As mentioned in our news, we're delighted to announce that our old friend Matthew Shorter will be joining us as our fourth director from the beginning of 2010.

Matthew is currently the Interactive Editor, Music for the BBC's Audio & Music department, where he is putting into place a series of ground-breaking data-driven music information and discovery services as well as overseeing websites for events such as Glastonbury and The Electric Proms and various other BBC music strands like Introducing and Later.

Justin and I both worked with Matthew while at the BBC, and always knew he was someone we'd love to have on the DS team. He's smart, erudite and incisive and a fine pianist and composer to boot. He's also been a fine manager over the years and we're sure he'll be sorely missed.

For a bit more sense of the man, you might care to read this recent interview with Matthew in the The Guardian or, more properly revealing, his Last.fm profile.
Simon