Member Article

New director to help deepen Opencast's relationship with Government

A new appointment at independent technology consultancy Opencast will strengthen and widen the company’s working relationships with government departments.

Henry Rex, Opencast’s new government relations director, has joined the rapidly growing company from global tech giant Microsoft, where he was central government industry advisor.

“My new role at Opencast is to build out our reputations and relationships all across government, ensuring more government departments understand our capabilities and our narrative. We already have a great reputation within the departments we work with – including HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – but there is so much more we could do with other departments,” explains Henry.

“I’ll be working to deepen our relationships across Whitehall, helping departments understand how Opencast can help them harness technology to tackle their most pressing challenges.

Henry already has a wide experience in the ‘govtech’ sector, having spent several years in various government relationship roles during which he has built deep understanding and relations across government.

Henry graduated from St Andrew’s University with a classics degree before returning to his native Cambridge where he was a policy and communications adviser at Cambridge University’s Centre for Science and Policy. He worked there for more than three years, ensuring government had access to the university’s academic expertise and evidence to inform policymaking.

He moved on to techUK, the technology sector’s trade association, which brings together people, companies and organisations to champion digital technology. Henry was at techUK for six years, leaving the organisation as associate director, government and health.

“I enjoyed my time at techUK where my role was to build relationships with government departments so they could engage more strategically with the sector,” Henry explains. Henry is now a member of techUK’s Central government Council, elected to represent the tech supplier community to government.

From techUK, Henry moved to Microsoft where he continued working in a government relations role in the Central Government team. His role there included working with the Cabinet Office and across departments on tech strategy and policy, helping them understand how to work with Microsoft to transform public services.

“I’m hugely impressed with Opencast’s phenomenal growth so far, and the quality of people at the company. I feel privileged to have joined the company at this stage – there’s no doubt there is so much more to come from the company,” Henry adds.

“One thing in particular the company should be proud of, is the fact that despite the rate of growth, Opencast has maintained its ethos and mission. Opencast is so successful, but wrapped around this is their priority to do good – to help improve and transform lives through technology.”

Welcoming Henry to Opencast, corporate development director Harry Armstrong said: “Our work with government is already hugely important, but we know there is potential to do so much more with more government departments. Henry’s new role will help us understand Whitehall better, but also help government departments understand how we can transform their digital services to better serve UK citizens.”

Opencast is an independent and privately owned full-service UK technology consultancy specialising in designing, building and running user-centred digital and technology solutions.

Bringing together expertise in digital human experience, technology optimised operations, innovation and emerging technology and data driven insights, Opencast works with UK public sector bodies, healthcare organisations and businesses to develop services that include support for critical national infrastructure and help for millions of citizens.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hoults Yard .