Building Digital UK Agency to Change CEO in 2026 as Dean Creamer Exits
The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) organisation, which has responsibility for delivering gigabit broadband and better mobile connectivity across the nation (e.g. the £5bn Project Gigabit and Shared Rural Network schemes), have confirmed that existing boss (CEO) Dean Creamer is to be moved into a new role – his last day will be 9th January 2026.
The move comes after the government announced (here) that BDUK, which under the previous government became an executive agency in April 2022 (here), had been integrated back into the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT); this followed an earlier review of all Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) – also known as quangos.
Dean Creamer (CBE) officially became the CEO of BDUK back in September 2023. But it’s stated that he’s now been asked, and agreed, to help support the reset of HS2 (High-Speed 2) as Director General of the Major Rail Projects Group in the Department for Transport (DfT). A formal recruitment process is currently underway to find his replacement.
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In the meantime, Ben Whitestone, BDUK’s Interim Chief Operating Officer (COO), has agreed to be Interim CEO at BDUK until a new CEO is found. In a brief statement to suppliers, BDUK said they were “sorry to see Dean go“, but added that he “leaves the directorate and its programmes in an excellent position, and we hope you’ll join BDUK in wishing Dean every success in his new role. Please be reassured that BDUK’s commitment to the programmes and the mission remains as strong as ever“.
The latest update also mentions that Shropshire (England) has been removed from eligibility under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS), which follows Openreach taking on part of the county within its Type C contracts (here).
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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