Faculty launches new government practice led by Tom Nixon

Faculty today announces that it has appointed the Department for Education’s former Head of Strategy Tom Nixon to establish and head up its new government practice. His appointment deepens the company’s public sector work and will help it to bring the benefits of artificial intelligence to more areas of society.

Tom has been a senior civil servant and brings with him 10 years experience in government. Most recently Head of Strategy at The Department for Education, he helped to shape high profile policy reforms including the new T levels and the Apprenticeships Levy. Prior to this he was a Senior Adviser on Economic Affairs to David Cameron in 10 Downing Street, helping to drive through improvements to broadband and mobile coverage, and also played a key role in redesigning the NHS budget as part of recent NHS reforms.

At Faculty he will be responsible for building out and leading the company’s work for government and the wider public sector and helping to ensure it is represented in wider industry discussions with government on the development of the AI sector.

Tom Nixon comments:

“I’m delighted to join the Faculty team, which is uniquely positioned to help realise the value of AI for citizens and taxpayers through a combination of the right strategy, software and skills. The team already has strong experience delivering value for government departments with AI, across healthcare, policing and counter-terrorism to name a few. 

“What’s most special though is the team’s commitment to ensuring the technology is deployed ethically and safely which will be so critical for its widespread adoption into the services we come into contact with every day.”

Nixon’s appointment builds on Faculty’s existing public sector experience. This includes developing a classifier that can detect and prevent the spread of terrorist propaganda content online for The Home Office, and leading the Cross-Government AI Adoption Review on where to invest and how to implement the technology across UK public services.

John Gibson, Director of Data Science Services at Faculty said:

“We are extremely proud of our public sector work to date. This has ranged from helping government departments design and execute their AI strategies, through to building software to detect terrorist propaganda or predict delays on the train network. We are delighted to have Tom join us.  He brings with him the thoughtful leadership and true commitment to public service that will grow our impact in years to come.”