Colette Bowe appointed as new Ofcom chairman

Colette Bowe has been confirmed as the next chair of communications regulator Ofcom.

Bowe, currently an Ofcom board member, will replace Lord Currie, who is stepping down at Easter next year after being in the job for six years, since the regulator was set up.

The 61-year old has been appointed to serve a five-year term and will receive a salary of £200,000 a year for up to three days' work a week.

Currie said: "I am delighted that the government has asked Colette to take on this role. She brings an impressive set of skills and highly valuable experience to an organisation that has a very important agenda ahead."

The Commons business, and culture, media and sport select committees will now hold a public scrutiny hearing with Bowe, in line with parliamentary procedures for public appointments.

Bowe was appointed as chair of Ofcom's advisory consumer panel in 2003 and moved onto the main board earlier this year. A trained economist, she studied at Queen Mary College, London, where Currie was also an academic.

She has contacts and experience across the political divide and in a range of regulators. She first came to public prominence in 1986, when she was chief information officer at the Department of Trade and Industry and her minister, Leon Brittain, wanted Westland helicopters to merge with Sikorsky, a move opposed by the then defence secretary, Michael Heseltine. Heseltine eventually resigned over the ensuing interdepartmental row.

Bowe then worked in the same role at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority – a forerunner of Ofcom – and a range of City bodies.

She is currently chairman of council at Queen Mary College and a board member of Axa Framlington, Morgan Stanley, Electra Private Equity and Eurostar operator London and Continental Railways.

Bowe was the founding chairman of the Telecoms Ombudsman Council and the Ofcom Consumer Panel. She is also a former executive chairman of Fleming Fund Management, chief executive of the Personal Investment Authority, and a director of the Securities and Investment Board.

She was chosen following a recruitment process handled by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

"I am delighted to announce that Colette Bowe is our choice for chairman of Ofcom," said the culture secretary, Andy Burnham. "Colette has the right mix of skills and experience for this role and I'm confident she also has the vision necessary to take Ofcom forward and tackle its future challenges."

The business secretary, Peter Mandelson, added: "The communications industries have huge significance for our economy during these challenging times, and Colette's knowledge and experience across business, regulation and Whitehall will be invaluable at Ofcom in helping deliver greater choice and innovation across the sector."

Source: Guardian, 17th December, 2008