Richard Bowker CBE (born 1966) is the formerUK Athletics in turmoil after Richard Bowker steps down as chairman
/ref> chairman of

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The org ...

and independent director of the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. He is a former

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

and Etihad Railway and former chairman and chief executive of the

Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry. Its motto was 'Britain's railway, properly delivered'. I ...

. He attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, read economics at

Leicester University , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_label ...

, and played as a professional session pianist for a year. Bowker is a chartered management accountant and was a non-executive director of

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotlan ...

and of the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

. In the 2004 New Year's Honours List, he was appointed a CBE. In 1989 he joined the London Underground as a graduate finance trainee; in the course of this work, he was credited with the launch of a new leasing system for trains in 1997. Bowker was appointed co-chairman of

Virgin Rail Group Virgin Rail Group was formed by the Virgin Group to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. United Kingdom operations Origins Virgin bid for a number of franchises, inclu ...

in 1999 and commercial director of the

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding co ...

in 2000. He also founded the transport consultancy Quasar Associated. In 2001 he was appointed chairman and chief executive of the

. In 2006, he was appointed chief executive of National Express Group. From 2009 to 2012 he acted as chief executive of Etihad Railway in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

. In 2012 he was appointed as the second ever independent non-executive director of the

. In 2017 he replaced Ed Warner as chairman of

. Less than two years later he resigned ahead of a vote of no confidence.

References

British businesspeople 1966 births Living people People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn British people in rail transport Commanders of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-business-bio-1960s-stub