Tech body hunts for head
A quango charged with allocating funding for innovative technologies has advertised for a new chief.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) advertised for a chair for the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) on Tuesday. TSB oversees knowledge-sharing programmes, and runs competitions for government funding.
The current TSB chair is Graham Spittle, who will come to the end of his term on 30 November, 2011. Spittle, who also is also chief technology officer for IBM UK software group, has sat on TSB's board since 2004, and been heavily involved in the group's development, according to a government press release from 2009.
A BIS spokeswoman told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that Spittle had served two terms as chair, so the post had to be publically advertised.
A TSB spokesman said that Spittle was free to apply for the position if he wished. (Update 11/3/11: The TSB spokesman contacted me and said that he had made an error — as Spittle has served two terms, he cannot immediately reapply for the position under Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments rules).
Spittle had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.
TSB also advertised for four board members on Tuesday. Four current board memberships are due to end in June, said the BIS spokeswoman.