Leadership team

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is an Executive Agency of the UK Statistics Authority. It is led by the National Statistician and reports into the UK Statistics Authority Board.

Sir Ian Diamond – National Statistician and Permanent Secretary

Sir Ian is the UK's National Statistician, Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, Head of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and Head of the Government Analytical Function (AF). He provides overall leadership for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the statistics profession and analytical function across government.  Sir Ian is the government's chief adviser on statistics.

Professor Sir Ian David Diamond, FBA, FRSE, FAcSS is the former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen. His previous roles include Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council, Chair of the Research Councils UK Executive Group, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton and Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee.

Economic, Social and Environmental Statistics

Mike Keoghan – Deputy National Statistician and Director General for Economic, Social and Environmental Statistics

Mike leads on the development, production, and communication of key statistics on the UK’s economy and society. He oversees the creation of innovative radical approaches to measure the economy, environment, and society as we seek to produce relevant and trusted statistics across the UK that support the organisation in delivery on the UKSA strategy.

Mike was previously at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) where he served as Acting Director General for Business Sectors and the Chief Economic Advisor.

Grant Fitzner – Chief Economist and Director, Macroeconomic Statistics and Analysis

Grant oversees the production and analysis of the ONS economic statistics, including prices, public sector finance, productivity, trade and the balance of payments. He also advises the National Statistician on economic matters.

Grant is an experienced economist who has held a range of public and private sector roles, including economic adviser to the Australian Government and director of analysis and chief economist at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Jason Zawadzki – Director of Economic Statistics Change

Jason leads the Economic Statistics Change directorate, seeking to achieve our vision of changing the way in which economic, social and environmental statistics are produced. Jason is also the Senior Responsible Owner for the Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive Economic Statistics (ARIES) Programme.

Before this, Jason was Deputy Director for Social Survey Transformation, where he led Labour Market Survey (LMS) transformation. Prior to this, he was responsible for delivering the successful Census 2021 Collection Operation.

Liz McKeown – Director of Economic Statistics Production and Analysis

Liz leads the production and analysis of the UK’s official estimates of the Labour Market and the country’s National and Regional Accounts, She is also responsible for the range of monthly output economic indicators and annual surveys produced and conducted by the ONS.

Liz was Director of Public Policy Analysis. Before joining the ONS, Liz held senior roles in government, including Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office.

Jennet Woolford – Director of Public Policy Analysis

Jen leads the development of public policy statistics and analysis, covering population, migration, crime, living standards, housing, and environmental issues, such as net zero and sustainability. Jen is also responsible for the Analysis Function within the ONS.

Jen is a professional statistician, with 25 years of experience working in official statistics.

Osama Rahman - Director of the Data Science Campus

Osama leads the Data Science Campus, a UK and international hub to gain practical advantage from the increased investment in data science capability.

He was previously the Department for Education’s (DfE) Chief Analyst and Chief Scientific Adviser for four and a half years where he was responsible for the provision of analytical and scientific advice to ministers and senior officials.

Before joining DfE, Osama spent fourteen and a half years at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), a year at the Civil Aviation Authority, and 10 years as a lecturer and senior lecturer in economics at various UK universities.

Health, Population & Methods

Emma Rourke – Deputy National Statistician for Health, Population & Methods

Emma is the Deputy National Statistician and Director General for Health, Population and Methods, taking up this role in July 2022. Emma's portfolio spans health analysis including the COVID-19 Infection Survey, population and migration statistics including the Census, and methodology and statistical design. Emma was previously Director of Health Analysis and Pandemic Insights (HAPI), joining the Office of National Statistics in November 2016. Prior to this Emma was the Director of Public Policy Analysis at the ONS, leading a range of social analysis, informing the public about social and environmental matters, assisting in the development and evaluation of public policy and promoting high quality statistics.

Before joining the ONS, Emma held senior roles in the health sector, including Director of Intelligence at the Care Quality Commission.

Ruth Studley – Director of Health Analysis & Pandemic Insights & Director of Census and Data Collection Transformation Programme (CDCTP) Enablement

Ruth is currently Interim Director for Health Analysis and Pandemic Insight and SRO for Census and Data Collection Transformation Programme, leading an ambitious programme on the future of population and migration statistics.

Prior to this, Ruth led the Covid Infection Survey Analysis team - a survey widely considered to be the gold-standard for infection rates in the UK and the envy of many countries around the world, responding to rapidly changing user needs.

Mary Gregory – Director of Population Statistics

Mary leads our work to deliver population and migration statistics, supporting a better understanding of society across the UK. This includes delivering our regular outputs and work to make greater use of administrative data.

Mary has worked across government leading statistical and data science teams.

Sarah Henry – Director of Methodology & Quality

Sarah is our Director for the Methodology and Quality Directorate (MQD) and oversees the statistical methods and techniques that underpin our surveys and statistics. She ensures our statistics are of the highest possible quality, using the best mixture of data sources.

Sarah has a wealth of experience in analysis and statistical methods. She was previously Head of Intelligence and Performance at Manchester City Council.

