Solid Choice to Head Gaming Software Developer - Cryptologic

April 2 Cryptologic (CRYP - NASDAQ), a leading software developer to the global Internet gaming industry, appointed Javaid Aziz as the company's president and CEO. Aziz replaces Lewis Rose, the company's CEO since July 2002, who back in September announced his intention to step down because of family commitments, effective upon hiring of the new CEO. Shortly after Rose's announcement the stock took a real decline but eventually began to recover. Aziz was a very solid choice to replace Rose.

Aziz is an extremely well-seasoned executive with over thirty years of diversified international experience in the information technology industry. He worked for twenty years at IBM where he eventually became chief executive for the United Kingdom. He then went on to Silicon Graphics as a Senior Vice President and later founded Aspective in 1999 and sold it in 2006 to Vodafone Group Plc. He appears to have all the qualities necessary to fill Rose's shoes and take Cryptologic forward.

Rose successfully put Cryptologic on the map. He recognized the limitations of the firm's services in the United States, which are increasingly limited by a number of regulatory matters. Rose responded to the problem by successfully focusing the company's business on Europe and has also pressed to do the same in Asia. He successfully arranged to have the company's headquarters moved from North America to Ireland. Aziz , who is already European based, can be expected to continue the firm's efforts in Europe and Asia.