Ben Whitestone
Biography
Ben joined BDUK in October 2021 as Deputy Director for Risk, Compliance and Governance.
In January 2026, Ben became Interim CEO for Building Digital UK, including its two GMPP Programmes: Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network. In addition, Ben is also Director for Corporate Operations.
Ben has been a civil servant since 2004 with a varied career across different departments, ranging from programme and project management to a specialism in risk management, governance, planning, and internal control.
Most recently Ben has worked in senior positions for a number of arms length bodies including the Office for Students and Office for National Statistics. Through these positions Ben has been involved in establishing and evolving arms length bodies to ensure resilience and successful delivery.
Ben also has experience working with the UN and international partners to provide expertise and capacity building on behalf of the UK Government.
Chief Executive Officer
The Chief Executive Officer of BDUK leads the delivery of digital infrastructure investment for DSIT.
Director for Corporate Operations
The Director for Corporate Operations is responsible for designing and implementing BDUK’s governance and assurance frameworks - as well as supporting BDUKs HR processes, internal communications and Transformation and Change teams.
This role includes: governance, assurance, subsidy control, risk management, internal audit, data protection, HR, transformation and change, and internal communications.