The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has appointed four new non-executive directors to its “refreshed” board.
Dominic Field, who has sat on the board since April, has been appointed lead non-executive director. Field, a former managing director and partner at the Boston Consulting Group, replaces former lead NED Shonnel Malani, managing partner of Advent International, who has stepped down from the board.
Among the new appointees is Paul Willmott, chair of the Central Digital and Data Office, which moved from the Cabinet Office to DSIT in July. Willmott, who is chief digital adviser to the LEGO Brand Group, is also chair of DSIT’s digital advisory board and co-chair of its digital and data steering group.
Also joining the board is Adam Tickell, vice-chancellor of the University of Birmingham; Nicola Hodson, chief executive of IBM UK and Ireland, and former board member at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety; and Helen Milner, group chief executive of the Good Things Foundation, a charity that aims to make the benefits of digital technology more accessible.
The appointments bring a “broadened range of experience in support of the department’s wider work on digital inclusion, fuelling growth with innovation and more”, DSIT said in an announcement.
Field added: “I am excited that we have assembled such an exceptionally talented group of NEDs who will bring deep and relevant experience. I look forward to working with them to support the civil service and ministerial team in delivering DSIT’s key priorities for the nations.”
The new board members replace three non-executive directors whose appointments have “been concluded”, DSIT said. They are: former lead NED Malani; Melissa Di Donato, former chief executive of German multinational open-source software company SUSE; and Saul Klein, co-founder and managing partner of London-based venture capital firm Phoenix Court. All three were appointed to the department’s inaugural board in April 2023.
The "refreshed" board also includes existing board members Jason Chin, a chemistry professor and programme leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology; and Liz Cohen, whose varied career includes several consultancy roles and a stint as chief operating officer at corporate expense management software company Bizpay.
The new NEDs have been appointed on a temporary basis of up to nine months, to help DSIT deliver its new objectives following the change in government in July. A competitive recruitment process to fill the roles in the longer term will be launched "shortly", the department said.
An advert for non-exec directors posted last month said board members would be appointed for three-year terms and would earn between £15,000 and £20,000 for the 15-day-a-year role.
However, the same advert featured an introduction from former science secretary Michelle Donelan, which said the next cohort of NEDs would help “secure the UK’s position as a science and tech superpower by 2030”.
In the foreword, Donelan said the department's inaugural board had helped to start “to embed DSIT into the public's consciousness as an inspiring, forward-looking department, squarely focused on delivery”.
“Their views have informed our plans for wireless, AI, semiconductor and quantum technologies, for example. And they have overseen our investment of hundreds of millions of pounds in R&D, in innovation accelerators and in our life sciences,” she wrote.
Announcing today's appointments, technology secretary Peter Kyle said: "As we transform DSIT to unleash the power of technology to improve lives for people across the country, working in lockstep with business, academics and charities will be essential.
"Bringing Adam, Nicola, Helen and Paul on to the board brings in some of Britain’s brightest and most passionate minds to help us drive these ambitions forward, so we can put technology to work for people nationwide."