Dame Colette Bowe (born 1946) is an English business woman and former civil servant. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Bowe has a Ph.D. in economics from

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

. In her executive career, she was in the UK civil service from 1975 to 1987. She was involved in the Westland affair as she was the chief information officer at the Department of Trade and Industry. In an interview given to Charles Moore for his authorised biography of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, Bowe ended her long-standing refusal to discuss the issue. She was chair of

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

from 2009 to 2014, chair of

Electra Private Equity Unbound Group, formerly Electra Private Equity, is a British-based online company specialising in clothing and specialist footwear. It was listed on the Alternative Investment Market until going into administration in July 2023. History The com ...

plc from 2010 to 2014 and chair of the Council of Queen Mary University of London from 2004 to 2009. She has also served on the boards of

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Limited, trading as Thames Water, is a British private utility company responsible for the water supply and waste water Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking w ...

Utilities, London and Continental Railways, Axa IM,

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

and the Yorkshire Building Society. She founded and was first chair of the Telecoms Ombudsman Service (now Ombudsman Services) in 2002–2003. She was the first chair of the Ofcom Consumer Panel (2003–2008), and has worked as the executive chair of the distribution arm of Fleming Asset Management. Bowe was the chairperson of the Banking Standards Board (2014-2019) and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (2012-2018), the president of the Voice of the Listener & Viewer, a trustee of ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic Church, Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by ...

'' and the

Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...

, and has also been a visiting fellow of

Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...

. She has also been a board member of the

UK Statistics Authority The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA, ) is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for oversight of the Office for National Statistics, maintaining a national code of practice for official statist ...

and a non-executive director of the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

Honours

She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year honours 2014 for services to media and communications. She was made a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Royal Economic Society The Royal Economic Society (RES) is a professional association and learned society that promotes the study of economics. Originally established in 1890 as the British Economic Association, it was incorporated by royal charter on 2 December 1902. ...

in May 2025.https://res.org.uk/the-royal-economic-society-announces-founding-fellows/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowe, Colette 1946 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Civil servants in the Department of Trade and Industry English people of Irish descent Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford Place of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal Economic Society