One of the most powerful and prominent women in gaming is leaving her leadership post at one of the biggest publishers in gaming. Jade Raymond announced that she is leaving her post as Managing Director of Ubisoft’s Toronto studio in order to pursue other future opportunities in the industry.

Raymond has been the Managing Director of Ubisoft Toronto since the studio opened in 2009 but has also been with Ubisoft since 2004. She has served as a producer on the first game in Ubisoft’s flagship Assassin’s Creed franchise. Following that, she was the executive producer on Assassin’s Creed 2, Watch Dogs and The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. With Ubi Toronto, she also served as executive producer on the studio’s biggest project to date, Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

An industry veteran, Raymond has been in gaming since graduating university in 1998. Between then and joining Ubisoft in 2004, she worked as a programmer on Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit for Sony Online Entertainment, as a producer on The Sims Online for Maxis / EA and a producer for virtual world There.

For her part, Raymond said the following in the official Ubisoft release:

“I’ve spent 10 extraordinary years at Ubisoft, and I am proud to have been part of many of the best teams in the industry making truly remarkable games,” said Raymond. “This is one of the hardest decisions of my career, but the Toronto studio is strong and on a solid path. I’m confident that now is a good time for me to transition leadership of the studio to Alex and to pursue my other ambitions and new opportunities. Stay tuned for more on what’s next for me, but for now, I’d like to thank Ubisoft for its partnership through the years, and I wish them the very best in all their next endeavors.”

On Twitter, Raymond referred to her as an industry lifer which is great news. Raymond has a great track record as a producer so hopefully she doesn’t spend too long between projects. And with all the controversies over #GamerGate, gaming could use all the prominent female developers and role models it can get. Though she doesn’t define herself by her gender, Raymond is among the best the industry has to offer.

Source: Ars Technica