Frontrunner For Ofcom Top Job Is Named

Ofcom’s current chief operating officer, Ed Richards, is said to be the favourite to take the role of chief executive of the communications regulatory body, succeeding Stephen Carter.

Six candidates have been shortlisted for the post, with two other internal candidates, executives Kip Meek and Sean Williams, challenging Richards for the £400,000 a year job.

Meek, who sold his stake in the consultancy Spectrum Strategy when he joined the media regulator, is on Ofcom’s content board, while Williams is an expert in competition issues. The three other as yet unnamed candidates all come from outside Ofcom.

Carter, who is a frontrunner for the ITV chief executive’s job despite his gardening leave at Ofcom having been extended /news/2006/09sep/18/carter.cfm, said goodbye to colleagues last week at an Ofcom party.

Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk