[5] He was subsequently the group CEO of Brunswick Group from 2007[6] until 2008, when he stepped down to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown,[7] Initially serving in 2008 as Brown's chief of strategy, principal advisor,[1][8] and the Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff,[8] he was very briefly Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting for 9 months in 2008-9.
[15] On 1 March 2003[13] Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom (Office of Communications),[1][3][5] the British government's new media regulator.
At that time, he also stepped down as a commissioner of the UK Commission for Employment & Skills and non-executive director of Royal Mail Holdings and Travis Perkins.
[1][2][7] Serving as Brown's Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff,[8] he was given responsibility for running political strategy, research, communications,[7] and the Policy Unit.
[1] Because Carter was not a Member of Parliament having never been elected to public office, it was necessary to appoint him to the House of Lords for the ministerial positions.
[24][25] In April 2010[26] Carter joined the French-American company Alcatel-Lucent, becoming director of marketing, strategy and communications and relocating from London to Paris.
He returned to London and officially retired from Alcatel-Lucent in April 2013, although he continued to work on special projects for the company through that summer.
[27] In 2013, the Informa board unanimously voted to appoint him as CEO, succeeding Peter Rigby, in July 2013[27] - a role he assumed in early 2014.
[28] As CEO of the company he maintained the focus on investing in subscriptions, bookings and sponsorship, as well as expanding in international conferences[4] such as the Monaco Yacht Show.
[30] Previously serving on the boards of companies such Travis Perkins, Royal Mail, and 2Wire,[12] he was the chairman of Ashridge Business School[7] from 2008 until 2015.