Lisa Stevens

Lisa Stevens is an American editor, CEO and founder of Paizo Publishing, and COO of Goblinworks, Inc. She began her career in games in the 1980s, working with Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen at Lion Rampant to help produce the tabletop roleplaying game Ars Magica. Stevens later worked at White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast before founding Paizo. She announced her gradual retirement from her role in June 2020.

Education Stevens attended Saint Olaf College, where she met game designers Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen. Stevens received an MBA from the University of Washington. After graduating from St. Olaf, she continued to spend time on campus running Dungeons & Dragons games.

Career Stevens joined Tweet and Rein-Hagen in the game company Lion Rampant, which published Ars Magica in 1987. and she launched The Duelist magazine to support it. With her experience on Ars Magica while at Lion Rampant, she advised Wizards to acquire the game, which they did in January 1994. and was the brand manager for Wizards' Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

Stevens left Wizards of the Coast in 2000, and made it known that she wanted to acquire the rights to their magazines if they became available.

On June 15, 2020, Paizo announced that Stevens was going to step down from daily operations in preparation for her retirement.