William Priest

William is an experienced Board Adviser and Non-Executive Director, in the public and private sectors. He is currently on the Major Programmes and 5G Boards at DCMS within central government. In addition he has invested in, and mentors a number tech startups, and is Non Exec Chair of Connexin Ltd. He recently joined the World Bank staff as a part time adviser on data and digital governmental programmes.

From February 2018, to July 2019 William was a Director in the Cabinet Office, and the first CEO of the newly formed UK Geospatial Commission, that set policy for, and drove the UK geospatial agenda.

Previously, William was Interim CEO of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and an acting Director in DCMS. He was accountable for the delivery of manifesto commitments to provide Superfast Broadband to 95% of UK premises. In addition to the launch of full fibre and 5G.

William has over 30 years executive experience in the IT and Telecoms sectors and has held senior leadership positions with a number of the leading global ICT Service Providers, including IBM, Orange, and Verizon.