11.08.15
GDS leader revealed as three others quit
A series of further personnel changes have ensued in the Government Digital Service (GDS) after Mike Bracken stepped down from his leadership role on 3 August.
Stephen Foreshew-Cain, the chief operating officer at GDS, will succeed Bracken as the new head of the service.
Chris Ferguson, formerly the government’s Verify user identification programme director, will now step up to lead the GDS Digital group.
Felicity Singleton, one of the original authors of the Government Digital Strategy and current programme director of the GaaP ‘Enabling Strategy’, will lead the Digital Policy and Departmental Engagement, “aligning them with the needs of department plans”.
The current leader of the Digital Engagement teams, Wendy Coello, will broaden her role to include Digital Design.
However three senior GDS leaders have decided to step down, including deputy director Tom Loosemore, director of strategy Russell Davies, and director of design Ben Terrett.
Foreshew-Cain said: “All of GDS is incredibly grateful for the energy, leadership and director Tom, Ben and Russell have given us over the past 5 years and we will miss them very much.”
He added: “Alongside making sure we continue to deliver our priorities this year, our focus is on gearing up for the spending review, and getting a settlement that will enable us to drive the government’s digital agenda forward.”