Talking to Andrei Stănescu, the new Director of International Sales, EMEA region
➤ Thank you for accepting our invitation. We were very curious to meet you, and understand what your plans for Newton are, but also to welcome you, because we know you are new to the industry.
Today is a very humbling day for me, and I wanted to thank you for extending this invitation. It is an incredible honor for me to lead and serve this great team of ours, as I step in as it’s new Director of International Sales in charge of the EMEA region.
While we have seen great success in the past, we are hungry to do more. Our industry does not respect tradition, it only respects innovation. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places, and as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it, our main mission is to ensure that Newton thrives in digital, mobile and cloud-first world, and that our partners thrive alongside us. This is a critical time for the industry, and we all need to make sure we do our very best to keep up with this very dynamic pace.
➤ Who is Andrei Stănescu? What defines you?
A simple man – son for 30 years, together with my wife for over 12 years, and lucky to have a 3-year-old healthy and loving daughter. And like anyone else, a lot of what I do and how I think has been shaped by my family and my overall life experiences. Many who know me say I am also defined by my thirst for learning and curiosity. I tend to buy more books than I can finish and I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things. So family, curiosity and hunger for knowledge all define me.
➤ What can you tell us about your professional past? Could you give us a quick summary on how you started in your career?
My career began in 2007, when I started working in the financial sector, for a Dutch group, ING Nederland, handling retail customers in Romania. Afterwards I relocated to the Middle East to work for Horizon – a group of companies, handling customers from that side of the globe, and I worked out of Beirut, Doha and Dubai, during the expansion and growth of the region. It was a delightful experience, that has taught me quite a lot about working in vast intercultural environments, with people of difference races and religions. In 2011, I’ve decided to move back to Romania, and start consolidating my career in the BPO (Business Processes Outsourcing) and IT sectors, working for the next couple of years only for American companies. Started with CGS Inc., a company based in New York with offices all around the world, with over 700 employees, working on the AOL Project (America Online), one of the largest ISP in the USA. My next chapter included one of the largest corporations in the world, Oracle Corp, a multi billion-dollar company, with over 100.000 employees. Here I spend 4 great years in two different roles, initially covering the UK & Ireland, selling technical support for Oracle’s hardware, software and middleware divisions, with a variety of products in their portfolio, such as all of the servers that came with the SUN Microsystems acquisition, Siebel, Primavera, Hyperion, Oracle Database, and many others. While still in Oracle, I took the opportunity to take on a new challenge, selling an Enterprise version of MySQL, one of the world’s best and widely used database solutions, that is open source. For two years I handled Israel and South Africa, servicing customers from all industry verticals, such as banking, telecommunications, outsourcing, oil & gas, electric, gambling, entertainment and others. The last in the list of American companies that I worked for is IXIA, Santa Rosa based company, out of California, specialized in the production and manufacturing of network testing equipment. Here I was the EMEA Channel Manager, in charge of all the partnerships with distributors and resellers throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa, responsible with over 45 mil USD in revenue each year, and also growing our footprint in the region.
When my daughter was born, a new professional chapter began for me, that came with a major industry switch, from the IT sector to the CG (Consumer Goods) industry. I worked for over two years for the world’s largest juvenile durable goods manufacturer, Goodbaby International, a billion-dollar company, with over 23.000 employees, covering the Eastern Europe market, with over 9 mil EUR in turnover generated each year in the assigned, handling a few well known brands, such as Cybex, GB, Evenflo and CBX.
And now, back to IT. My next chapter is called Newton.
➤ Why are you here? Why this industry and why now?
I am here for the same reason I think most of my colleagues joined Newton – to change the entertainment world through technology that empowers people to do amazing things. I know it can sound hyperbolic, and yet it’s true. We have done it, we’re doing it today, and we are the team that will do it again.
We, as a generation, are at a crossroad. I believe over the next decade computing will become even more ubiquitous and intelligence will become ambient. The coevolution of software and new hardware form factors will intermediate and digitize, many of the things we do and experience in business, life and our world. This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning.
This is a software-powered world. And Newton relies on a fantastic team, filled with amazing people, experts in their respective fields, that will only deepen our presence in the local market, and help expand our footprint in other key areas around the globe.
I am here because we have unparalleled capability to make an impact, and I have a lot of confidence in the collective strength of the Newton team. And this industry is very fitting for me personally, very dynamic, with no day identical with the previous one.
➤ What are your plans then? What is your vision for Newton’s growth ambitions?
Today we’re focused on a broader range of devices and services. As we look forward, we must zero in on what Newton can uniquely contribute to the world of gambling and entertainment. The opportunity ahead will require us to reimagine a lot of what we have done in the past for a mobile and cloud-first world and do new things.
We are the only ones who can harness the power of software and deliver it through devices and services that truly empower every individual and every partner and customer. We are a company with history and continued focus in building platforms and ecosystems that create broad opportunity for our partners.
➤ Then what will you do next? How will 2019 look for the Newton team?
To paraphrase a quote from Oscar Wilde, we need to believe in the impossible and remove the improbable.
This starts with clarity of purpose and sense of mission that will lead us to imagine the impossible and deliver it. We need to prioritize innovation that is centered on our core value of empowering our partner network to “do more.” We have picked a set of high-value activities as part of our long-term strategy. And with every service and product launch going forward we need to bring more innovation to bear around these scenarios.
Next, every one of us needs to do our best work, lead and help drive cultural change. We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen and overestimate what others need to do to move us forward. We must change this.
Finally, I truly believe that each of us must find meaning in our work. The best work happens when you know that it’s not just work, but something that will improve the experience our partners gain, and empower their business to new heights. This is the opportunity that drives each of us at this company.
Many companies aspire to change the world of gaming and entertainment. But very few have all the elements required: talent, resources, and perseverance. Newton has proven that it has all three in abundance. And as the new Director of International Sales, I can’t ask for a better foundation, and I am certain we will continue to build on it.
➤ Thank you again for agreed to meet and talk with us. It was a pleasure getting to know you, the person, but also you, the professional. We can only wish you the best of luck with your new endeavor!
And I would also like to thank you once again for the opportunity to address the audience of Casino Life & Business Magazine. I am confident that your readers will find out more from us soon, and they will have the chance to see us unfold our extensive portfolio at EArena Expo 2019. And with our presence there I would like to reassure our partners and customers that we will continue to work, develop and innovate. Looking forward to seeing you there as well!
