William Priest Appointed by Council
Will undertake the responsibilities of members of governing bodies as set out in the CUC Guide for Members of Higher Education Governing Bodies in the UK.
Career
William has more than 40 years’ international leadership experience across engineering, management consultancy, telecommunications, digital infrastructure and the public sector. He began his career working on major overseas development projects in Africa and Pakistan before moving into senior roles with global consulting firms including PwC, PA Consulting and KPMG. He subsequently held executive leadership positions at IBM, Orange and Verizon, leading global teams in strategy, innovation and the development of emerging technologies including cloud, mobility and cybersecurity.
Since 2015, William has held a range of senior UK Government leadership roles, including Crown Representative, Chief Executive of Building Digital UK (BDUK) and Chief Executive of the UK Geospatial Commission.
William currently serves in a number of advisory and board roles across government, including with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Independent Football Regulator and the Cabinet Office. Alongside his public sector work, William is an experienced non-executive director and entrepreneur, having chaired technology company Connexin since 2016 and served on the boards of organisations including Digital Catapult and Bath-based AI company Brevio, a University of Bath spin-out.
William also sits on the following committees:
Register of Interests
Read the 2026/27 Register of Interests for William Priest and other members of Council