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

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, Bowe has a PhD in economics from

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously 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 of ...

. 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 ordered by her boss,

Leon Brittan Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, (25 September 193921 January 2015) was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he serv ...

, the

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry The secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The incumbent is a memb ...

, to leak a letter highly damaging to

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served ...

. As she was the chief information officer at the Department of Trade and Industry, it led to Brittan's resignation from the cabinet as well. 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 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, Bowe ended her long-standing refusal to discuss the issue having not said before who had ordered the leak. She was chairman of

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

from 2009 to 2014, chairman of Electra Private Equity plc from 2010 to 2014 and chairman 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 Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wil ...

Utilities, London and Continental Railways, Axa IM,

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the f ...

and the

Yorkshire Building Society Yorkshire Building Society is the third largest building society in the UK, with its headquarters in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a member of the Building Societies Association. The society also owns the Chelsea Building Society a ...

. She founded and was first chairman of the Telecoms Ombudsman Service (now Ombudsman Services) in 2002–2003. She was the first chairman of the Ofcom Consumer Panel (2003–2008), and has worked as the executive chairman of the distribution arm of Fleming Asset Management. Bowe is the chairman of the Banking Standards Board and the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualificatio ...

, the president of the

Voice of the Listener & Viewer The Voice of the Listener & Viewer, originally just Voice of the Listener, is a British consumer group, championing public service broadcasting and speaking for listeners and viewers on the full range of broadcasting and media issues. It was found ...

, a trustee of ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a 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 a Quaker convert ...

'' 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 is also 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 and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology ...

. She is also a board member of the

UK Statistics Authority The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA, cy, Awdurdod Ystadegau'r DU) 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 p ...

and a non-executive director of the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

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.

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 English Roman Catholics Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford Place of birth missing (living people)