Jo Twist Obe

Jo is CEO of Ukie, the trade body for UK games and interactive entertainment, making the UK the best place in the world to make, sell and play games. She is also Deputy Chair of the British Screen Advisory Council, London Tech Ambassador, Chair of the BAFTA Games Committee and BAFTA Trustee, an Ambassador on the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and Creative Industries Council member.

In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to the creative industries and won the MCV 30 Women in Games award for Outstanding Contribution. She won MCV Industry Hero in 2019 and Devcom Hero for Leadership in the European games industry in 2019. She is a VP for games and accessibility charity, SpecialEffect and the government’s Sector Champion for Disabilities.

Previously, Jo was Channel 4 Education Commissioning Editor where she commissioned Digital Emmy-winning Battlefront II (not the game), free to play browser and iOS games and social media projects. Jo was Multiplatform Commissioner for BBC Entertainment & Switch, BBC Three Multiplatform Channel Editor, and technology reporter for BBC News.

Her doctorate in the late 1990s was an ethnography exploring identity and concepts of difference in place based and virtual communities. In 2018 Jo was awarded an Honorary Visiting Professorship by Ravensbourne University.