Roger Flynn, the BBC executive brought in by director general Greg Dyke two years ago to oversee a wholesale restructure of its commercial operations, will leave the corporation next year following the sale of its technology arm.

The former British Airways and Prudential executive, who oversaw the spinning off of the corporation's outside broadcast, technology and resources divisions in an effort to cut costs and win external business, will leave in the spring.

He created the new holding company BBC Ventures, which comprises BBC Broadcast, BBC Resources, BBC Technology and technology development arm BBC Vecta. As BBC Ventures chief executive he oversees 3,500 staff throughout the UK and the US and sits on the corporation's executive board.

Mr Flynn said today the process of turning public service bodies into commercial operations that could compete in the open market had been completed ahead of schedule.

"I won't pretend that such a cultural shift has been easy but the business now makes a profit rather an annual loss. I had to do a lot at the beginning to get the business shaped up right. It's ongoing and running a commercial business within a public service framework is not easy but I think we've proved you can make a success of it," he added.

Mr Dyke said Mr Flynn had achieved a "remarkable turnaround" in the Ventures business, which last year delivered £23m in savings to the BBC and posted its first operating profit of £14.5m.

Third-party revenues also grew by 50%, despite still only making up a small proportion of its income, and Mr Flynn said he "fully expected" them to grow by another 50% this year.

"I want to thank him for his total commitment," added Mr Dyke. "He has been instrumental in the decision to sell BBC Technology. The sale will be the culmination of the final phase of his business plan and a natural point for him to move on to bigger challenges".

Early in his tenure Mr Flynn had to deal with internal strife as he sought to turn business divisions that were traditionally geared to provide BBC services into profit - operations.

There was also management upheaval when the BBC Technology chief, Philip Langsdale, walked out over Mr Flynn's decision to move responsibility for exploiting the corporation's intellectual property rights into new division BBC Vecta.

But after heading the internal review that led to the decision to sell BBC Technology, a move that will save the BBC between £20m and £30m a year, Mr Flynn said he had done the job he was brought in to do and it was a natural time to move on.

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