my time at PokerStars was to bring greater transparency to the management practices and enhance the credibility of the company and the industry.

Q: Is it easier or more difficult working for a medium sized firm or large company and what are the main challenges for this?

EH: Business challenges are pretty similar regardless of the size of a company. And for modern companies that are largely internet-based businesses, you must deal with the same challenges of serving a global online customer base, divergent regulations and digital marketing opportunities. But you also have the same access to markets and to commercial opportunities as “the big guys.” For instance, start-up and medium sized businesses have access to many of the same tools and technology platforms (Google, Facebook, etc) ability to market through social media channels as the major global companies. This is a tremendous opportunity for smaller companies to find exponential growth with the right product and smart marketing. Butit’svital for these small and mid-sized firms to have the confidence to act like a global business, while being lean and nimble. But that’s the essence of entrepreneurship.

Q: You have a long history Eric of working in communications Eric what attracted you this industry and for those who are interested in working in communications what are the skills and talents you need to be successful?

EH: I’ve always been interested in working at the cutting edge of modern business, especially the intersection of media, entertainment and technology. This intersection is really complex and usually requires adoption of new behaviours and new ways of doing things.  This puts consumer communications and marketing at the centre of commercial success, which is one of the reasons I love working in these kinds of business where what I bring is business-critical. As such, online gaming was a natural place for me to work. In particular, as a storyteller and reputation specialist I’ve been able to help inform and educate a variety of audiences – customers, investors, regulators/legislators and employees – about the industry so that they can gain comfort and trust in the companies operating in the space.

Q: Indeed you started out like many communications people as a journalist working for publications such as Rolling Stone and Spy, what did you enjoy more the investigation journalism or the writing of it or actually both parts? Also is that area still where your heart lies?

EH: I’ve always enjoyed great storytelling. As a child I loved to read and watch television shows and go to movies, listen to great songwriters. Coming from a working-class family without a lot of means or access to many experiences, storytelling was a way to fulfil my natural curiosity and wanderlust; taking me to places that I would otherwise never have been able to go – at least through imagination. As I grew up, I sought journalism as a profession that would allow me to tell stories and give me access to places and people I never would have otherwise. In many ways, being a reporter was like having a VIP ticket to witness history. I was able to meet and interview celebrities, politicians, academics and business leaders. I attended events at the White House, fancy restaurants, the hottest nightclubs and at the headquarters of the biggest companies in the world. And I got to ask the questions that my audience would want asked and then write about the topics my audience was interested in. In that way, it never mattered to me if it was investigative journalism like the stories I broke about the U.S. government investigating lead content in imported wine or the more satiric kind of journalism we did at Spy magazine, which in the 1980s often target Donald Trump and nicknamed him the “short-fingered vulgarian”. I was honoured to have the “VIP ticket” and took the responsibility very seriously that I was there to serve my audience that couldn’t be there.