The BBC has appointed Mike Gooddie as its employee relations and people strategy director.
He will be the corporation’s chief negotiator with the unions that represent its staff, and will be responsible for HR policies.
Gooddie succeeds Gillian Alford, who is to leave the BBC after nine years to join Royal Mail Letters as director of industrial relations.
Announcing the appointment, Stephen Kelly, director of BBC People, said: “The BBC faces many significant challenges as it seeks to deliver programmes and services to audiences in many different ways in the digital age.
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“A constructive relationship with the trades unions has been and will continue to be essential to help us deliver this. I am delighted that someone of Mike’s calibre and experience is joining the BBC to lead in this area.”
Gooddie began his career in 1985 as a graduate trainee at Shell. He joined British Airways in 1995 as a senior HR consultant, and in 1998 was appointed to his most recent post as HR director at Great North Eastern Railways.