Howard Davies

Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science and former Chairman of the Financial Services Authority

Sir Howard Davies had previously served for two years as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England after three years as Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. From 1987 to 1992 he was Controller of the Audit Commission. From 1982 to 1987 he worked for McKinsey & Company in London and during 1985 -1986 was seconded to the Treasury as Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had previously worked at the Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including two years as Private Secretary to the British Ambassador in Paris.

Sir Howard was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford, where he gained an MA in history and modern languages. In 1979 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and in 1980 took an MSc in management sciences at Stanford Graduate School of Business, California.

Between 2002 and June 2010 he was a Trustee of the Tate and now serves as a Trustee of the Tate Foundation. He is a member of the governing body of the Royal Academy of Music; and in 2004 was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Merton College. In 2004 he joined the board of Morgan Stanley as a non-executive director. From 2006 to 2010 he served on the Board of Paternoster as a non-executive director, and chaired the Man Booker Prize in 2007. In 2009 he became an advisor to the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore.  In November 2010 he was appointed to the board of the Prudential as a non-executive director.

In 2006 he edited and introduced The Chancellor's Tales (Polity Press) on British economic policy from 1975 to 2000. In 2008 he jointly authored Global Financial Regulation: The Essential Guide (Polity Press) with David Green. Banking on the Future: The Fall and Rise of Central Banking, on central banks, also by Davies and Green, was published in April 2010 by Princeton University Press.  His latest book The financial crisis - who is to blame? (Polity Press) was published in July 2010.

Sir Howard is married with two sons and lives in London. In his spare time he likes to watch his football team, Manchester City, and regularly plays cricket.