The Financial Times nabs former BBC iPlayer Chief Architect John O’Donovan as new CTO

The Financial Times has announced a new Chief Technical Officer (CTO) as the Pearson-owned publication looks to continue its digital growth.

John O’Donovan joins the FT from the Press Association (PA), where he served as Director of Architecture and Development since November 2010. Prior to this, he worked in a series of technical roles at the BBC, including Chief Architect and Head of Interactive Technology for iPlayer, where he was instrumental in building the BBC’s streaming service throughout its developmental stage prior to its 2007 launch.

O’Donovan will be working on how the FT can improve its use of data, as well as content management solutions and general technology strategy.

The Financial Times recently launched an all-new iPad Web app, sticking to its policy of non-native iOS apps due to the lack of data Apple makes available, as well as the 30% cut Apple takes from in-app revenues. And it’s also worth noting that mobile now accounts for almost a third of all FT.com traffic, so ‘digital’ is playing an increasingly bigger part in the FT’s future strategy.

While O’Donovan joins the FT with significant experience at the BBC, previous CTO Michael Fleshman actually left the FT recently to join BBC Worldwide as Senior Vice President for Consumer Digital Technology.