CEO to Leave Ofcom
The post of chief executive of media industry regulator Ofcom is up for gabs after confirmation of the imminent departure of current incumbent Stephen Carter.
Carter, who became chief executive on 1 March 2003, will continue leading on financial and operational issues until he formally steps down as CEO of the government watchdog on 15 October. But he will no longer be involved in economic, competition and policy decisions after the end of July.
From 1 August, Ofcom chairman David Currie, whose appointment has been extended until the end of July 2009, will chair the Ofcom Board as well as the senior executive committee that guides Ofcom policy, until the post of CEO is filled.
On the departure of his colleague, David Currie said: “Stephen took on an immensely challenging task – and has performed outstandingly. His legacy is an effective and credible organisation which plays an important role in delivering greater choice, lower prices and greater innovation.”
Said Carter: “There is never a good time to leave a great job. However, Ofcom is now firmly established, broadband and digital competition are delivering real results, and the recent extension of David’s term makes for an orderly transition.”
The task of finding Carter’s successor will fall to leading headhunter Jan Hall of JCA Group. The top-level search for the new Ofcom CEO will begin on Sunday 18 June 2006, with the post advertised nationally and open to external and internal candidates. It is hoped that the appointment will be made by early autumn so that the new boss can start work on Ofcom’s plan for the 2007/8 financial year.
Any appointee must be approved by the secretary of state for trade and industry and the secretary of state for culture, media and sport. Rumoured to be a frontrunner is Carter’s current deputy Ed Richards, once a policy adviser to Downing Street. Speculation is partially based on the fact that Richards has completed the required Harvard management course.
The destination of 42-year-old Carter (a former senior executive with both NTL and J Walter Thompson) is not yet fixed because Ofcom’s chief executive is contractually forbidden from clinching a new job deal while still in the pay of Ofcom. There is also possible ‘gardening leave’ of up to 12 months, at the chairman’s discretion.
With Carter’s salary believed to be in the region of £400,000, critics have slated Ofcom for high salaries and luxurious London offices. But in general Ofcom’s performance has been praised. Most recently, though, campaigners in the drive against childhood obesity were dismayed at the regulator’s likely decision not to change the 9pm watershed for junk-food advertising to children (see Fast Foods and Fat Kids).
Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk