Thalia Baldwin has been appointed as the new director of the Geospatial Commission.
She will take over from William Priest on 1 August, stepping up from the role of deputy director for policy at the organisation, a position she held from its creation early last year.
Baldwin previously spent five years at HM Treasury as head of digital policy, where she was responsible for the approach to public spending on digital, and before that had two stints at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Sir Andrew Dilnot, chair of the Geospatial Commission, said: “The intelligent use of data presents a huge opportunity to enrich our society, strengthen our economy and tackle the issues of the future.
“The potential of new technology in the geospatial domain is huge, and questions about how best to facilitate the use of data are important and fascinating. I look forward to working with Thalia to address these questions.”
Commenting on Priest’s departure, head of the Civil Service John Manzoni said: “Under William’s leadership the commission has established a strong team of functional expertise, delivered the first outputs to unlock an estimated £11bn of economic value and begun to assemble the evidence it needs to develop a long term geospatial strategy for the UK.”
The Geospatial Commission is a body within the Cabinet Office responsible for strategy and the promotion of the best use of the relevant data.
