We are delighted to share that our new Chief Executive, Dr Jo Twist OBE, officially starts in the role today, Monday 17 July.
Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI Chief Executive said: “I can’t wait to finally take up the role and meet all the team, the BPI’s extensive membership and its industry partners, stakeholders and media.
There are so many exciting opportunities that lie ahead for British music and for the wider creative industries, as well as complex and profound challenges. I am looking forward to leading the strong team at the BPI and working closely with our members to understand how we can best navigate these in the most effective way possible. We want to support the continued growth and success of British recorded music by creating an environment at home and around the world in which it can thrive and its potential and that of its talented artists can be fully realised.
On a more personal note, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Sophie Jones for the brilliant job she has done as Interim CEO, and all the team, which will no doubt help me come into the BPI and hit the ground running.”
About Dr Jo Twist OBE
Dr Jo Twist OBE has been CEO of Ukie, the trade body for UK games and interactive entertainment since 2012. With a 25-year background across interactive entertainment, technology, education, creative media and youth culture, Jo has wide-ranging experience in high-level influencing, stakeholder management and organisational change. She sits on a range of high-level boards, committees, and advisory groups, including the Creative Industries Council, Creative UK Council, and the AHRC Creative Industries Advisory Group, representing the games and interactive entertainment sector and advocating on its behalf. She is a VP for games accessibility charity SpecialEffect, Patron of Safe in Our World mental health and games charity. She is also a King’s Appointed Trustee for Royal Historic Palaces, a Wiggin Foundation Trustee and stepped down as a BAFTA Trustee and Chair of the Games Committee in 2022. Jo is a Ravensbourne University Visiting Fellow and a Visiting Lecturer for Goldsmith’s University in the School of Computing. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to the creative industries and was awarded the MCV Women in Games award for Outstanding Contribution. She was also named as one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 Most Influential People in 2019 and entered the Computer Weekly Hall of Fame in 2021. She was awarded her Doctorate on online communities, young people and identity in 2001.
Sophie Jones, who has been Interim CEO whilst the permanent appointment has taken effect, will now focus on her role as BPI Chief Strategy Officer, working alongside Jo and the rest of the BPI Executive team: YolanDa Brown DL OBE (BPI Chair), MJ Olaore (Chief Operating Officer), and Kiaron Whitehead (General Counsel) - together with the Heads of Department and their teams.
