Rich Corbridge, currently serving as the Chief Digital and Information Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), will depart from his position in November to assume the role of Chief Information Officer at Segro, an industrial property developer.
Having joined DWP in April 2023, sources at Computer Weekly indicate that Corbridge’s departure is due to personal reasons and not attributed to any issues within his role at one of the largest government departments. His last day in the civil service will be November 15.
Corbridge will be the first-ever CIO at Segro, a real estate investment trust listed on both the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris, specializing in the ownership, management, and development of modern warehouses and industrial properties. Soumen Das, Segro’s Chief Financial Officer, stated, “The increased use of technology and data is essential for achieving our strategic objectives. With Rich’s enthusiasm for driving technological change, we aim to enhance our customer offerings and optimize the strengths of our team through more efficient digital processes.”
At DWP, Corbridge oversaw a budget of £1.4 billion within an organization that handles £170 billion annually and manages 50 million lines of code, operating one of the largest IT infrastructures in Europe. His responsibilities included overseeing critical public services like Universal Credit and the state pension.
In July 2023, Corbridge shared in an interview how his initial priority was to create a new business plan for DWP Digital, completing this task within just four weeks. He remarked, “The expectations for digital at DWP are high, and rightfully so. I view my role as a facilitator, helping to navigate our progress toward our objectives by removing barriers.”
He has actively sought innovative avenues to enhance DWP’s operations, recently launching a “reverse pitch” program that engages startups and scaleups to collaboratively address complex challenges faced by the department and the Ministry of Justice.
Before joining DWP, Corbridge was CIO at Boots, the pharmacy chain, since 2019. He previously held the CIO position at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and was CIO for Ireland’s Health Service Executive, along with serving as the CEO of eHealth Ireland. Between 2011 and 2014, he also worked as CIO for the Clinical Research Network of the National Institute for Health Research.
DWP has yet to announce a successor for Corbridge.