Alex Chisholm (born 2 January 1968) is a British civil servant and regulator, who has served as
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary
The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, known informally as the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, is the second-most senior civil servant of the Cabinet Office. It was conventionally joined with the positions of Cabinet ...
and the
chief operating officer
A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...
of the
United Kingdom's Civil Service since April 2020.
He was previously the permanent secretary at the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...
from September 2016 to April 2020 and permanent secretary at the
Department for Energy and Climate Change
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busin ...
during 2016. Chisholm was previously the chief executive of the United Kingdom's
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
and chair of the Irish
Commission for Communications Regulation
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) ( ga, An Coimisiún um Rialáil Cumarsáide) is the general communications regulator for Ireland, covering almost all possible types of communications.
Founded on 1 December 2002, ComReg too ...
, and has held senior positions in the media, technology and e-commerce industries.
Early life and education
Alex Chisholm was born on 2 January 1968 in London to parents Ian Duncan Chisholm and Annabel Chisholm.
His father was a consultant psychiatrist and his mother was a daughter of
James Bryan George Hennessy, 2nd Baron Windlesham. He was educated at
Downside School
Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey.
Originall ...
before studying history at
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...
and a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
degree at
INSEAD
INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...
.
[Department for Business, Innovation & Skill]
press release
8 January 2013.
Early career
Chisholm began work as a civil servant in 1990, working at the
Department of Trade and Industry and
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
(OFT) until 1997.
He specialised in competition policy and the media, communications and financial services sectors.
He then worked for three years for
Pearson plc
Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.
It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...
and the
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
, before spending some years working for technology companies, Inc and Ecceleration Ltd.
He also founded ran Heritage Bulbs, a company specialising in the provision of rare and historic
bulbs
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs durin ...
.
In 2007 Chisholm was appointed as a commissioner of the
Commission for Communications Regulation
The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) ( ga, An Coimisiún um Rialáil Cumarsáide) is the general communications regulator for Ireland, covering almost all possible types of communications.
Founded on 1 December 2002, ComReg too ...
in Ireland, becoming its chair in February 2010.
He left the role to become the first chief executive of the
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
in the United Kingdom, with his appointment announced on 8 January 2013. The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) was formally launched on 1 October 2013 and became fully operational on 1 April 2014. It brought together the most of the responsibilities of the former OFT and the former Competition Commission. Chisholm, after taking up his post, was responsible for merging these two bodies and streamlining their operations.
In 2014, the CMA began an inquiry into the banking sector, which was opposed by major banks. The authority found that
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
and
First Trust Bank
AIB (NI) (formerly known as First Trust Bank) is a commercial bank in Northern Ireland that is part of Allied Irish Banks's UK subsidiary AIB Group (UK), AIB Group (UK) plc. It is one of the Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four banks in Ireland ...
had broken competition rules. During a talk to the
Institute of Directors
The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...
, he defended the existence of regulators because "some market participants can ruin it for everybody" and that
Bitcoin
Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...
provided "welcome competition". In 2015, Chisholm wrote in a
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
article that proposed taxi regulations by
Transport for London, following protests against ride-sharing firm
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
, would "artificially restrict competition". In 2016 he announced a CMA report that advocated abolishing
passenger rail franchising to allow different companies to run services on the same routes.
Permanent secretary roles
Chisholm was appointed as permanent secretary to the
Department of Energy and Climate Change
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom created on 3 October 2008, by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take over some of the functions related to energy of the Department for Busin ...
(DECC) in 2016, and continued as permanent secretary for the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...
(BEIS) after it was created nine days later in September 2016 by merging DECC and the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Business, Innovation and Skills logo.svg
, logo_width = 200px
, logo_caption =
, picture = File:Лондан. 2014. Жнівень 26.JPG
, seal =
, se ...
. His appointment was criticised by
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Stephen James Fitzpatrick is a British businessman, founder of OVO Energy, Vertical Aerospace and former owner of the Manor Racing team.
Early life and education
Fitzpatrick was born in Belfast. He studied at Our Lady and St Patrick's Colle ...
, the founder of
OVO Energy
OVO Energy is a major energy supplier based in Bristol, England.
It was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick and began trading energy in September 2009, buying and selling electricity and gas to supply domestic properties throughout the UK. By Jun ...
, who said that a CMA inquiry into the energy industry that was run while he was chair was "subjected to lobbying from the big six" that resulted in reforms that ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' described as "watered down". The review opposed the introduction of energy price caps, which BEIS introduced in 2019 while Chisholm was its permanent secretary.
In April 2020 he was appointed as chief operating officer of the civil service and
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary
The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, known informally as the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, is the second-most senior civil servant of the Cabinet Office. It was conventionally joined with the positions of Cabinet ...
, succeeding
John Manzoni
Sir John Alexander Manzoni (born 1960) is a British senior civil servant and business executive, who served as Chief Executive, chief executive of the Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil service and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary fro ...
who had served as chief executive of the civil service and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary. The role, as the civil service's "second in command", includes leading reform of the civil service and advising on the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. He began the new role on 14 April 2020.
Personal life
Chisholm married Eliza Pakenham, daughter of
Thomas Pakenham and granddaughter of
Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...
, in 1993.
They have three sons and live in London.
He has been a trustee of
Breadline Africa, an international charity, since 2003, and served as its deputy chair.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm, Alex
1968 births
Living people
Alumni of Merton College, Oxford
INSEAD alumni
British civil servants
Irish civil servants
20th-century British civil servants
21st-century Irish civil servants
People educated at Downside School