Today, Friday, is the day that Ben Holliday leaves the Department for Work and Pensions.

In one way, it’s a sad day. Ben will be a huge miss within the team, but also a miss within the wider realms of government. An influential voice with experience to match. His work and effort has had a positive impact on the whole design community whether they know it or not.

For my last two years in government, Ben has been a strong leader, mentor and friend. He spent time supporting me at my lowest, and pushing me at my highest. I spent time watching him work, learning how to articulate the thoughts in my head to a larger group of people. He helped me figure out the maze that is government and where to focus my energy. He left the department after making me a better, stronger, more experienced person than I was.

And as much as it is sad, there is also a bright future ahead. There have been some strong personalities who have left Government since I joined. It is often said that this could cause huge repercussions. It never does. Yes, we will miss those people, but we should treat it like a changing of the guard.

As long as there are enough of us left to pick up the flag and keep making our line in the sand, we’ll be ok. We will keep moving forward.

So.

Thank you, Ben. A million times over.

For the rest of us, we have much work to do, let’s #keepgoing.