Colin Hughes

Colin was appointed as Chair of OS for a three-year term with effect from 9 March 2025, following an open competition.

He is the CEO of AQA and remains in that role while taking on his new role serving as Ordnance Survey Chair. Colin previously held senior leadership positions in the education, publishing and media sectors, including Managing Director of Collins Learning for eight years. Before this, he founded Learnthings Ltd (the Guardian’s digital learning business) in 2000 and was appointed Managing Director of Guardian Professional in 2006.

Earlier, Colin worked as a journalist for the Press Association and The Times, before moving to the Independent, where he was Managing and Deputy Editor. Colin chaired the Education Publishers Council from 2014 to 2018, Middlesex University for nine years and Staffordshire University for six years.