Data Capability

Alison Pritchard – Deputy National Statistician for Data Capability

Alison is leading the transformation in data usage which will see ever more integrated data put to effective and safe use across the private and public sectors. She ensures the ONS has the right technology and skills to meet its ambitious goals in data analytics and data science and champions safe and secure data sharing for the public good in the ONS and beyond.

Before joining the ONS, Alison was Director General of the Government Digital Service leading the organisation through a busy and critical period. And before that, she was Director of Transformation at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She began her Civil Service career in 1987 and has worked across a range of departments including the Ministry of Defence, HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Jason Yaxley – Director of the Integrated Data Programme

Jason is the Programme Director of the Integrated Data Programme (IDP). This is a transformation programme and key enabler of the National Data Strategy. The Programme will, for the first time, join up and link data from across Government to enable faster and better policy decision making.

Jason has over 30 year’s experience as a Civil Servant, with the last 20 leading and working on programmes and projects in the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Cabinet Office and most recently in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Simon Sandford-Taylor – Chief Digital & Information Officer, Director of Digital Services & Technology and Head of the Digital, Data & Technology Profession

Simon leads our Digital and Technology Services function. He is responsible for all the systems, devices and technology that supports the ONS.

Simon has held senior IT roles in both the public and private sector. His previous roles include Chief Technology Officer at the Intellectual Property Office and Group Applications Manager at Heath Lambert Group.

Fiona James – Director of Data Growth & Operations and Chief Data Officer

Fiona is Chief Data Officer and Director of Data Growth and Operations. She is an experienced digital, data, technology and policy expert with a deep understanding of the delivery challenges faced by public sector organisations.

She has a track record in leadership through complexity, projects and people in both a policy and service delivery context.

Fiona joined the Civil Service in 2006 as a generalist Fast Streamer at the Department for Transport, where she held policy, strategy and operational roles across aviation, roads and maritime.

She spent four years working on exiting the European Union, leading transport and digital, data and technology readiness at the Cabinet Office, before moving to the Crown Prosecution Service as a digital technology leader, helping to transform criminal justice during the pandemic.

Corporate Services

Tom Taylor – Director of Finance, Planning & Performance

Tom is the Director for Finance, Planning & Performance. Tom is also Chief Financial Officer, supporting Sir Ian’s role as Accounting Officer for the UK Statistics Authority.

Tom has extensive finance, analytical and policy experience from across the civil service.

Philippa Bonay OBE – Director for Operations & Director of People & Business Services

Philippa leads the Operations Group, which includes Communications and Digital Publishing, Security and Information Management, Surveys (including Field) and People and Business Services. The aim of this Group is to provide excellent enabling delivery and enabling corporate functions across the whole of the ONS.

Alongside her role as Director for Operations, Philippa is also the Director for People and Business Services, which is responsible for human resources (HR), estates, facilities management, health & safety, business services. She is also the HR Director for the Government Analysis Function, People Lead for the Government Statistical Service and a member of the Government People Group HR Executive.

Philippa is an experienced executive leader of business and HR teams, with extensive international corporate experience in both the private and public sectors, with specialisms in transformation, leadership, talent, learning & development and organisational design & development. Her career has been driven with a strong ethos for inclusion, fairness, compassion, innovation, and colleague experience.

Philippa was awarded an OBE in 2024 for public and charitable services for her work across the civil service, military and in the violence against women and girls charity sector.

Sarah Moore – Director of Communications & Digital Publishing

Sarah is interim Director of Communications and Digital Publishing and responsible for the promotion and dissemination of all ONS statistics and analysis. This includes using digital products and content, media handling, stakeholder engagement and internal communications to engage audiences in our data in the most inclusive and innovative way.

Sarah is head of profession for Communications for the UKSA and manages the corporate reputation of the ONS to promote evidence-based policy making and public debate.

Sarah has worked in strategic communications roles across government for over 20 years, previously leading teams at the Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs.

Alex Lambert – Director of Surveys

Alex leads the organisation in data collection, through our use of social and business surveys. He is also responsible for the field interviewer community and survey transformation.

Alex has experience in operations and transformation, having previously been at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).

Keith Nicholson – Chief Security Officer and Security & Information Management

Keith leads the Security and Information Management Directorate which provides security advice and operations to protect the ONS, its services and data assets from threats. The Directorate develops new approaches to secure the operations of the ONS’ leading edge big data analytics that support the organisational statistical mission and its corporate information governance. A key element of the role is to advise the National Statistician on security and information matters and the programme of work to reduce risk and comply with legislation.

Keith has extensive experience of working across government departments and leading security teams to deliver innovative security capabilities and protect critical national infrastructure. Keith is an active commentator on security and governance issues. He regularly presents a unique perspective at security conferences and panel discussion highlighting approaches that ONS use to protect data and ensure it is used appropriately.

Pete Benton – Director General of Special Projects

Pete is Director General of Special Projects at ONS and is currently contributing to statistical design and surrounding discussions. His role focuses particularly on the use of linked data within ONS, and we can benefit from his considerable experience and expertise.

Pete has experience in statistical methodology, major programme delivery, and operations management. He has held several senior roles at the ONS, including Deputy National Statistician for Health Population and Methods, Interim Deputy National Statistician for Population and Public Policy, Director of Census 2021 Operations, and Director of the Covid-19 Infection Survey.