Continent 8 Names Mike Small as First Non-Founder CEO in 28 Years after Founder Michael Tobin Stepping Down

Key Points

• Mike Small has taken up the position of CEO of Continent 8 from 15th July 2026. He is the first person apart from its founder Michael Tobin to hold the position of CEO after 28 years of the company’s existence.
• He had been in the position of Strategic Board Advisor for one whole year prior to being the CEO, and this was done intentionally in order to give him hands-on experience of the company’s contracts, employees, and customers from the very beginning.
• This step came after the hiring of Continent 8’s Chief Data, Information & AI Officer in April 2026 and its introduction of the intelligence8 product line of AI in May 2026.

First CEO Change in 28 Years

For almost 30 years, the leadership at Continent 8 Technologies remained unchanged. The company was established by Michael Tobin in 1998 and he remained its CEO all that time; he grew it from just one data centre to a private global network with over 100 data centres on four continents and in over 30 states of America. Mike Small became the new CEO on 15 July 2026, while Tobin became chairman of the board.

A Succession Process in 12 Months’ Time

Small did not come in from somewhere else with an empty record. Prior to being appointed as CEO, Small worked for one year as Strategic Board Advisor at Continent 8. This meant that Small was involved in developing the operating model of the firm as part of its executive team. In his capacity as strategic advisor, he was also involved in setting the Global Capability Centre strategy of the firm in India, the Philippines and Bulgaria – centres which provide round-the-clock delivery service to customers of Continent 8 all over the world.

At the time of accepting the CEO position, Small had been involved in discussing cultural and strategic issues with Tobin in meetings of the Continent 8 Customer Advisory Board.

According to an interview carried out by NEXT.io on 4 August 2026, Small identified the company’s Net Promoter Score of 71 as one of the first things that caught his eye during the advisory role. In business-to-business technology services, such high scores indicate a consistent reputation of trustworthiness amongst customers, not just satisfaction at the time of any given transaction. “The company has developed a great reputation as a reliable technology partner for some of the best-known names in the world of iGaming,” he stated.

Tobin, in reference to the transition, stated: “His experience building global technology companies and his intimate knowledge of our customers and our strategy make him the perfect person to lead us forward from our existing strengths.”

Who Is Mike Small?

Small brings more than 25 years of technology leadership to the role. Most recently, he served as President of Akkodis North America and US Country President of The Adecco Group, where he led technology, engineering and managed services divisions while directing the organisation’s AI strategy. Before Adecco, he served as CEO for the Americas at Sitel Group and held senior leadership positions at IBM, Hewlett Packard, Capgemini and VXI & SYMBIO Global Solutions. He is based in Miami.

The connection between Akkodis and the company is significant for a particular reason. Cris Kuehl, who was chosen as the Chief Data, Information and AI Officer of Continent 8 in April 2026, had previously worked as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at Akkodis. The presence of two senior executives of the same company, which specialises in AI technologies, at the top management level of Continent 8 is definitely not coincidental.

Why the Timing Points to More Than a Leadership Change?

Continent 8 has been constructing an AI-focused leadership and product stack throughout 2026. Kuehl joined in April to lead the company’s global data, AI and information strategy. In May, Continent 8 launched intelligence8, a suite of four products built for iGaming operators: AI-Ready Infrastructure, Managed AI Services, AI Ops and Voice AI. The suite allows operators to run AI workloads within the specific jurisdictions where regulators require data to stay, rather than relying on hyperscale cloud platforms that process data across borders.

That regulatory constraint is a real commercial problem for licensed operators in markets including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and several US states. Continent 8’s network, already embedded across more than 30 US states and four continents, gives it a structural advantage in serving those customers without requiring them to make compliance trade-offs.

Small’s background gives him direct experience of this challenge. At Akkodis and Adecco, he led AI strategy for large technology services businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions. “AI has enormous potential, but I believe the iGaming industry is still in the early stages of understanding how transformative it can be,” he said.

What Tobin Built Over 28 Years?

Tobin started Continent 8 in 1998, in the early days of online gambling regulation. The company was centred around managed hosting and cybersecurity solutions for regulated operators; an area that was seen as very niche then but which developed into one of the most challenging technology markets to operate in. Regulatory requirements, reliability standards and data security needs in regulated iGaming have some of the highest standards of any business industry.

In 2025, GamblingIQ listed Tobin as fourth on its annual Trusted 10 list of the world’s top technology executives in iGaming. They called him a person who “puts stability and sustainable growth first, while not losing sight of innovation.” As the chairman, Tobin will concentrate on governance, strategy and stakeholder management, still remaining involved.

What This Means for Operators?

For Small, the mission lies in expanding the operations of Continent 8 in regulatory environments, as the company changes its focus from being solely an infrastructure and connectivity company to becoming more of a tech partner who will provide AI solutions in the same regulatory environment. This leadership change, by itself, is important. Taken together with the hiring of Kuehl, the launch of intelligence8, and a one-year-long advisory process, the CEO change looks like the culmination of the strategic leadership restructure centred on a particular product strategy.

“I am excited about working with our team to enhance our customer relationships, drive innovation, and continue to deliver our customers’ needs for reliable, secure and high-performing solutions,” said Small.

For operators running infrastructure through Continent 8 across multiple regulated markets, continuity is the short-term question. The year-long succession process and Tobin’s ongoing chairmanship were both structured to address it. The longer-term question is whether an infrastructure business with 28 years of compliance experience can execute a credible move into AI services, and how quickly that changes the company’s commercial footprint.

Expert Analysis

The sequence of moves in 2026 makes the strategy readable. Continent 8 brought in a dedicated AI officer in April, launched a purpose-built AI product suite in May, and confirmed a CEO with an AI strategy background in July. None of those decisions happened in isolation. Small’s year as an advisor also gave the company a way to test leadership fit before formalising it, which is a more careful approach than most organisations take when replacing a founder-CEO. Tobin’s transition to chairman keeps institutional knowledge inside the governance structure without creating ambiguity about who runs the business day-to-day. For a company operating mission-critical infrastructure for licensed gambling operators across four continents, that level of transition planning is exactly what customers should expect.