James Oakes — Chief International Officer at Omaze

James initially became an Omaze investor and board observer in 2017 before joining the executive team and heading up Omaze’s international business out of London in 2019. He leads the team that launched the Omaze Million Pound House Draw in the UK in April 2020 that has gone on to become Omaze’s largest and fastest growing business, set to generate over £20m for society in 2022. He plays a key role in determining Omaze’s strategy and, alongside further scaling of the UK, is spearheading the company’s international development.

Prior to Omaze James started life as an economist before setting up and running a proprietary trading fund focussed on statistical arbitrage. In 2008 he co founded Roboreus, a lottery systems startup and as CEO led the company to an acquisition by ZEAL Group in 2016. Staying on at ZEAL, amongst other things James formed ZEAL Ventures, ran financial hedging, and as head of corporate development led the 2019 public market acquisition of Germany’s largest lottery brokerage Lotto24.

James holds a BA in Economics with Econometrics from Kent and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. He lives in Richmond with his wife and two boys.