Ian Livingstone is one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry.

He co-founded iconic games company Games Workshop in 1975, launching Dungeons & Dragons in Europe and the Games Workshop retail chain.

He co-authored The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982, and went on to write 15 books in the Fighting Fantasy series which has sold over 17 million copies in 31 languages.

In 1995 he co-led the merger that created Eidos plc where he served as Executive Chairman until 2002. At Eidos he launched several global video games franchises including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

He co-authored the Next Gen review published by NESTA in 2011, recommending changes in ICT education policy, spearheading a campaign that led to the introduction of the new Computing curriculum in Schools.

In the Wired 100 list for 2012, he was ranked the 16th most influential person in the UK’s digital economy.

In 2014 he was appointed the Government’s Creative Industries Champion.

His roles are: Chairman of Playdemic Ltd, Chairman of Midoki Ltd, Chairman of PlayMob Ltd, Chair Next Gen Skills Committee, Vice Chair of UKIE, Non-executive director of Creative England, Non-executive director of Young Rewired State, Member of the Creative Industries Council, GamesAid Trustee and an Adviser to the British Council.

He has received a BAFTA Special Award, a British Inspiration Award, the Develop Legend Award, an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by Bournemouth University, an Honorary Doctorate of Technology by Abertay University, Dundee, and an Honorary Doctorate of Technology by University of Greenwich. He was appointed OBE in 2006 and appointed CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours list.

Twitter @ian_livingstone