Executive Team

Harmen Brenninkmeijer, CEO
Harmen established Octavian in 2001 to focus on the commercial opportunities presented by the market developing in Russia and to export gaming technologies from Russia. Today, Octavian is a leading and innovative global developer of networked games and systems for the casino, AWP and lottery markets, and also a leading supplier of third party equipment from many of the gaming world’s leading brands.

Harmen’s gaming career began in 1991 at Mikohn. At Mikohn he was given the responsibility of establishing a European presence and headquarters. This European arm quickly developed into a strong affiliate of the US-based operations and contributed exponentially more to the bottom line. Harmen then established a South African presence before shifting the company’s attention to Asia, his extensive travel creating a worldwide network within the gaming industry.

Before forming Octavian he established a casino gaming division for the Gauselmann Group. During this period he opened and operated a number of casinos, including the Playboy Casino on the island of Rhodes.

Having established a leadership role in the industry he was elected the first chairman of the European Gaming Organisation, a position he held for three years. He currently sits on the Advisory Board for G2E and is a regular speaker and moderator at G2E and other international gaming industry events.

Harmen graduated from the InterManagement School in The Hague, Netherlands with a Bachelor of Business degree.

Peter Moffitt, President and Chief Technology Officer
Peter Moffitt joined Octavian International in February 2008.

Peter is a veteran of the gaming world and was previously at the Unicum Group of Companies, where he held a number of senior positions, the most recent being Vice President (Product Development) and Chief Technology Officer.

Before that he founded the Sydney-based Bounty Ltd., a leading gaming system developer where, as CEO and CTO, he was in charge of pre-IPO company development and led the company to four major Business and Export Awards. During this time he was also MD and Chief Technology Consultant at Odyssey Gaming Technology in Australia.

At Unicum, Peter was extremely successful in streamlining the development of systems and games, achieving a substantial increase in game output while also improving quality of development. Peter has vast experience of the global gaming market and of leading smarter technology development and process refinement. Peter also played a major role in the merger of Unicum and SmartGames.

In the newly created role of President at Octavian, Peter is responsible for the technical, R&D, production and delivery functions within Octavian’s worldwide systems, games and supplies operations, a role which entails directing development and project teams in Australia, Latin America, Russia and the UK.

Peter Brenninkmeijer, Chief Financial Officer
Peter Brenninkmeijer is the Chief Financial Officer of Octavian International. Peter has considerable corporate financial experience gained in the gaming and IT sectors, including six years at Mikohn Europe BV where he was promoted from Financial Manager to Financial and Operational Director and then to Manager Director. His achievements at Mikohn, a major supplier to the casino industry with revenues of $100 million worldwide, included implementing an ERP system and ISO 9002.

From Mikohn Peter moved to Perot Systems, a specialist offshore development/outsourcing IT company employing 15,000 worldwide, as Financial Director Benelux. During his time at Perot he was also Financial Director for Contrado Technologies, a Joint Venture between Perot Systems Corporation and KPN employing 300 people and generating annual revenue of $30 million.

Prior to joining Octavian Peter was Financial Director at Xanadu, a group of companies involved in the set-up and operation of highly successful casino operations in emerging markets. Here he was responsible both for the group financials and running his own casino.

Peter brings to Octavian a strong combination of board level and front-line experience in the financial control of gaming operations and software development projects. Within his remit is the continuing improvement of management information flow and the budgeting process in the growing Octavian business, and co-ordinating due diligence in mergers, joint ventures and other strategic commercial agreements.

Helen Hedgeland, Head of Marketing
Prior to joining Octavian in-house, Helen ran her own marketing communications agency with Octavian introducing her to the gaming arena 5 years ago. Before that, she was an Account Director at the first UK e-solutions company to float on the LSE, managing integrated international campaigns for blue chip companies in both the IT and leisure sectors including Cable & Wireless, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and First Choice Holidays.

Her experience, gained over the last decade has exposed her to B2B, B2C and niche marketing, both on and offline, involved in a number of cutting-edge, award winning projects in the e-commerce and DTV arena as well traditional marcoms projects.

Helen graduated with a degree in marketing and modern languages.

