Biographies

Director of Policy and Strategy

John Tate is the BBC's Director of Policy and Strategy.

His team's policy work supports the Corporation's main regulatory relationships including with the BBC Trust and Ofcom, while its strategy work generates analysis and insight on the entire range of BBC activities for use centrally and within the BBC divisions.  

Before joining the BBC, John was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and subsequently PA Consulting Group, where he specialised in strategy development and implementation.

John joined McKinsey from his first job after leaving university, as Head of Research for the European Foundation – remaining on its board until he joined the BBC.

Between PA and McKinsey, John worked in, and went on to run, the Opposition Policy Unit, working with the Shadow Cabinet and writing various published reports including The Children Left Behind, No Child Left Behind, Unskilled Labour and The Drivers Of Regulation series.

John also edited the 2005 book What's Right Now, with contributions from leading MPs and commentators.

John has a strong interest in education, being chairman of an educational charity for the deaf and a school governor.

He also helped establish the Teach First teacher recruitment scheme whilst at McKinsey, remaining on the organisation's Advisory Board and editing its 2007 publication, Lessons From The Front.

John took a first class degree from Essex University and an MPhil from The Queen's College, Oxford. He is married with two children and lives in London.