Sir Howard Davies (born 12 February 1951) is a British economist. Davies served as Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science from 2003 to May 2011, having decided to resign from the position on 3 March 2011 following concern over the institution's decision to accept funding from a foundation controlled by the Libyan leader's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and over the LSE Libya Links. He has previously served as the first chairman of the Financial Services Authority.
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Howard Davies was educated at Bowker Vale County Primary School, Manchester Grammar School, the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Merton College, Oxford, where he gained a First Class MA degree in Modern History and Modern Languages. In 1979 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to attend Stanford Graduate School of Business from where he obtained an MS degree in management sciences.
Davies was executive chairman of the Financial Services Authority from 1997-2003. He was the first chairman of the FSA, the single financial regulator for the UK financial sector. He formed it from nine previously separate bodies. He was deputy governor of the Bank of England from 1995 to 1997, when the incoming Labour government asked him to create the new regulator.
On the 1st of October 2003, Davies left the FSA to become director of the London School of Economics. He tendered his resignation in March 2011, in the wake of publicity over donations made to the school by a charity associated with a son of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.[1] The School however asked him to stay on until a suitable replacement is found, and he left office on 1 May 2011, following the appointment of Professor Judith Rees as interim director.
Davies was previously employed by McKinsey and Company and was Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was also previously employed at the Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which included a posting of Private Secretary to the British Ambassador to France. Davies served for three years as Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. From 1987 to 1992 he was Controller of the Audit Commission. He was also a non-executive director of GKN between 1989-1995, and a member of the International Advisory Board of Natwest bank from 1991-95. From 1995 to 2004 he was founder Chairman of the Employers Forum on Age, a body formed to oppose ageism at work. From 2002 to 2010 he was a Trustee of the Tate Gallery (where he served as interim Chair 2008-9) and is a member of the governing body of the Royal Academy of Music. He is the Patron of Working Families, a campaigning charity which supports the rights of parents in the workplace. In 2004 he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of Merton College, Oxford and became a non-executive Director of Morgan Stanley. He was appointed to the Board of Paternoster Limited in 2006 as a non-executive Director. Davies is also a member of the advisory boards of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (since 2003) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (since 2004). In 2009 he was appointed as an advisor to the Investment Committee of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore.
He chaired the judges of the Man Booker Prize for fiction in 2007. He is a supporter of Manchester City and Lancashire County Cricket Club. He plays cricket for Barnes Common CC and Powerstock and Hooke CC.
Davies has published four books - Chancellors Tales (Polity Press 2006), with co-author David Green, Global Financial Regulation: the Essential Guide (Polity Press 2008) and "Banking on the Future: the fall and rise of central banking (Princeton University Press 2010), and "The Financial Crisis: who's to blame" (Polity Press 2010).
He writes regularly for The Financial Times, The Times, The Times Higher Education Supplement and Management Today.
Davies features as a character in the David Hare play The Power of Yes which premiered at London's National Theatre in October 2009.
He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the Queen's Official Birthday Honours 2000.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Banham |
Director of the Confederation of British Industry 1992 - 95 |
Succeeded by Adair Turner |
| Educational offices | ||
| Preceded by Anthony Giddens |
Director of the London School of Economics 2003 – 2011 |
Succeeded by Professor Judith Rees |