Lisa Stevens was the first full-time employee in the early days of Wizards of the Coast.[1]
Before joining Wizards of the Coast, Stevens worked at White Wolf, and was involved in creating the tabletop RPG Vampire: The Masquerade. She joined WotC in 1991 and was vice president Marketing for the company when they published Magic: The Gathering in 1993.[2] She convinced editors at games magazines to preview the product, and distributors to sell it. She announced Magic's arrival over the Internet and included in every game a membership application form to Duelists Convocation. Having dabbled at art direction herself before, she especially hired Jesper Myrfors for Magic: The Gathering.[3]
Later becoming VP-new business and licensing, she launched the Duelist and laid the groundwork for the book series of HarperPrism, the comics of Acclaim, and the Micrporose computer game. After Wizards purchased TSR, Stevens became the Brand Manager for the D&D, Greyhawk and the Star Wars role-playing game.
Stevens left Wizards of the Coast in 2000. She currently is the CEO of Paizo Publishing. When Wizards' magazine department was cut in 2002, Dragon, Dungeon, and Star Wars Insider magazines were all licensed to her company.