Professor Adrian Smith has been appointed to the new post of director-general, knowledge and innovation in the department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and Tera Allas has been appointed director-general and chief economic adviser, replacing Vicky Pryce, who left in August 2010.

Permanent secretary Martin Donnelly said the appointments complete the department’s top-level structure, and both individuals “bring a blend of public sector and external experience that will play an invaluable role in the department’s highly significant work for the economy”.

Smith (left) joined BIS in 2008 as director-general, science and research. Before this he held senior leadership positions in the university sector, including ten years as principal of Queen Mary, University of London.

Allas (right) spent 12 years working for McKinsey and Company before being appointed chief energy economist at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Energy and Climate Change in 2004. She moved to the Department of Transport in 2009, where she is currently chief economist and director of transport analysis and economics.

Written by CSW