Ukie announces three new team members

UK games industry trade body Ukie has announced the addition of three new team members.

Vanessa Joyce was part of TIGA’s business development team for over eight years and joins Ukie as a corporate relations and strategic partnerships consultant. Joyce will be helping some existing projects for Ukie as well as creating new partnerships with businesses outside of the games industry. "I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work on this innovative new project with Ukie," said Joyce. "We have an ambitious agenda and I feel really excited to see what can be achieved in the coming months…Watch this space".

Marie-Claire Isaaman will add to her current role as CEO of Women in Games by becoming a diversity and education research consultant with Ukie. Student membership and the Digital Schoolhouse initiative have been big parts of the UK education scene for the games industry and her appointment will help to champion diversity and draw on Isaaman’s career in higher education to gain industry support. "I look forward to contributing my experience and knowledge in these fields to a wide range of projects and in developing new bodies of research for the sector to support, grow and promote the UK games and interactive industry,” said Isaaman.

Laura Martin is the latest addition to the aforementioned Digital Schoolhouse programme, powered by PlayStation. Following an expansion last year, there are now 29 Digital Schoolhouses in the UK which are teaching creative computing. “Moving from marketing into the games industry, I’m really is excited to help bridge the gap between Education, Creative and Tech sectors so we can continue to inspire the future generation of digital creative talent and revolutionise the teaching and perception of computing in schools,” said Martin.

“I’m pleased we can bring the expertise of Vanessa and Marie-Claire along with their extensive knowledge, ideas and networks, to help scale the ambitions of Ukie on behalf of the UK games industry," added CEO of Ukie, Dr Jo Twist OBE. "Laura’s digital marketing expertise will be hugely beneficial to the Digital Schoolhouse project at this important nationwide expansion period. They are all well-respected and talented and their experience will be a critical part of the Ukie team and our mission.”