Ministry of Defence CIO Charles Forte calls it quits after an impressive run
“A unique opportunity” opens up to “drive change that matters within a very large scale and complex national and international context”
Influential Ministry of Defence (MOD) CIO Charles Forte is leaving the role.
MOD will advertise for his replacement soon.
Forte joined MOD in 2018.
“Digital is now at the heart of Defence,” Forte said in a farewell message on LinkedIn – a fact that has taken grit and determination on the CIO’s part.
“A phenomenal contribution”, commented Lieutenant General Sir Tom Copinger-Symes – saying Forte’s impact extended to NATO and Five Eyes.
“Gruelling, rewarding…”
“Understanding of [his] impact will only grow, as Defence increasingly shifts to a data-centric, software-defined mindset, building on the foundations you have laid… Some of it has been gruelling, all of it rewarding,” Sir Copinger-Symes (a former Director of Military Digitisation) added.
Forte joined is one of the government’s few CIOs to have successfully made the not-always-easy transition from the private sector.
He had a 30-year career at supermajor BP, becoming deputy group CIO, before leaving in 2013 to spend four years running his own consultancy.
“Right time to pass the baton”
Forte said this weekend: “With the SDR [Strategic Defence Review] published [in June 2025], and the Digital and Data Operating Model defined as part of Defence Reform, now is the right time for me to pass the baton.”
He hailed the “significant progress in building a new understanding of the criticality of Digital and Data to Defence outcomes” thanking his team and supporters “through sometimes difficult and resource constrained times.”
Challenge "accepted norms"
The outgoing MOD CIO said: “As long as leaders remain bold in challenging the accepted norms then remarkable progress will be made… For those interested in taking the baton I can tell you that this role is a unique opportunity to drive change that matters within a very large scale and complex national and international context. Few other digital leadership roles offer better opportunities for personal and professional growth.”
“Watch out for the job advert in due course.”
Former colleague and now SSE CISO Christine Maxwell commented: “You absolutely deserve to take your foot off that complex, intensive ride.”
As well as work to improve software delivery processes, modernise networks, improve data quality and drag some people very stuck in their ways along for the digital transformation ride, MOD’s CIO has had to battle the herculean task of modernising legacy systems that are entrenched in every corner of Defence. (Auditors, by way of just one example, noted in 2022 that despite a “well set up” digital function, legacy IT and processes remained rife: MOD’s “current process for ordering basic goods such as boots… involves 29 information systems and 23 different people” it said.)