Lisa Stevens contacted us with her side of the story. There has been some questions as to her being laid off or not, especially with the way JD Wiker's email (printed here) was worded. Turns out everyone's right. Well, except for those who decided to lay off Ms Stevens. :(

Hi there!

I have been following your news stories on the layoffs at Wizards of the Coast with great interest. My name is Lisa Stevens, and until last Thursday, I was the Brand Manager for everything having to do with Star Wars at Wizards of the Coast. On that day, I was laid off amongst the 120 or so other Wizards employees. I was the first employee hired at Wizards and was part of the team that made the company what it is today. I have been actively involved in all aspects of running the Star Wars business up until last Thursday.

The reason I am emailing you is JD Wiker's email regarding the Star Wars RPG team. Technically, he is correct. The whole team is still there (since I wasn't a member of the Star Wars RPG team, being instead the manager of everything related to Star Wars). Actually, my entire Star Wars team is still at Wizards to the best of my knowledge, with me being the sole casualty. Why would Wizards lay off their top Star Wars manager you ask? Well, the top management at Wizards doesn't feel that the Star Wars brand needs an overall manager. I, of course, disagree with their assessment, but it is their company to do with as they wish. I feel that Star Wars is a very important brand, and that there needs to be a vision for how Wizards' Star Wars products and services interrelate to meet the needs of the Star Wars fans. Being a huge fan myself (I have a huge collection of Star Wars collectibles) and also having an MBA and years of experience, I feel that I was in a perfect position to positively affect the Star Wars products put out by Wizards...to make sure that they were ones that Star Wars fans could be proud of. I was very excited about the possibilities that were opened with the acquisition of the Star Wars Fan Club. In short, the future was bright.

To close, it was with great sorrow that I left the Star Wars team at Wizards. They are a great group of people and I know that they will give their all to keep the Star Wars products running smoothly. I wish them the best of luck.

What will I be doing in the future? Well, for now I am going to take some time off and relax. After that, who knows? I appreciate all the support that the various fan sites such TheForce.Net have provided to me while I was at Wizards and just wanted to set the record totally straight.

May the Force be with you.

-Lisa Stevens
Ex-Star Wars Brand Manager
Wizards of the Coast Inc.

Lisa, we're all very sorry to see you go. We're sure that with the achievements listed in your resume, you won't have any problems landing on your feet, but SW Fandom will not be quite the same without you at Wizards...