ONS Hires Former Kantar Public UK CEO

In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has appointed former Kantar Public UK CEO Grant Fitzner as Chief Economist, following the departure of Nick Vaughan who is now the Chief Economic Adviser with the Government of the States of Jersey.

The ONS is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Fitzner (pictured) joins after a year at WPP-owned Kantar Public, where he served as UK CEO and Chair of the Global Methods Council. Before this, he was Economics Director at NHS Improvement, managing a team of 35 economists and providing ad hoc advice on economic issues facing the organisation. Earlier, he held senior roles at the National Institute for Health Research, the Kier Group and the Centre for Workforce Intelligence, and worked at the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. He began his career as an economic adviser to the Australian government.

Commenting on the appointment, Deputy National Statistician for Economic Statistics Jonathan Athow said: 'Grant's vast experience across government and the private sector will be invaluable to ONS as we continue to introduce new data sources and methods to complete the transformation of the UK's economic statistics'.

Web site: www.ons.gov.uk .