After nearly five years as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association, Kate Edwards has announced that she is stepping down from her leadership position in the organization. 

In a blog post detailing her departure, Edwards said she originally set three goals for herself at the start of her time as executive director: reinvigorate the IGDA’s relevance, reinstate the IGDA’s key role as an advocacy organization, and reemphasize the international aspect of the IGDA’s mission.

Now that she says those goals have been accomplished to “varying degrees of success,” Edwards is stepping down from the position.

“We must all realize that in any job we do, we each have great strengths as well as vulnerabilities,” Edwards wrote. “In my term as executive director, I applied my strengths in leadership and advocacy and yet always strove to remain self-aware of limitations.” 

“I feel that my unique skill sets and approach to the role were the right ones at the right time for the IGDA, but that time has concluded. Now it will be time for someone else with a different array of skills to carry the same mission forward and they will do so in their own way.”

Following her departure, Beamdog CEO and IGDA board of directors chair Trent Oster will fill the role in a temporary capacity until the next executive director is found.