Liam Maxwell (born June 1968) is a British technology executive and public servant. From April 2016 to August 2018, he was the UK's first National Technology Adviser, having been the UK's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), as part of the

Government Digital Service The Government Digital Service is a unit of the Government of the United Kingdom's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, tasked with transforming the provision of online public services. It was formed in April 2011 by David Camero ...

Government career

Maxwell was a technology policy adviser to the Conservative Party in the run-up to the general election in 2010, helping write their manifesto, and following the election he started advising the new coalition administration. In June 2011, Maxwell formally joined the government, taking an apolitical civil service position as Director of "ICT futures" in the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

under John Suffolk as Government Chief Information Officer and

Ian Watmore Ian Charles Watmore (born 5 July 1958) is a British management consultant and former senior civil servant under three prime ministers, who served from October 2016 to September 2021 as the First Civil Service Commissioner. Early life and busi ...

as Chief Operating Officer of the Efficiency and Reform Group. In 2012, Maxwell was appointed the new deputy government CIO, following Bill McCluggage's departure, and is now working under Andy Nelson. In December 2012, the remaining IT functions in the ERG were merged with the parallel

. As part of this, Maxwell became the UK Government's Chief Technology Officer; the role of Government Chief Information Officer was not transferred. During his time in GDS, Maxwell established the

Digital 5 The Digital Nations or DN (previously the Digital 5, Digital 7 and Digital 9) is a collaborative network of the world's leading digital governments with a common goal of harnessing digital technology to improve citizens' lives. Members share w ...

group of the world's five leading digitally advanced governments, reformed technology spending controls under the "Technology Code of Practic

and led the Public Services Network, Crown Hosting Service and Digital Marketplace programmes. In 2014, he committed to staying in the role of CTO until at least 2018. In April 2016, it was announced by the Cabinet Office that Maxwell would take on the new position of National Technology Adviser to

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 20 ...

Minister for the Cabinet Office The Minister for the Cabinet Office is a position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The minister is responsible for the work and policies of the Cabinet Office, and since February 2022, reports to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanc ...

and

Ed Vaizey Edward Henry Butler Vaizey, Baron Vaizey of Didcot, (born 5 June 1968) is a British politician, media columnist, political commentator and barrister who was Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries from 2010 to 2016. A mem ...

, Minister for the Digital Economy at the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...

. He left the post in August 2018 to take a job at

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

Maxwell currently serves as the head of government transformation at

Amazon Web Services Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Amazon that provides Software as a service, on-demand cloud computing computing platform, platforms and Application programming interface, APIs to individuals, companies, and gover ...

, where he has, among other projects, been working with the Ukrainian government to help them download and move data out of the country.

References

British chief technology officers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1968 births {{UK-gov-stub