LONDON -- BT today announced the appointment of Alison Ritchie as its first chief broadband officer. The role, which takes effect immediately, will see Alison direct BT's policy on broadband developments across the whole of BT Group, ensuring a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of high quality broadband services to residential and business customers. Ben Verwaayen, BT's chief executive officer, said: "I am very pleased that Alison is to take on this extremely important role for BT. She brings enormous experience and knowledge, and I know that she will aim to put the needs of the customers first. We are one of the first businesses to appoint a chief broadband officer, a decision that underlines just how central broadband is to BT." Alison Ritchie said: "I am thrilled to be taking on this new role. To me there is nothing more exciting than broadband. I am looking forward to the challenge of uniting efforts across the whole group to make our offer to customers even better." BT believes that having a member of the top management team solely focused on broadband is a positive step that will ensure successful delivery of all broadband activities. Alison, who will continue to be chief executive of BT Openworld, has wide experience across BT Group, including a spell as BT's director of regulatory affairs. British Telecommunications plc (BT)