The BGI expands its advisory board

The British Games Institute (BGI) has announced the expansion of its advisory board and its intention to reach a 50/50 gender balance and “an appropriate” BAME representation by summer 2018.

Ultimatum Games’s director Shahid Ahmad, Triangular Pixels’ creative director Katie Goode, Women in Games’ CEO Marie-Claire Isaaman, Digital Jam’s CEO and founder Tanya Laird, Rockstar North’s engine programmer Timea Tabori and The Yogscast’s CEO Mark Turpin are among the newly appointed board members.

The board was formerly a steering group including chair Ian Livingstone, Rebellion’s CEO Jason Kingsley, British Esports Association’s chair Andy Payne, TIGA’s CEO Richard Wilson, former Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Games Chris White and Rebellion’s Philip Oliver.

The BGI also called for people in the industry to join the agency’s steering groups. Dedicated to finance, culture, skills and diversity, these programmes will open up to new members this summer. If you’re interested, you can apply on the BGI’s website. Meeting several times a year, the steering groups’ members “will discuss, debate, approve, monitor and report on the BGI’s programmes on behalf of the sector.”

The BGI’s CEO Rick Gibson commented: “By appointing such a wide range of diverse stakeholders from right across the sector to our board and by announcing our goal of achieving an even gender split and good BAME representation in the near future, we’re making a strong statement about the BGI as an organisation, but also our vision for a more diverse sector in future.

“We are building diversity and inclusion into everything we do and our advisory board will be ensuring that diversity and inclusion remain a focus for all our programmes. With a range of new programmes coming, we need the sector’s help to ensure that what the BGI delivers is fit for purpose for our sector, so we are inviting people to register their interest in joining steering groups to govern the BGI’s programmes.”

Here’s the full list of the BGI’s advisory board, with Ian Livingstone as chair:

• Shahid Ahmad (Ultimatum Games)
• Samira Ahmed (BBC)
• Katherine Bidwell (State of Play)
• Carl Cavers (Sumo Digital PLC)
• Marcia Deakin (NextGen Skills Academy)
• Iain Dodgeon (Wellcome Trust)
• Paul Gardner (Wiggin)
• Katie Goode (Triangular Pixels)
• Ian Hetherington (Midoki/Wrld)
• Marie-Claire Isaaman (Women in Games)
• Tanya Laird (Digital Jam)
• Andy Payne (Appynation / Just Flight / British eSports Association)
• Rebellion (Jason/Chris Kingsley/Philip Oliver)
• Timea Tabori (Rockstar North)
• Paul Kilduff-Taylor (Mode7)
• Mark Turpin (Yogscast)
• Chris White (former Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Games)
• Richard Wilson (TIGA)