London 2012 head of new media Alex Balfour joins Engine as chief digital officer
Former head of new media for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Alex Balfour has been named as the new chief digital officer at privately –owned communications group Engine.
Balfour will now work across all Engine companies including Jam, WCRS and Partners Andrews Aldridge, tasked with ensuring the overall quality of ideas delivered to clients in digital and keeping Engine at the forefront of thought leadership in digital.
“We are delighted that such a well-known and highly regarded digital expert is joining the Engine family. Alex combines fantastic creative and operational experience both as an entrepreneur and as a manager and we expect that he will add tremendous value to our digital offering right across Engine,” said Debbie Klein, chief executive of Engine UK.
Appointed head of new media for the Olympic Games in 2006 Balfour began his career in digital media in 1994; he edited the UK’s first General Election Website and helped produce the Guardian’s first site before co-founding single-sport website CircInfo which was sold to ESPN in 2005. He is a member of the government’s Digital Advisory Board and a director of the Pensions Advisory Service, Credec and Datatracks (UK) Ltd.
Balfour commented: “I am very excited about my next challenge and am delighted to be joining Engine. Like London 2012 it has brilliant specialists working together with a common purpose under one roof. I look forward to helping deepen and strengthen its impressive digital capabilities.”