CT Interactive Co-Founder Rossi McKee Nominated as Most Influential Woman in Online Gaming

A Broader Vision of Business Leadership

Business leadership is commonly measured in companies built, markets entered and financial results delivered. Its less visible dimension begins when professional influence becomes a public voice—and commercial success carries a responsibility to improve the wider environment in which an industry operates.

That broader understanding of leadership is at the heart of Rossi McKee’s nomination as Most Influential Woman in Online Gaming at Malta’s Best Businesswoman Awards 2026.

The nomination follows more than two decades of entrepreneurship, international business development and work to advance professional standards in one of the world’s most dynamic technology sectors. It also highlights the evolving role of business leaders: not merely to manage growth, but to help build trusted institutions, stronger professional communities and a more responsible industry.

Building International Businesses and Professional Communities

As co-founder of Telematic Interactive Bulgaria and CT Interactive, McKee has contributed to the development of Bulgarian companies operating across Europe, North and Latin America, and Asia. Working in markets with different regulatory frameworks, business cultures and consumer expectations has required more than technological competitiveness. It has demanded the ability to build trust, develop long-term partnerships and adapt global expertise to local realities.

Behind that international expansion lies sustained work with people and teams. For McKee, leadership is not limited to executive decision-making. It also involves bringing together professionals with different backgrounds, creating opportunities for talent to grow and turning individual expertise into a shared direction.

Her contribution extends beyond individual companies. McKee was involved in establishing and developing the Balkan Entertainment and Gaming Expo (BEGE) and the Eastern European Gaming Summit (EEGS), two professional platforms that bring together operators, technology providers, regulators, industry associations and international experts in Bulgaria.

Creating Platforms for Industry Dialogue

Over the years, BEGE and EEGS have helped position the country not only as a source of gaming technology and products, but also as a forum for professional dialogue on regulation, innovation, security, integrity and the future of the industry.

Creating spaces in which that dialogue can take place is itself an important form of leadership. It means doing more than participating in the conversation—it means helping to make the conversation possible.

A Longstanding Focus on Responsible Gaming

McKee’s public engagement with responsible gaming dates back to 2008, when the subject was still largely absent from Bulgaria’s professional and public agenda. At the time, responsible gaming had yet to become an established part of corporate strategies and industry policies.

Raising questions about risk, player protection and the responsibilities of operators required a willingness to begin a necessary, and not always comfortable, discussion.

For McKee, responsible gaming has never been an additional communications message. It is a prerequisite for the industry’s sustainable development. That position continues through the Responsible Gaming Foundation, which she co-founded.

Promoting Sustainable Industry Development

The Foundation’s work focuses on the prevention of harmful behaviour, informed decision-making, early identification of risk and stronger cooperation among businesses, public institutions, medical professionals, researchers and civil society.

At its core is the principle that responsibility cannot rest solely with the individual player. It must be shared by everyone involved in designing, regulating and operating the gaming environment.

This is where the nomination acquires wider public relevance. Online gaming is among the fastest-moving technology industries, but its growth raises important questions about transparency, consumer protection, vulnerable groups and the boundary between commercial interests and the public good.

Connecting Business, Technology and Public Responsibility

Influence in such a sector cannot be assessed solely through revenue, market reach or the number of international partnerships. It is also demonstrated by a willingness to address difficult issues, support practical solutions and defend professional principles—even when doing so requires more from the industry than formal compliance alone.

Throughout her career, McKee has worked with professional associations, international organisations and multidisciplinary expert communities. As a speaker and participant at global industry forums, she has addressed marketing, business development, artificial intelligence and technological innovation, while consistently connecting those subjects with ethics, player protection and public trust.

Engagement Beyond the Gaming Industry

Her public engagement also reaches beyond gaming.

Through the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation, McKee supports Bulgarian sport, athletes and opportunities for children and young people. In this context, sport is not viewed only through competition and medals, but as a means of improving health, confidence, discipline and social inclusion.

Through the Probuda initiative, she works on education, personal development and the civic participation of young people. As chair of the Bulgarians Abroad 681 Association, she supports stronger links between Bulgaria and Bulgarian communities around the world, with a focus on bringing their knowledge, experience and potential closer to the country.

From Individual Initiatives to Long-Term Impact

Gaming, sport, education and diaspora engagement may appear to belong to separate worlds. What connects them is the belief that meaningful change requires more than public statements or one-off campaigns. It depends on organisations, teams and long-term mechanisms capable of turning intention into sustained action.

This combination defines McKee’s leadership profile: an entrepreneur with extensive international experience and a public voice willing to raise important questions, bring different communities together and create conditions in which ideas can develop into practical initiatives.

Malta’s Best Businesswoman Awards 2026

Her nomination at Malta’s Best Businesswoman Awards 2026 therefore reflects more than individual professional achievement. It brings attention to a model of leadership in which business does not operate separately from society, but accepts responsibility for the standards, values and environment it helps create.

The winners will be announced on 21 October at an official ceremony at The Xara Lodge in Malta.

Yet influential individuals rarely leave behind only a business record or a collection of awards. They can change the atmosphere around an issue—encouraging people to notice it, professional communities to debate it, and institutions and businesses to act. True influence can often be recognised in that first, almost imperceptible movement of change—and in the direction it continues to carry others.