Matthew Postgate (born 10 November 1974) [1] is a British digital technology strategist. He was the BBC's Chief Technical Officer from 2016 to 2020. [2]
He was born in Hampshire. He is the son of Ian (born 1946) and Rosemary Postgate, who married in Horsham in 1968. His grandparents were Robert Postgate and Vera Barron, who married in 1934. He grew up in Cambridge. He has an older sister. He studied Politics at the University of Bristol from 1994 to 1997.
He graduated from university when the dot-com bubble was precariously developing, and he worked for a dot-com bubble company from 1999 to 2001.
He joined the BBC in 2003. From 2007 to 2008 he was controller of BBC mobile. He became the Controller of BBC Research & Development, which employed around 150 people. He became Chief Technology Officer on 28 July 2014. The BBC's much-heralded Digital Media Initiative was scrapped, which had been planned to start by 2011.
He became Chief Technology and Product Officer in April 2016, responsible for the BBC Design & Engineering division. [3] He announced his resignation internally from the BBC on 30 July 2020, his last day being 1 September 2020[ citation needed ]. His remuneration was £317,000. [2]
His past and present directorships include;
He lives in Maida Vale.
The Ministry of Defence is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for implementing the defence policy set by the government and serves as the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
A chief technology officer (CTO) is an officer tasked with managing technical operations of an organization. They oversee and supervise research and development and serve as a technical advisor to a higher executive such as a chief executive officer.
The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services.
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation, under the Chief Executive Officer of Defence Equipment and Support.
Julie Moore has been Chair of Health Data Research UK (HDRUK) since September 2023.
Vice Admiral Sir Robert Walmsley, was a senior officer of the Royal Navy who served as Chief of Defence Procurement at the UK Ministry of Defence from 1996 to 2003.
Suranga Chandratillake is the founder and former CEO of blinkx, the San Francisco-based video search and advertising company which later became RhythmOne. After eight years as CEO and taking blinkx public, Chandratillake became the company's Chief Strategy Officer and, in 2014, returned to Europe to join the UK-based venture capital firm, Balderton Capital, as a General Partner.
Vice Admiral Sir Alan Michael Massey, KCB, CBE is a former senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as the Second Sea Lord.
Sir John Menzies Low, CBE, CEng, FRSA is an international civil society leader, with a commercial background in science, technology and engineering. From 2007 to 2020, he was group chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). He was previously the chief executive of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). Since 2022, John has been Chair of JTL, the leading training provider for the Building Services Engineering sector.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Gary George Dalton, is a retired senior officer of the Royal Air Force and former Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey.
Air Marshal Sir Timothy Michael Anderson, is a retired senior Royal Air Force (RAF) officer. He served as the inaugural Director-General of the UK Military Aviation Authority (MAA) from 2010 to 2013. The MAA was established in response to the Haddon-Cave Review into the issues surrounding the loss of an RAF Nimrod over Afghanistan in September 2006. Earlier in his career, Anderson was a fast jet pilot, primarily flying the Tornado ground attack aircraft, and as Officer Commanding No. 14 Squadron led the United Kingdom's Tornado commitment to Operation Allied Force, the NATO air campaign over Kosovo in 1999, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He is currently Chairman of the UK Airspace Change Organising Group Steering Committee, overseeing a national infrastructure programme on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport and the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
Catherine Brighid Livingstone is an Australian businesswoman who has held positions in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSIRO, Macquarie Bank, and Telstra.
BBC Design & Engineering was an operational business division of the BBC, which combined the BBC Digital, BBC Engineering and BBC Worldwide Technology divisions. It is responsible for all of the BBC's digital media services including BBC Online, BBC Red Button and BBC iPlayer, BBC mobile apps, internal technology services, technology procurement and BBC Research & Development. It was headed by the Chief Technology and Product Officer; Matthew Postgate.
Anne Christine Bulford is a British media executive who was the most recent Deputy Director-General of the BBC, and the first woman to hold the position.
Paul Moraviec is a British businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Convatec, an international medical products and technologies company, listed on the FTSE 100 Index, from April 2015 to October 2018.
Justin Forsyth is a British non-profit executive who served as the deputy executive director of UNICEF from 2016 to 2018. Prior to this appointment on 15 January 2016 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Forsyth was the chief executive officer of Save the Children.
Cindy Helen Rose is an American-British businesswoman, and the President of Microsoft Western Europe.
The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Capability) is a senior Royal Navy appointment responsible he is accountable for planning and delivering the larger part of future maritime effectiveness; he does this on behalf of the First Sea Lord.
Andrew John Griffith is a British Conservative politician and former senior media executive who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arundel and South Downs since 2019.
Sir Rohinton Minoo "Ron" Kalifa is a British entrepreneur. He is the chairman of Network International, and formerly served as the chief executive officer of Worldpay Group from 2002 to 2013, continuing as vice chairman. Kalifa was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year Honours for his work in financial services and technology. He was later knighted in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours.