Jo Shanmugalingam became Second Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport ( DfT ) on 30 May 2023. Jo was previously Director General for Science, Innovation and Growth at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ( DSIT ) from its creation in February 2023, having originally been appointed in July 2019 as Director General, Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation in the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy ( BEIS ). Before joining BEIS , Jo was Director of Corporate Effectiveness at the Ministry of Defence ( MOD ), and Strategy Director at the Department of Energy and Climate Change ( DECC ) as part of a jobshare with Susannah Storey. Jo started her career at the Department of Trade and Industry ( DTI ). She spent 6 years at the Shareholder Executive (now UKGI ) where she was responsible for taking the legislation to privatise Royal Mail through Parliament and for the government’s shareholder interests in businesses including Post Office Ltd and Ordnance Survey.