BT chief architect Neil McRae leaves the telco

BT’s chief architect Neil McRae is to leave the telecoms giant.

His departure comes as the UK company reshuffles its telco networks team, with some other high-profile departures. A source that revealed McRae learned of his departure on October 13 (Thursday).

McRae’s exit brings an end to over a decade of service to the company which he joined in 2011, while since 2016 he’s been managing director for architecture and strategy at the firm. In his role, he reports to BT’s chief security and networks officer Howard Watson, who leads the company’s networks internal service business.

McRae doesn’t appear to have another job lined up, but is expected to stay in the role until the end of December.

McRae was at Cable and Wireless for nearly four years before moving to BT, and has been working within the communications sector since 1992.

BT confirmed to DCD that a number of Watson’s leadership team will be moving on next year. This includes Andy Skingley, the current MD of dynamic infrastructure, who is retiring shortly.

Meanwhile, Tim Whitley, currently MD for Applied Research, will lead the new strategy and research function on an interim basis, before also leaving BT next summer. Once he has left BT, Tim will be appointed to the Technology Advisory Board and continue to work closely with BT in that capacity, confirmed the telco.

However, Watson has created a new role on his leadership team – Chief Networks Officer – which BT says will bring together the design, delivery, and operations teams across networks, and has appointed Greg McCall into this role. McCall has been working at BT Group since 2013, and was previously MD for its converged service platforms. Data Center Dynamics