UK trade association UKIE has named Daniel Wood as its new COO, moving up from his previous position of head of communications and public affairs.

Wood joined UKIE back in September 2010 - shortly after the body's rebrand from ELSPA and has led the charge on lobbying the UK Government on Games Tax Relief.

He also spearheaded UKIE's 'next gen skills campaign', which successfully pushed for computer science to be co-ordinated within the nation curriculum.

Wonderful Wood

"It's been amazing to be part of the team that has seen UKIE grow so much over the last three years and I now can't wait to get stuck in to this new role," said Wood.

"There are plenty of big challenges and amazing opportunities out there for the UK games industry and my new role will allow UKIE to help tackle them and will help us to deliver even more value and support to our members and the wider UK games sector."

Wood's new role will see him take on,– in UKIE's words - "more of a leadership role for the organisation", with the body having grown to more than 200 developer, publisher and associate members over the course of the last three years.

"Dan has been fully committed and a key part of the significant transition UKIE has been undergoing for the past 3 years since we rebranded," added CEO Dr. Jo Twist.

"His expertise, experience and enthusiasm is going to be invaluable as he takes more of a leadership role in the organisation; making sure we are representing and servicing our members and our sector from the grassroots to the highest level, to achieve the goal of making the UK the best place in the world to make and sell games."