Bryan Tolladay, Executive Development Manager
Bryan Tolladay, Executive Development Manager of Octavian International, is a highly experienced senior manager and international program director with over 35 years’ experience in business management, project management, and business and systems analysis. This experience has been applied in the banking, commercial and government sectors, and most recently in the gaming industry.

He has performed strategic business analysis and business process re-engineering for major organisations resulting in considerable savings of over $100m. Bryan has also worked as a Quality Manager for several major corporations and developed and successfully deployed methods, processes and ISO standards. He has sat on the control boards of two international standards agencies and has been a tutor and mentor for university courses in Business Management.

In addition to his extensive experience in the corporate world, Bryan is a Chartered Engineer, holds a BA Honours degree in Mathematics and Computing Science, is a ‘Top Student’ graduate of the Royal Aeronautical Society and spent 15 years as an RAF pilot.

Robert J. Dykstra, General Manager, EMEA
Robert Dykstra joined our team in November 2002 to strengthen the European division.

He has worked in the online gaming industry since 1997 and has an extensive knowledge from both an operator and supplier’s perspective.

His experience of the international gaming industry covers casino, bingo and lottery operations as well as sports betting.

Mikhail Stepanov, General Manager, Octavian CIS
Mikhail Stepanov has more than 15 years’ experience in the gaming industry.

Before joining Octavian he worked as Chief Financial Officer in several companies including slot machine and lottery operators.

As a result of his postgraduate education Mikhail gained the Finance Manager Certificate of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

He also has considerable experience in programming, having spent the first six years of his career as a member of a programming team at the State Research Centre.

Since October 2001 Mikhail has been a director of the St. Petersburg subsidiary of Octavian International Ltd. (Octavian CIS).

Jorge Ortiz, General Manager, Octavian Latin America North
Jorge Ortiz joined Octavian in 2009 having gained wide experience as a finance and administration director, manager and controller in the restaurant, gaming, supply chain, automotive and accounting/auditing industries.

He graduated as an accountant at Santo Tomas University in Bogotá, and also graduated as a Private Finance Specialist at the Rosario University in Bogotá.

He began his career at KPMG Peat Marwick before moving to General Motors where he was heavily involved in SAP systems implementation and won the Chairman’s Award in 1994.

He later gained experience of the gaming industry with Octavian. During this first period with Octavian he was instrumental in establishing Octavian Latin America Limited as a separate operating company within the Octavian International group. Jorge then extended his management experience as Finance and Administrative Director for supply chain specialists Brightstar, before moving into financial management with McDonald’s the global fast-food restaurant chain.

Having return to take up the role of General Manager at Octavian Latin America North, Jorge’s responsibilities include the organisational and commercial structure of the company in this region, including the partner offices and distributors.

Like all Octavian General Managers, he maintains a strong focus on customer needs and the continued development of innovative, tailored solutions that deliver competitive edge for gaming operators in this territory.

Fabian Grous, General Manager, Octavian Latin America South
Fabian Grous started his gaming career in 1992 working at Bingo Lavalle in the Buenos Aires province, one of the most important gaming districts in Latin America. Since then he has worked with and for a diverse range of operators across the world. This extensive experience has helped him to gain a clear understanding of how best to meet operators’ needs and expectations.

He has gained exposure to gaming and the business and political worlds in a number of continents, working and studying in several countries in Asia and Europe. He gained a degree in International and Politics Relations from Sweden University and lived for many years in Korea, China, Mexico and Sweden.

Fabian joined Octavian in 2003, initially as General Manager of ArgeLink which was then a 50:50 joint venture company but has since become a wholly owned subsidiary of Octavian.

In his current role as General Manager of Octavian Latin America South, Fabian is responsible for operations management, co-ordination and control of Octavian’s activities in this growing market.

He has spearheaded the growth of highly customer-focused sales, service, technical and development operations for Octavian in this region, including a dedicated ACP (Accounting, Control, Progressives) data centre, which is at the hub of a range of managed services for Latin American slot operators.

Fabian maintains close contact with Octavian’s customers, offering his considerable experience and Octavian’s innovative, locally tailored solutions to help operators grow revenue and develop competitive edge.