Tony Mather CIO50 2008

Tony Mather joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) as CIO in May last year as a board member reporting directly to the department's permanent under secretary (equivalent to a private sector CEO).

Brought into the civil service as part of the government's drive to tap private sector high flying talent, it is a bold move for Mather who has no previous public sector experience.

In addition to managing a tech budget in excess of £100m per year and major IT-related programmes such as biometric visas, shared services and the Firecrest project to upgrade the FCO's entire IT infrastructure, Mather runs the information management group and is responsible for the administration of the Freedom of Information Act for the FCO.

He also sits on the UK government's CIO Council.

Mather joined the FCO from industrial gases company BOC, where he was IM services director for four years.